Chapter 2851 - Ch: 3-4

Harry Potter, Dark Legacy » by The Fallen One 2012 

Chapter 3

I do not own anything from the harry potter universe, unfortunately.

"Normal Talking"

'Thoughts'

"Parseltongue"

Harry was very confused for a moment. He was sure that his bed was not green and he was sure that he did not have an underwater view in his dorm. It took him a few seconds before the foggy memories came to him as he remembered the night before. How Snape had found him in the abandoned classroom and how he had, instead of bringing him to the Gryffindor common room, brought him to the Slytherin common room.

That was… odd. No scratch that, an impossibility more like. Harry was pretty sure he had a better chance of becoming best mates with Voldemort than Snape being kind to him. Briefly, Harry entertained the idea that perhaps this was someone using a Polyjuice potion.

He didn't get a chance to think about it further as a knock suddenly shook him from his thoughts. Looking towards the door as it opened and a dark-skinned boy with short, buzzed hair around his age opened the door. He had dark brown eyes and from what Harry could tell a rather athletic build, not muscular but toned like a runner.

"Bloody hell he wasn't joking, Potter?" The boy asked. Harry was sure he shared a few classes with him but couldn't remember his name.

"That's me." He said slightly on guard, he was a lion in the snake pit after all. The boy looked at him for a moment as if to make sure Harry was really there.

"Well, Professor Snape wanted me to come get you. Say's he wanted to talk to you." he said and Harry slowly nodded as he rose to his feet. He followed the dark-skinned boy as he led him out of the room and was met by very surprised faces. Not as many glares or sneers as he expected, at least not until…

"Potter!? What do you think you're doing here?" he heard the ever-annoying voice of Malfoy sneer at him. As he was flagged on either side by Crabbe and Goyle with Pansy trailing the three boys.

"Sightseeing." He answered not caring to look at Draco for too long unless he wanted to upchuck in the middle of the common room.

"Get out! I don't know how you got into here but when Snape hears about this!"

"That is quite enough Mister Malfoy." A voice called and Harry turned to see an open door that he had missed last night situated between the two sets of stairs that lead to the bedrooms. It was Snape standing expectantly in the doorway.

"Professor? It's Potter!" Draco tried again as if that explained everything with perfect clarity.

"Indeed, Potter my office now." He said, not in his usual demanding tone but definitely not respectfully. Harry for his part relished in the tomato red that Draco's face had morphed into and entered the doorway that led to a narrow spiraling staircase.

Following it down he saw that it opened to a rather dark room lit by candles and Harry could see that it was very similar to the potion's classroom. With rows of shelves stocked with potion ingredients and multicolored vials. There was even a table with a potions station on it complete with a cauldron.

"Take a seat Potter." Snape told Harry as he walked over to his desk at the back of the room which had a black chair in front of him. Harry remembered when he was here last time in second year when Snape called him and Ron into this same office when they got to school with Arthur's car.

Not thinking about it too much more Harry followed Snape's orders and sat in the chair as Snape took his position on the larger chair behind the desk.

"Potter, as you stated last night you do not feel safe in your house. Is this correct?" He asked as Harry vaguely remembered his last conversation with Snape. It was just last night but Harry was practically sleepwalking through that experience.

"Yes, professor." He said shortly still not entirely sure what Snape was playing at.

"Have you been attacked?" he asked.

"No."

"Do you feel like you will be attacked?"

"Not really."

"And yet you say you feel unsafe?"

"It's not… Professor, what's going on?" Harry asked, this was straight-up freaking him out now. Snape had never shown any form of concern for him before why was he doing so now?

"I am asking you questions." Snape answered dryly.

"Clearly, I mean why do you care? Shouldn't you be celebrating my torment?" Harry asked allowing a bit of anger to seep into his voice as Snape's eyes narrowed.

"There was someone I cared for deeply once, I failed them. I am offering you a chance unlike that person in the past. However, I will lose no sleep if you decide to refuse my offer." Snape stated and Harry couldn't help the feeling of doubt rise inside of him. The idea of Snape being able to feel anything except contempt was something he couldn't wrap his head around.

"So, what, you all of the sudden remembered this person now. What about for the past three years?" Harry asked challengingly.

"Because you have been so respectful and the picture of upstanding rule-abiding student presence in the past." Snape answered right back. Snape had no delusions, he wasn't an easy man to be around however Harry was just as guilty of false pretenses as he was. More than once he had assumed the worse of Snape even in first year.

"Well, you don't exactly make the best first impression yourself Professor." Harry returned as Snape had to concede that point when had had first seen Harry he hadn't seen a boy or even Lily's son. All he saw was a mini-James and old hatred had festered to the surface.

"Regardless." Snape said waving his hand "You say you don't feel safe and yet you do not believe you will be attacked. This is counterintuitive to not feeling safe, I do hope this feeling is for something as small as not wanting people to mess with your things." Snape said he would admit if Potter allowed himself to be bullied out of his house over something as trivial as his schoolbooks getting thrown around, he would never respect the boy.

"No of course not!" Harry said and it wasn't untrue, he didn't really care all too much if his books got bombed or his clothes stained. Those could be fixed and washed but it was the idea of someone burning his only photo of his parents, or stealing his godfather's map, or even stealing his father's cloak that truly scared him.

"And yet you have said you won't be attacked. So, what is it then?" Snape asked as Harry looked into the potion's masters' eyes. Again, he was missing the look of annoyance or disappointment, instead it was just unreadable.

"It's just a feeling alright." Harry said not willing to be so forthcoming with the professor.

"A feeling has to be born from something Potter."

"Well, maybe it's just my stupid arrogance that makes me feel like I would be targeted. A bloated sense of self-importance!" Harry spat throwing the words that Snape had used on him once or twice at the professor.

"Perhaps, but in my experience, arrogance and self-importance would all but demand satisfaction. They most definitely would not allow you to accept your fate and sleep in a cold empty classroom." Snape countered smoothly and Harry growled lowly. Now he was becoming annoyed.

The hell was Snape doing, all these years and it takes finding him in a classroom alone that suddenly drives him to act like a concerned teacher!

Unknowingly this annoyance and anger were bleeding into his bond with Demona as the Hell hound began to manifest herself. Snape's stoic face suddenly became wide with surprise as Harry's shadow began to morph turning into a much more beastly and wolfish shape against the wall. As a pair of smoldering red eyes appeared looking at Snape dangerously, he stood wand drawn.

"Potter! Come!" he ordered moving quickly to Harry's side wand trained on the Shadow. Harry was surprised until he looked back seeing Demona slowly stepping out of the shadows of the wall, teeth bared with a vicious snarl and eyes locked on Snape.

"No, wait!" Harry said grabbing Snape's wand and pointing it to the ceiling before reaching out a hand to halt Demona.

"Potter!? What are you doing!" Snape demanded wrenching his wand from Harry's grasp.

"It's okay girl!" Harry quickly said as Demona stood their teeth still bared. He started to push calming thoughts and emotion through their bond as Demona's eyes flicked towards him her body only halfway manifested as the back half of her body was still in the shadows.

"It's fine, I'm fine." He assured placing a hand on the hound's head as she visibly relaxed. Slowly he could feel her own flaring emotions begin to meld with his as they both calmed down. That was the second time he had riled up Demona due to his emotions. He would have to work on that.

"Potter, explain." Harry turned to see Snape's wand still trained on Demona. Quickly ushering her back into his Shadow he raised his hands in a placating motion.

"Sorry sir, she's protective." Harry said as Snape's wand lowered but was still firmly in his grasp.

"What was that?" Snape demanded eyes locked onto Harry's shadow.

"Well… You see I've been put into another life-or-death situation, so I decided to study up." He said he didn't want to tell snape about the grimoire he found.

"Study? And what pray tell did you study?" Snape asked lowly.

"It doesn't matter! Look professor, someone is trying to kill me again, this isn't a first-time experience. So, I am taking steps to survive, not only survive I'm going to hand whoever this bastard is their plan on a silver plate when I win this whole thing!" Harry said hoping his declaration of pre-determined victory would distract Snape enough to get his mind off the source of Demona's appearance.

Snape seemed to take a moment looking between Harry and his shadow. He seemed to have an internal conflict of some sort before sheathing his wand. He still looked to be on the defensive as he sat back behind his desk.

"Sit." He said as Harry did so.

"Look professor, I don't feel comfortable in my house anymore, at least not now and yes I am worried about my belongings. No, not my books or clothes, other things that are much more important, and honestly they are just as important as my life." he said seriously hoping snape wouldn't dig too far into what he meant.

"I am training and I'm studying, you have already seen the results. I just need a place to sleep, and I'll be fine." Harry continued and halted for a moment before thinking before nodding to himself. "So, thank you, professor, you didn't send me back to my dorm and allowed me a safe place to sleep." He said sincerely. This surprised Snape as for the second time his eyes widened but not nearly as wide as when Demona appeared.

He seemed to think for moment eyes locked onto Harry's own and only occasionally flicking towards his shadow. Somewhere in that silence, he had reached a decision as he opened his desk and pulled out a small card, and flicked it towards Harry who caught it.

Looking down he saw it was a simple, if slightly thick, piece of paper with a word on it reading, Cunning. 

"What is this?" Harry asked confused.

"The password for the week, it will change once the password changes which is once a week or if necessity demands." He said simply as Harry looked between Snape and the card.

"Why?" He asked as Snape simply shook his head with closed eyes.

"You need a place to sleep. I am allowing you to stay here until such a time you feel comfortable enough to reenter Gryffindor. However, should you betray this… trust… then I will personally see that you are accommodated very nicely with Mister Filch. That goes for your… beast… as well." He said rising from his chair.

"Understand this Potter, while you stay here you will be expected to uphold our house's way of doing things. That means what happens in Slytherin stays in Slytherin. We do not allow inner house problems to bleed out to the rest of the school and you are expected to hold to a high standard of decorum than the rest." Harry wanted to argue that point with many examples of Malfoy but decided against it.

"I will have a house-elf gather your things and return them to the room in which you slept last night." He said again standing and making his way to the door, Harry followed. Once they made their way up the narrow staircase Harry found that the rest of Slytherin house seemed to be congregated in the common room. seemed they didn't want to go to breakfast until they figured out why Harry Potter, Gryffindor's golden boy was in their common room.

"When is he leaving!?" Draco demanded glaring at Harry as he entered behind snape. Instead of responding to the blonde boy Snape addressed the students.

"Due to… unforeseen circumstances, Potter will be staying in Slytherin's house." This set of a series of surprised gasps and wizards which were quickly silenced with Snape's raised hand. Harry to admit that was a bit impressive, McGonagall was much loved in Gryffindor's house but she still struggled to control them at times. Snape obviously didn't have that problem, at least not when he was around.

"Yes, he will stay with us for the foreseeable future, as such I expect that you will not dishonor our house by acting childishly." He said though most noted how he seemed to be looking at Malfoy while he was speaking. "The same rules apply, for the time he is here, treat him as if he was just another Slytherin that is all." He said McGonagall would have been berated with questions and demands if this was a Slytherin entering Gryffindor but most of the Slytherins just regarded him with curiosity for the most part.

Except for Malfoy and his goons, who looked absolutely livid but were at least wise enough to rage in front of snape. With that Snape left the common room followed by the majority of the rest of the house who were making their way towards the great hall. Once he was sure Snape was out of earshot Malfoy made his move.

"If you know what's good for you Potter, you'll be out of my house by tonight!" he seethed flagged by Crabbe and Goyle both with Pansy not far behind. "You're not welcomed here! You're not wanted! So whatever you did to convince Snape better go right out the window and you out the door!" he demanded and Harry smirked.

"Well, I'm pretty sure if I threw anything out the window it would flood the entire house so I don't think I'll be listening to you." he stated as Malfoy glared even harder at him. He went to say something more but was stopped by an older student.

"Malfoy! That's enough." It was an older female student and he saw that on her robes was a Prefect badge.

"Stay out of this, if you know what's good for you!" Malfoy threatened and Harry was surprised to see a smirk on the witch's face.

"Oh don't worry little Malfoy, I know what's good for me and for you. Perhaps a strongly worded letter to your mother will straighten you out." Harry was at first confused, he had never met Malfoy's mother, but he had assumed that she was just like Lucious. However, his confusion turned to surprise as Malfoy's face paled considerably, he took one moment more before glaring at Harry one last time before storming off his troop on his tail.

"Thanks?" Harry said not entirely sure how to react, not expecting any form of aid from within the house despite Snape's instruction.

"You just need to know where to strike in order to get him to back off. Usually threatening to contact his mother works." She said with a shrug.

"How is his mother different than his Father." Harry asked still not believing that anyone who married Lucious could be any different from him.

"I'm going to guess that you've never actually met her." He shook his head "Well she is a woman you have to meet to understand. Will you be eating with us?" she asked as Harry thought he hadn't really thought about it.

"I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable." He said it was sort of true, he didn't want to cause any trouble since that would mean he would just have to deal with more problems and he had enough of those for now.

"Trust me Golden boy you don't make anyone besides Malfoy and his entourage upset. In fact, there were a few of us a little disappointed when you were sorted into Gryffindor." She said nonchalantly. Harry's eyes went wide and she giggled.

"Ah your face!" she said and now he narrowed his eyes at her laugh.

"Oh, I'm totally serious but still, you make funny faces Potter!" she said giggling her way to the door leaving a confused Harry.

"Don't mind her, Jones is mad at the best at times, totally barmy at others." He heard a voice and turned to see the Dark-skinned boy, as well as Tracey and Daphne, walk up to him.

"Never thought I see you in our house Potter." Daphne said and He couldn't help but smile at the familiar faces, even if they've only been recently acquainted.

"I tend to do things people don't expect of me." He said as the dark-skinned boy laughed and shook his head. "I don't think we've been introduced." He said as the boy stopped laughing and looked at him incredulously.

"We've been in the same potion class for four years." He said as Harry thought back. That's right he remembered that. He thought for a moment.

And came up with nothing, the most he remembered was either Ron blowing up his cauldron or Snape's sneer. The other boy just rolled his eyes.

"It's Blaise, Blaise Zabini." He informed as Harry nodded.

"It's nice to meet you, Blaise." Harry said honestly, unlike Malfoy he didn't sense the same slimy uncouth feeling he had with Malfoy when they first met. Though with the way he carried himself he could tell Blaise did hold a high opinion of himself in some sense, but it didn't seem to be at the detriment of others.

"Finally, you mean." Tracey added as Harry looked at her while Blaise simply nodded his head with her statement.

"What do you mean finally?"

"Well without your slobbering guard dog around to chase everyone away your much more approachable." Harry's eyes narrowed, they didn't know about Demona, and he only got her recently.

"What guard dog?" he asked as Tracey just rolled her eyes.

"I'll give you a hint, red hair, loud, somehow allows food to fall out of his mouth just as fast as he shovels it in… any guesses?" she asked, and Harry felt a twinge of annoyance. That's another thing that Ron was influencing in his life and this time he didn't even realize it.

"That's not going to be a problem anymore." Harry said more to himself though Daphne seemed especially pleased with this, she hid it quickly though; she did that a lot.

"Good for you!" Tracey as the trio made their way out of the common room Harry followed them. It was strange for Harry, talking with Slytherins, they acted differently than his housemates in Gryffindor. They were friendly but they seemed a bit more collected, He liked the boisterous nature of the housemates usually, but Harry had to admit there were times that he wished they could tone it down every once in a while.

Daphne caught his attention more than once, she seemed to stride with the grace of a princess as she moved, and he thought he saw her glance at him from the corner of her eye but he quickly shook that notion from his head. Tracey and Blaise didn't seem any different, Blaise did walk with his shoulders back and chin held high; Harry couldn't help but feel like a slouch. Tracey though seemed to be the loosest in terms of movement so he didn't feel too much like a slob.

Upon entering the hall, he hesitated for a moment, looking around he saw the schools were still intermingling, so it wasn't so much different. Though he noticed a few more glances his way than usual, not the usual sneers but some confusion and concern.

"You coming or not?" Tracey asked as the trio looked at him. Looking towards his own table he saw self-pleased grins and he scowled as he nodded. Almost immediately those grins turned to horror as they watched Harry walk over to the Slytherin table. In fact, most of the hall was filled with wide surprised eyes watching Harry go to the house he had historically had the most problems with.

As he took a seat next to Blaise with Tracey and Daphne sitting across from him he saw like Malfoy wanted to make some sort of trouble but seemed to control himself. Though the grin he had didn't give him any sort of confidence.

"So Potter, how does it feel to be in with the snakes?" Daphne asked a slight smirk on her face. Harry looked around and it seemed that Snapes orders were being followed to a T. the Slytherin students didn't act differently than usual but still glanced at him occasionally. Though the rest of the hall kept staring at him, he was just glad that it was out of shock instead of animosity as he had come to expect recently. If he would've looked towards the Staff table he would have seen a confused McGonagall and Albus the latter being a bit more abrasive than McGonagall.

"I don't know you think you Snakes think you can handle a Lion amongst you?" he asked with his own smirk as Daphne rolled her eyes and Tracey giggled.

"Oh, the big bad Lion." Blaise said mockingly as he began to load his plate. Harry loaded his plate rather generously feeling much more hungry than usual. Then he felt something.

It was his bond; it was a feeling of… longing? No that wasn't right desire? That felt closer than an image of ham flashed in his head, and he realized. Demona must have been just as hungry as he was. Looking around he spotted a plate full of ham slices as he as discreetly as he could, grabbed the plate, and brought him over to himself. Waiting until Daphne and Tracey were distracted with each other, and Blaise was looking the other way he tipped the plate over.

The contents and the plate fell to the floor and into his shadow. When the contents disappeared, he nodded and returned to his own meal. It took him a little while to finish seeing as there was more food than normal. Standing up he left the hall with Daphne and the others but began to break off.

"Where are you going?" Blaise asked, Daphne and Tracey must not have told him that he didn't need to attend classes. However, he was stopped when he heard his name being called, well screamed is more accurate.

"What the bloody hell are you doing!" Harry turned to see a very angry Ron approaching him.

"Walking, well right now I'm standing." Harry answered hearing a snort of amusement from Tracey.

"You know what I mean!" he shouted again then pointed accusingly at the trio of Slytherins "what are you doing with them!? They're snakes!" he yelled out his face becoming red with rage. Now Harry was getting angry, though he did make an effort to keep it from bleeding into his bond.

"Yeah, so what?"

"What do you mean so what!? They're evil every one of them! Just look at Malfoy!" Ron continued to scream, and Harry was a little impressed he had the air.

"Okay, maybe Malfoy's a prat who else?" Harry asked challengingly.

"Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson, Nott!" He started to list off names but stopped like he expected Harry to crumble to his point.

"And… that's it? that's five people, there's a lot more than five people in Slytherin." Harry responded.

"Harry, you hit your head and gone barmy!? It's Slytherin!" Ron continued to scream and Harry was starting to get annoyed as well as angry with his constant screaming. He idly noticed the crowd around him, he saw Hermione trying to make her way through the crowd as well as a few of the teachers.

"So, WHAT!?" Harry finally roared back "You know the sorting hat wanted to put me in Slytherin!" He revealed and this seemed to make the hall go quiet. That was a shock to the system, the Gryffindor golden boy was almost a Slytherin. Ron looked like he had just been stabbed and Hermione who had finally managed to fight her way to the front froze.

"I begged it not to, I actually begged the hat not to." He exclaimed as Ron jumped in.

"Good because…"

"I begged it not to because of you! You and Malfoy both! I think if I didn't meet you I would have listened. After all, it wasn't a Slytherin that locked me out of my dorm and forced me to sleep in a classroom!" he screamed out his anger reaching a boiling point as he glared daggers at Ron as Hermione looked towards him with shock at the revelation. Ron for his part looked around suddenly aware of all the eyes that suddenly shifted to him.

"Ever since that fucking Goblet spit my name out you all have made it your mission to harass me! Destroying my things! Ruining my books! Setting fire to my work! You know all it would take is one, ONE! Ill placed bomb and you could have destroyed the only photo I have of my parents! Did you think of that!? No, you didn't! And not only that but now I'm learning that you have been scaring off people who want to actually talk to me, who want to approach me! Since day one you've been trying to steer my life, Ron Weasley! Turning me from Slytherin, convincing me time and time again to shirk my work, steering me away from anything and all things that you didn't want to do!" He raged out his bond feeling Red hot as he felt his rage pour through it any thought of keeping it clear out the window as his blood roared in his ears and heart pounded in his chest.

"No more! Fuck you, Ron! I will make friends with whomever I please! I spent way too long wasting away here! This was supposed to be a place I could escape and be free! You took advantage of me! You took advantage of the fact that I had no idea about the wizarding world and used it to twist my opinion!" He roared not noticing the shadows bleeding around his feet and the flickers of flames that accompanied them.

"I'm done being used or trapped or abused! Never again! Not by you! Not by my relatives! Not ANYONE!" He raged out and was about to lash out even more before he felt a firm hand against his shoulder and looked up to see the dark eyes of Snape looking down to his.

"Control yourself, Potter." He said seriously as Harry finally took notice of what he was doing, looking down to his feet he saw the shadows and flames that danced around him. He immediately felt guilty about Riling up Demona again and began to soothe her. Luckily, she hadn't manifested but he could feel she was mere moments from pouncing on Ron. He began to take deep breaths to calm himself as everything came back into focus for him and he was aware of the faces around him.

Most looked shocked or terrified, Dumbledore looked disturbed while McGonagall looked horrified. Ron's face had gone pale, and Hermione looked on the verge of tears. He turned and rushed off the crowd parting to make a path for him as quickly as they could.

Looking around Snape took stock of the effect Harry had and saw many seemed frozen.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor for your Behavior Weasley!" he called out, but Weasley was too shocked to even react. McGonagall was able to shake herself back as she began to disperse the crowd. Flitwick and Sprout quickly followed suit and soon the students stiffly made their way to their classes. Madam Maxime and Karkaroff both looked at Dumbledore the former with a disapproving expression while Karkaroff look a bit smug. Dumbledore didn't pay them any mind as he quickly made his way to his office.

"Severus, did you know?" McGonagall asked as she shooed off the last of the students.

"I only found potter last night sleeping in an abandoned classroom." He answered and she shook her head solemnly.

"Thank you, I will need to have a discussion with my students. And make sure the bullying comes to a stop." She stated firmly he lips thin with displeasure.

"Indeed you do, however, the harassment will stop." He stated as McGonagall looked at him.

"How do you know?" Severus had never been one to expect the students to sort things out on their own.

"He will be staying in Slytherin." He stated simply as McGonagall's eyes widened.

"That's ridiculous!" she said, "I understand how he feels but he can't change houses!" she firmly stated as Severus merely glanced at her.

"He will stay in Slytherin until such a time that he tells me he feels safe enough to return. His things have already been moved and he has already agreed. Now I have a class to teach." He said not giving her a chance to reply.

Harry found himself in the Owlery as Hedwig sat on his leg nudging her head into his chest lovingly. Demona was out of his shadow laying behind him and he leaned against her. Their presence was very calming and helped him greatly as he ran his fingers through Hedwig's feathers.

"I'm sorry Demona, I keep getting you all riled up." He said using his free hand to scratch her behind the ear as the Hell hound just huffed in response. Through their bond, he could feel a sense of contentment flow from her, and something else. It was a warm feeling like she was trying to reassure him that it was okay and she didn't mind.

Looking back over to Hedwig he was surprised she didn't react to Demona when she materialized. She seemed more concerned with comforting Harry which he was very thankful for. Though now that he had calmed down the snowy owl now curiously hopped from Harry's leg to one Demon's horns.

The hell hound made no real reaction besides her ear flicking slightly as Hedwig looked curiously at the large wolf before she seemed to come to a decision and just settled on Demona's horn using it as a perch.

"Guess that means you're okay with her?" he asked as Hedwig hooted lightly in conformation. Harry smiled feeling much better than he did in the Great Hall. It was then that another owl hooted to catch his attention. Looking up his eyes widened recognizing it as one of the owls that Sirius used.

Reaching forward he accepted the letter it carried and once relieved of its burden it flew off. Taking the envelope, he quickly opened it and took the letter out.

Harry, I just received a copy of the daily prophet, I'm surprised that Rita didn't spin a tale of scandalous relations or false mysteries as she usually does. Still, by the time this owl reaches you, you'll most likely be out of breakfast so I won't take too much of your time. We need to talk face to face. Meet me in the Gryffindor common room at 1 am. Be careful pup.

Sincerely, Sirius.

Harry cursed; He hadn't told Sirius about anything going on in the common room though after his outburst he was sure it wouldn't be sealed this time. Sneaking in won't be too hard seeing as he will just have used his cloak. He quickly burned the letter so no one else would see it he urged Demona into his shadow before going to leave.

Though he stopped and looked at Hedwig.

"Actually, why don't we hang out today?" he asked offering his arm. Hedwig gleefully flew from her perch and onto his arm as they left together.

Elemental magic is one of the most underused and undervalued forms of magic within our world I have found. Those who claim themselves as the greatest wizards in the world hardly use anything beyond Hexes or Curses and Charms. Now while this is not inherently a bad thing, I have found that Dark Lords are far less Lordly when all they use is the Killing curse repeatedly. 

I have always prided myself on a wide range of spells and elemental spells such as Incendio or Aguamenti have always felt natural to me. There is a magic to be found within the elements themselves, it is wild and unyielding unless you are strong. Now with the previous spells that you have mastered at this point, you should have a greater grasp on feeling magic. That is why the next five spells within this grimoire are not altered, not changed, not mutated in any way. 

However, there will be a change in you when using them. Instead of only relying upon yourself for the magic to be cast, you will now draw power around you. Feel it and draw it towards you and through you and into the spell. After you master these techniques the final two spells will be simple for you to discern and cast.

Harry Flipped through the next few pages and saw that all five had simple descriptions of different spells. Some of them like Incendio, Aguamenti, and Glacius he recognized the others not so much. The fourth spell was something called Metelojinx and from the description, it was a sort of weather-altering spell. The fifth spell was called Fulmenis which conjured lighting bolts. He flipped back to the first spell, Incendio, and began reading. The description and execution weren't different only the instruction of casting with surrounding magic as opposed to only his own.

The book also gave examples of mental techniques he could use in order to help him feel the magic. Standing up from the desk he quickly stroked Hedwig before making his way to the center of the room. He took a second to take stock of his surroundings. Thankfully the room was just stone so nothing would be catching.

Drawing his wand, he took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. He began to feel around magic, first in himself like when he was creating a bond but once he did he began to expand. In his head, the image of wispy tendrils feeling around from magic helped him direct his own magic to search.

He thought it would be hard, but he felt it rather quickly; he wasn't too surprised though since he was at a magical school. Feeling the magic, it was like standing near a flame a warm sensation washed over him as he reached for it.

Taking another breath, he drew it in and that warm feeling now began to envelop him as he began to guide it through him feeling it come to him then travel up his arm to his hand as he lifted his wand.

"Incendio!" he cast and a torrent of flames erupted from his wand. Everything was in slow motion for him as his eyes widened seeing the flames that sprung from his wand. They seemed richer in color as they poured forth bathing the entire opposite end of the room in crimson and gold. Though he quickly canceled the spell as the spill of flames began to ride up the walls going to the ceiling and back to him.

He looked forward and saw a cone-shaped scorch mark erupt from his position on the floor and spread to paint the room in black. He was only able to marvel at his achievement before his legs went weak. As he began to fall Demon materialized under him to catch him. Hedwig flew over landing on Demona's snout checking on Harry.

"It's okay, that was just… a lot." He said a feeling of tiredness quickly overtook him as, like when he summoned Demona for the first time, she helped him back of to the desk and he took a seat. Hedwig quickly took her place on the desk hooting softly.

Harry looked at the book suspiciously for a moment before he turned the pages back to the Fulmenis spell and then turned that page and began reading. After a few lines, he just allowed his head to fall onto the book and desk with a thud.

Something to keep in mind when practicing this style of casting is that until your body is used to it you will feel exhausted afterward. The sudden influx of surplus power within your body and cutting that off after you are finished will give your magical core something akin to magical whiplash.

So be sure that you're not standing anywhere with unforgiving ground, I recommend sand or soft grass.

From now on Harry would be double-checking at least a few pages after a spell to make sure there weren't any other hidden warnings. Whoever wrote this book definitely did this on purpose, with a wicked smile at the thought of a clueless bloke like Harry performing the spell without knowing the fallout.

Harry took a few minutes for himself petting Hedwig and Demona. Slowly he felt his strength return to him taking a few deep breaths he stood. He set back to practicing though he made sure Demona was ready to catch him if needed.

Harry had spent most of the day in the classroom training the new form of casting. During the training, he decided to try some spells like Expelliarmus to see how the technique affected a regular charm. He was a bit disappointed that it didn't make too much of a difference. It was a bit stronger but unlike the elemental charms, he was practicing there wasn't a world of difference to notice.

After all his training he had about five bursts of magic in him before a wave of exhaustion would take him so he would use his new technique as either a quick finisher or trump cards when needed. Harry was heading towards the Kitchens not feeling like going to dinner with all the other students. He had skipped lunch in favor of training, and he was sorely regretting that choice as he felt like he hadn't eaten in a week.

Entering the kitchen, he found the elves who he greeted merrily, and they returned his greeting just as enthusiastically. After taking a hearty meal and stuffing himself silly he made his way to the dungeons for the Slytherin common room. A quick mutter of the password caused the wall to slide away as he entered the room.

Upon entering he saw that there was a scattering of Slytherin students, and they all turned to him and he suddenly remembered what happened that morning as he looked around. Most of them seemed slightly concerned but only slightly, others just seemed curious. Malfoy and his gang looked smug.

"Back from crying yourself silly Potter?" he jeered as his flunkies all laughed. Harry simply smirked at him as the advice from Jones came to his mind.

"No, I simply sent a letter to your mother, she was more than happy to come down and help me relieve some… excess stress." He said with a grin as one older Slytherin student spit out his water and the others all stared at him in humorous shock, jaws firmly on the ground after dropping.

Malfoy for his part became just as red as Ron had that morning as he shot up and drew his wand. Harry went for his but stopped after Jones stood up in between them.

"Knock it off Malfoy."

"You heard what he said! I need to put him in his place!" Malfoy all but screamed face red with rage.

"Oh, little Malfoy can't take a joke? Grow up! Or else I will message your mother and let her know how you're acting. Might even make it a point that she should come down here to discipline you." she said with a smirk and a mad glint in her eye. Malfoy seemed like he couldn't decide whether or not to be scared or even angrier. Finally, he just decided to send one more heated glare at Harry before storming off.

"Is Malfoy's mom really that scary or something?" Harry asked as the other students returned to what they were doing.

"Like I said you have to meet her, alone not with her husband." She stated as Blaise stood and walked over to Harry.

"I'm pretty sure Harry just said he did that." He joked as Harry rolled his eyes as Jones laughed. "But seriously Harry, you alright?" Blaise asked. The fiasco in front of the Great Hall wasn't going to be out of mind any time soon, especially with Demona's extra display that accompanied it.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said simply and was surprised as the house seemed to accept that answer and stopped listening in on the conversation.

"Brilliant." Blaise said with a nod as Harry had to voice his opinion.

"Wait; that's it? You're not going to grill me for details?" He asked as Blaise simply snorted and shook his head.

"You're not in Gryffindor anymore remember. If you want to talk about it righteous; if you say it's fine, then it is fine." He said with a simple shrug. Harry couldn't help but smile at that, in Gryffindor he would have been sat down and interrogated until their desire and curiosity were satisfied. He already vented his frustrations out and had a chance to cool off bringing it back up wasn't something he wanted to deal with at the moment.

"So~ when are you changing out your robes~?" Jones asked in a sing-song voice as Harry looked at her oddly.

"My robes?" He looked down, nothing was really wrong with his robes so he saw no reason to change them.

"Don't tell me you don't see it. The only time red and green should mix is at Christmas and right now your warm color aesthetic is clashing with our cool colors. It's a fashion faux pas if ever I saw one." She stated snapping her fingers at the end. Harry honestly hadn't thought about it; he gripped his robes, specifically the area that had the Gryffindor crest and thumbed over it.

"I don't think I'll change; I mean I'm not really a member of Slytherin anyway. I'm only staying here." He stated as suddenly Jones grin and positive demeanor shifted as her eyes narrowed and a familiar mad glint returned to her eyes.

"Speaking of being part of Slytherin's house, did Malfoy really turn you away from joining our house." She asked dangerously, even though she knew Harry didn't want to talk about this morning she wasn't going to let that little bit of information slide without proper clarification. This was the boy who lived after all.

"W-well, partly, Draco did give a pretty poor impression as well. Though it was mainly Ron as well if he didn't say anything and if I didn't meet Malfoy then I probably would've let the Hat put me wherever he wanted." He answered honestly.

"Good now I will be writing Missus Malfoy tonight and figuring out if I can throttle a weasel and Ferret at the same time." She muttered stalking off towards the girl's rooms.

"Well you just set her on a warpath, can't wait to see what happens." Blaise said with a grin.

"Why does she care so much anyway? Like this morning when she defended me from Malfoy was just her being a good prefect. But why does she care about me being in Slytherin or not?" he asked as Blaise looked around and approached Harry.

"Not really my place to say though…" he leaned in at this point to speak lowly so only Harry could hear "I think you'll find that most of the older Slytherin students feel the same way about you." he informed. Being discreet he did glance at some of the older students in the room and could see they did in fact look annoyed or outright angry at the knowledge that he was turned from their house.

This gave harry something to think about, why would the older students care so much about his house placement? He wondered to himself if he should ask Jones about it and found that his curiosity demanded he did. However, he wouldn't press her; they respected his privacy, he would respect theirs.

It was much later in the evening that Harry found himself under his cloak and sneaking out of the common room. The Castle was always rather eerie late at night, the grand halls when not illuminated by a bright moon looked downright foreboding in the darkness.

Even still it didn't take Harry very long to reach the Gryffindor common room and to his relief, the password had not yet been changed. Entering he quickly took a look around and saw there was no one awake or around. Taking his cloak off he took another look around, trying to spy his godfather who may be hidden or in his dog form.

It wasn't until the fireplace sputtered and it caught his attention did he see the face of his godfather; formed from the glowing embers and ash of the nearly put-out flame with only a few tongues of fire flickering from the depths of the cinders.

"Harry?" he called out as Harry came forward to kneel in front of the fireplace.

"Sirius." He exclaimed in a whisper a smile already on his face to see his godfather. Even though he was just a face in embers.

"Oh, pup! I got the prophet, how are you? Are you doing alright?" He asked and Harry for his part couldn't nod.

"Well… it's been tough but it's getting better." Harry admitted.

"Tough?"

"Most of the people don't believe I didn't put my name in the goblet. They've been… less than supportive." He said as Sirius nodded causing a few sparks to fly from the embers.

"I see, what about your friends, surely they're helping you." Harry's expression became hard.

"You'd think… though it seems Gryffindor are more than happy to turn on their own." He stated bitterly. This caught Sirius by surprise.

"Truly, but surely Ron and Hermione got your back pup."

"Ron's the ringleader!" Harry hissed not willing to raise his voice for fear of waking said redhead that he did not want to deal with. "Ever since my name's come out of the cup he and the others have been harassing me day and night. Sirius they could've destroyed the map, or dad's cloak or even my photo!" he exclaimed as Sirius expression suddenly turned hard. He knew better than most how important those items were to Harry.

"I… I must say I'm more than a little disappointed in Ron. What about Hermione?" Sirius asked hopefully, and Harry nodded.

"Hermione hasn't done anything, but I've been avoiding Gryffindor, so we haven't had a chance to talk." He said, after his display in the morning he probably should have a sit down with Hermione.

"Well, what about now? Is McGonagall stepping in?" He asked again hopefully.

"I'm not staying here Sirius; in the dorm I mean." He added that last part quickly as Sirius looked very shocked and worried, he still looked worried but less so.

"That's good, the Goblet would've rid you of your magic if you tried to run. But if you're not staying in the dorm then where are you sleeping? Filches?" he asked with a bit of a chuckle as Harry reared back as if someone had just spit in his food.

"Oh, hell no! I'm staying with Slytherin for now." That caused Sirius's eyes to go wide.

"What!? How!?" he said no end of disbelief in his voice and expression. Harry sighed and took in a breath before telling him the events that led to Snape finding him and offering him sanctuary for the year in Slytherin.

"Snivellus did that? We are talking about the human bat who shits out rainbows and jellybeans; that Snivellus?" He said mockingly and despite himself, Harry had to chuckle at that.

"Yes, I don't think I'm all of the sudden his favorite person or anything, but he actually is helping me." Harry said with a nod. Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding.

"I see, well if he tries anything hex six ways to Monday for me then I'll show up on Tuesday to beat him so bad he won't wake up till Friday." Again, Harry chuckled. "What about the other students? Surely Malfoy isn't pleased with this arrangement." He stated and Harry nodded.

"Quite upset actually, though the rest of the students seem to be fine with it. Or at least not making a big deal about it. One of the older students is helping me deal with Malfoy. Jones is her name." Sirius all of the sudden seemed very interested.

"Jones? Did you catch her first name?" Sirius asked and Harry shook his head.

"Actually no, all I know is that she can be quite mad apparently. Do you know her name or something?" Harry asked and Sirius slowly nodded.

"There was a Deatheater in the last war, a man they called Dizzy Jones. He was mad, nearly as mad as Bella. From what I hear though all he dealt with was widespread destruction and arson, he never actually took a life if he could help it." Sirius said thoughtfully and Harry became thoughtful as well. He would admit that he assumed every Deatheater was a killer for pleasure; so, to hear that there was one who apparently avoided killing was interesting.

They talked for a while longer Sirius revealing a little about his travels and Harry revealing all about his training and introducing Demona. To say Sirius was surprised was an understatement. Although after making his point that he needed every advantage he could get in the tournament Sirius didn't press the issue of the Grimoire very much; only warning him to be careful and not attempt anything too dangerous.

Their conversation was cut short however when Harry heard footsteps and Sirius had to cut off his connection.

When Harry turned, he was surprised and relieved to see Hermione coming down the steps. Though his surprise became replaced with worry very quickly as he took in her appearance. She was dressed in her usual nightwear but her hair seemed especially disheveled and her eyes were red and puffy. It didn't take long before she saw him her eyes widened.

She didn't say a word as she all but rocketed towards him in one of her famous Hermione hugs. He quickly wrapped his arm around her and could feel a wave of shuddering breaths and quiet sobs go through her and she held him close.

Once they separated Harry gently guided her towards one of the sofas and they both sat down.

"H-harry, I'm… I'm so sorry! I should've known… I-I should've been…" she choked out through shaky breaths and Harry took her hand into his own.

"Hermione it's okay, I should've come to see you long before this. I was just… I was avoiding everyone. I shouldn't have avoided you." he tried to reassure as she vehemently shook her head.

"N-no! I should've found you! I should've helped you as soon as your name came out of that stupid goblet!" she exclaimed and Harry soothed her and tried to get her to lower her voice.

"Hermione, really it's alright. You know now, and that's enough." He said as he pulled her to his side. They stayed like that for a moment as Harry waited for her to calm down enough to get her breathing under control. After a few minutes of quiet, she took a few deep breaths and sat up a bit straighter but still held Harry's hand.

"So, how are you training? I don't see you in class anymore." She said her eyes full of concern.

"I'm not attending class, but I am training." Hermione even despite the situation seemed displeased at him skipping class. "Don't give me that look I need to focus on the tournament if I'm going to win." He said with a grin and this surprised Hermione.

"Win? You want to win?" she asked, survive sure that'd be understandable but winning?

"Yeah win, whoever put me into the dumb tournament obviously is trying to get me killed. Well, I'm not going to just sit around wide-eyed like every other year. I'm going to take their plan and toss it back into their face." He said eyes bright with determination. Hermione couldn't help but smile at him and they talked for only a few more minutes before he told her to get some sleep.

Though not before inviting her to watch him train and help him study for this tournament, which she happily agreed with. With a smile, he made his way back to Slytherin feeling much better than he had in a while. He felt ready for anything that was going to be thrown at him.

_SCENE_

Welp that is chapter 3 done, Honestly I find writing about the harry potter universe to be much easier than I expected. Then again I could be writing absolute shit and I'm deluding myself but whatever. I hope Harry's progress doesn't seem to artificial, technically speaking he has only learned three new spells, one of which is kind of a one off and the next spells are all standard with the only difference being their execution. And he can only pull the new casting technique so many times right now before becoming exhausted. I also hope that the relationships are flowing nicely. I tried to keep Snape cold but not evil like he's portrayed in other stories and even in the books and movies as well. So be sure to let me know what you think and until next time this has been your Average, Ordinary, Everyday Fallen Angel.

Chapter 4

I do not own anything from the harry potter universe, unfortunately.

"Normal Talking"

'Thoughts'

"Parseltongue"

Okay, maybe not everything that was thrown Harry's way he would be ready for. Currently in the Library with four different books on dragons surrounded by Tracey, Daphne, Susan, Blaise, and Hermione. They were helping him go over the tomes and were equally shocked by the revelations. So now they found themselves after dinner in the Library studying dragons.

"How did you figure out it was dragons?" Susan asked sitting on his left as she leaned over to him to peer in the book, he had open in front of him.

"I had an inside source." He said simply before turning the page.

"Who?" Hermione asked sitting on his right also leaning towards him like Susan was. If he would've looked up he would've noticed that Daphne was looking between the three with Narrowed eyes while Tracey was grinning at her. Blaise wisely didn't comment or notice as he flipped through his own book.

"A snake alright." Harry said knowing Hermione would've kept pestering him until she knew.

"A snake? Oh, that's right you're a Parselmouth." Blaise said after a moment "where did the snake come from though?"

"I conjured it."

"Smart." Daphne said though a bit shortly as he looked up at her a bit confused.

"I guess so. He found a letter addressed to Bagman about the assets coming through just fine and would be ready for the first task. I didn't say what the assets were though when I saw it was from Charlie, I put two and two together."

"Who's Charlie?" Susan asked.

"Charlie Weasley, Ron's older brother who studies Dragons." Hermione answered with a nod of confirmation from Harry.

"Another Weasley, Lovely." Daphne said dryly. This time Susan looked at her pointedly and the blonde Slytherin just turned back to her book.

"Any chance that the names of the dragons were somewhere on that letter?" Susan asked returning her attention to Harry who shook his head too engrossed in his book to notice the exchange between two girls. But Hermione didn't, she would save that for later.

"I wish, but there are some universals according to these books." He said turning a few pages back "All Dragons are resistant to magic, all dragons seem to have a weakness of the eyes, they all fly they all shoot magical fire. They're all huge! Just bundles of joy really." Harry said sarcastically.

"Well, they definitely want a spectacle right so I think you should probably go for the biggest dragons and work your way backward." Blaise suggested before Daphne chimed in.

"Though that could also be an argument for why they wouldn't use the biggest, simply because they are the biggest, it would be too costly to move them."

"So then maybe something in the middle then." Hermione suggested. Daphne didn't answer her but thankfully she didn't need to as the group began to thumb through the mid-sized dragons there were only about five that could be called such. The group began to pour over the information before they were interrupted by a familiar jovial face.

"' Arry, finally found ya!" the familiar voice of Hagrid drew the attention of the group.

"Hagrid!" Harry and Hermione greeted at the same time and with a smile, something that seemed to irk Daphne and to a lesser extent Susan.

"Been looking for ye since dinner been meaning to give ya a message. Tried to get Ron to deliver it but he just angry, know why?" Hagrid asked and Harry scowled, though it wasn't really Hagrid's fault seeing as he was only really present in the castle during Dinners.

"We… aren't speaking anymore." He said, even after their fight and Harry's realization of how controlling Ron had been it still hurt just a tad. Hagrid looked mournful as well as he shook his head.

"Right shame, even still I've got a message to deliver to ya, though it would be better if you met me at my hut. Later…" he looked around the make sure no one else was listening "possibly after curfew, with a certain cloak, can get right cold out at that time of night." He said his eyes trying to convey the hidden message though Hagrid was about as smooth as a boulder. Even still no one was around to hear them except his friends.

Harry winked "You got it." With a nod, the half-giant walked out of the library trying not to draw too much attention to himself. He was failing of course.

"The subtly of a knife to the eye, and the grace of a rhino." Daphne remarked with an amused smirk. Harry could tell she was only joking but Hermione didn't pick up on that.

"Hey, he's our friend and very kind as well." She defended as Daphne slightly narrowed her eyes at Hermione.

"I know that Granger, it was just a joke." She snapped back as the two girls glared at one another. Susan merely looked between the two exasperated.

"You think Hagrid knows?" Susan asked hoping to get the attention drawn away from the two girls.

"Probably, right? He's the gamekeeper, Groundskeeper too, so if they wanted to bring dragons onto school grounds, they would've had to inform him and ask for his aid as to where to keep them." Tracey said speaking up recognizing the tension between her friend and Hermione.

"Makes sense, this is good. Now you'll be able to see what you could be up against." Blaise offered.

"A flying fire breathing killing machine that was known to raze entire kingdoms to ash." Harry drawled out dryly as Blaise chuckled at that with a shrug. The group went back to studying before Harry led them out of the library towards the abandoned classroom he used to train.

"So, this is where you've been practicing?" Hermione asked looking around, there wasn't much to see obviously but she noticed the fact that one side of the room seemed to be scorched in its entirely.

"Yeah, it's been good. The room's out of the way enough that no one really bothers me." He said setting the books down on the desk as he pulled out his Grimoire from his robes.

"Okay, what I'm about to show you, you cannot tell anyone." He said seriously. He trusted Hermione entirely but the others were still wildcards to him. The group looked at him curiously.

"When I was at the library, the day you came to me." He said indicating to Daphne, Susan, and Tracey "Madam Pince let me have some access to the restricted section, that's where I found this." He said pulling out the black book.

"It's been really helpful; it's already given me really incredible spells and techniques to use. Though I don't think that it would be considered your standard book, so I need you all to promise not to reveal anything about this." Harry was going out on a limb here, however, he wanted to bring his friends into this. Maybe he could even teach them a thing or two.

"Um, mate, you feeling… okay?" Blaise asked as Harry looked up seeing the concerned or confused looks of his friends.

"What do you mean?" he asked confused as Hermione stepped forward.

"Harry, you're not holding anything." She said, now he was even more confused.

"What are you talking about? It's right here." He said holding the book up even more, but they just looked at each other just as confused as he was. He looked between them and the book several times "Can you seriously not see it?" he asked finally, and they all shook their heads. He took the book and held it out to Hermione.

"Here try to hold it." he said as Hermione hesitantly held out her hands. Her eyes widened when she felt the book touch her hands.

"It is there!" she said holding the book that, apparently only Harry could see. Though her surprise suddenly morphed to pain as she suddenly dropped the book. "Ouch!" she cried out drawing her hands to her.

"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed rushing forward.

"It burned me!" she said and Harry took her hands as in his and examined them as he saw that she did indeed have angry red marks in her palms.

"Hermione, I'm so sorry, I didn't know." He quickly apologized as Daphne came forward.

"Let me see." She said and took Hermione's hands, she examined them for a moment before taking her wand and muttering something with a wave. Hermione's face suddenly relaxed as the marks on her hand receded greatly.

"Thanks." She said but Daphne looked at Harry who carefully scooped up the book.

"So, an invisible book that burns people, honestly Potter." She said with a shake of her head though she regretted it when she saw the guilty look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's okay Harry, you couldn't know." Hermione said with a pointed look towards Daphne.

"What does the book say?" Susan asked carefully looking towards Harry.

"It's a spellbook, whoever wrote it calls it a Grimoire. His legacy as he puts it." he said opening the book and seeing nothing changed, it wasn't even warm for him.

"Who wrote it?" she continued, and Harry shrugged.

"I don't know, there was a note explaining what the book was but no name to go with it." he said going over to check on Hermione again.

"I'm fine Harry." She reassured as he nodded.

"Well, this is weird, why would a book be invisible?" He asked thumbing the pages.

"Whoever wrote it probably only wanted certain people to be able to read it." Blaise said he wished he could see the book.

"Oh, so Harry must be a chosen one then." Tracey joked trying to lighten the mood and it worked getting the group to smile and chuckle a bit.

"So, Harry what can you do?" Susan asked a smile on her face as she looked at him.

"Well, so far the spells are just evolutions of existing spells." He said drawing his wand as his friends shuffled behind him.

"Serpenmaiora!" he called as from his wand burst forth a teal-colored light as he conjured his new favorite magic snake, the teal light began to solidify into a long serpentine body with three heads and Harry could immediately feel the bond form between them. The serpent in front of them was an eight-foot spiny viper-like snake. It was completely jet black on the back with a dark grey underbelly with three pairs of emerald eyes.

Susan was quick to recognize the snake as she gasped.

"That's a Runespoor! How? We can't summon magical creatures." She said staring at the snake in shock which was quickly matched by everyone else. Harry couldn't help the satisfied smirk that made its way to his face. Doing these spells on his own was one thing, to have an audience was much better.

"Yeah, the book said something similar too, but it turns out that when the caster is casting, they don't form a bond. It's really weird, but basically, when someone tries to make a magical creature, they need to form a sort of temporary bond with the creature in order to feed it magic. So that way it can function and remain in the world." He explained and quickly vanished the Runespoor before turning before he was met with confused stared again.

"What?" he asked as they looked at him.

"Um. Harry your voice went all weird when you were talking." Susan said.

"What do you mean?"

"Like you were talking but then all the sudden it became garbled before becoming normal then garbled again. All we heard was that the book said something similar and it's really weird." She explained as Harry look down at the book before looking suspicious.

"One second." He said before flipping through the book until he reached the very last page and the back and there in the back there was a message for him that made him groan.

Now, my Legacy, you have hopefully mastered all my works, spells, and rituals. Though if not, you should be aware that these secrets are for you and you alone, only until such a time you have mastered my legacy shall you be able to divulge the information within at your discretion. Until that point of mastery is reached your words about the techniques and spells shall be shrouded and the Book itself shall remain hidden to all except you.

"This dude is barmy! Just honest to god proper mad!" he said exasperated as he closed the book with an unbelieving laugh.

"Who's mad?" Tracey asked.

"Whoever wrote this book! He has this sick joke of putting warnings at the end of spells and now this little bit about invisibility is in the back of the book!" he shook his head.

"Well, it makes sense, there are family grimoires that have all sorts of protective enchantments on them." Daphne said though this seemed to displease Hermione.

"What? Knowledge shouldn't be hoarded like that!" she stated firmly as Daphne just rolled her eyes.

"Magic that has been cultivated for years in a family isn't something you just publish Granger."

"That's not fair! They shouldn't…"

"Oh well, the world isn't fair!" Daphne bit back as the tension between the girls returned. Now Susan spoke up.

"Alright, we will need to have a little chat." The Hufflepuff girl said grabbing Hermione and Daphne by the wrist and dragging them out of the room and away before anyone could say anything. Harry just stood there blinking along with Blaise and Tracey.

"Um, that escalated quickly." Tracey said as the three just stood there shocked.

"Daphne! You need to calm down."

"I am calm!" she hissed out pulling her hand back as the three entered a nearby bathroom.

"Could've fooled me." Hermione bit out as Daphne just scowled.

"Hermione you too!" Susan said as Hermione looked at her as if she had grown a second head.

"Me!? I haven't done anything." She stated heatedly.

"You still need to calm down you're not helping." Susan said again firmly. As the two girls simply scowled before turning away. "Look what's going on Daphne? You've been after Hermione since Harry brought her in." She said as Daphne just tsked before turning towards one of the many mirrors in the bathroom.

"You know why." She said lowly with a pointed look out of the side of her eye. Susan looked understanding but Hermione took the statement in a very bad direction.

"What's that supposed to mean? What don't like Muggleborns like me?" she accused, In Hermione's mind the only reason anyone had to outright disliked her was due to her blood status, especially from the Slytherin populace.

Daphne for her part looked as if she just swallowed something nasty and sour.

"Get off your high horse Granger it's not always about you!"

"Then what is it!?" she demanded and before Susan could calm the two Daphne responded.

"Since when are you so chummy with Harry huh!?" she demanded the fact that Daphne used his first name was not lost on Hermione, but she didn't focus on that right now.

"What are you talking about? We've always been close, since first year!" she said confused Daphne just let out a very un-Daphne-like growl.

"That's not what I'm talking about, and you know it!" she accused and Susan jumped back in.

"Daphne, calm down. You're jumping to conclusions." She said stepping between the Gryffindor and Slytherin girls.

"No, I'm not, and don't pretend you're not seeing it too. Ever since the end of third year, all of the sudden Granger has been much closer to Harry, closer than normal." She said to Susan as Hermione just threw up her hands.

"What are you talking about!? We've always been close, we're best friends!" she defended. This time Susan turned to look at her.

"You, you really don't realize what your doing do you?" Susan asked softly as Hermione now turned to her.

"What am I doing?" she demanded as Susan turned to her fully.

"Hermione, you're not acting like a best friend. At least not a normal one, not since third year."

"What does that mean?" Hermione was thoroughly lost at this point. She hadn't acted any differently towards Harry, at least not that she noticed.

"Hermione, you've been practically joined at the hip since third year. You don't hesitate to grab his hand and hold it. Also, you stare at him, a lot. Before this stuff with this goblet, you've always been looking at him. Plus, when he stopped coming to meals you interrogated everyone in your house about it. In fact, you were causing the biggest commotion about his absences. Not to mention the fact that you've been taking notes for him in every class." She explained as Hermione just gained a blush after she was finished.

"I-I'm just comfortable around him that's all, and of course I was asking after him, he was missing, and I was worried. I also don't stare at him." At this Daphne scoffed.

"You don't even realize what you're doing." She said with a roll of her eyes as Hermione glared at her, but Susan quickly grabbed her attention.

"Hermione, you're smart, really smart. Even you have to see that your going a few steps above and beyond even what a best friend would do. You honestly don't see it?" she asked as Hermione took a few seconds to mull it over.

Had she been a little overzealous? Sure, she was worried about Harry but that was normal. But had she really been staring at him? She'd glanced at him from time to time, but she was just glancing! Right? Thinking back, she thought towards the near the end of third year when they had their little adventure. She remembered soaring through the skies on the back of Buckbeak, holding onto Harry closely as they flew over Hogwarts.

The memory had brought a blush to her face as with that memory suddenly her actions since then had been put into perspective. Now as she looked back with this new feeling, she could see just how it looked.

No, it didn't just look like it. She remembered just last night when Harry had held her as she cried into him. How horrible she felt when she found out how he was feeling, how much she just wanted to hold him close and never let him go. As her face became redder and redder with her eyes widening in realization.

"Oh, look that, her brain has caught up with her heart!" Daphne said a bit bitterly as Hermione looked towards the other two girls. It took her a second, but Daphne's seemingly random animosity made sense to her.

"Y-You like him don't you." Daphne's face gained a slightly red hue though she was still scowling. Though she saw Susan blush and look off to the side as well.

"Wait! You too!?" she exclaimed towards Susan who just nodded shyly "Since when?" she asked. As the other two girls looked towards each other.

"W-well I kinda started liking him in first year." Susan admitted "I-I just kind of saw him in the library once. He just looked so excited and… I don't know I just…" she tried to explain her feelings but found her voice failing.

"I noticed him first year as well. During his first quidditch match." Daphne admitted, "I didn't think much about him at first, but when I saw him flying through the air, then broom surfing on the pitch." She said and her hard expression melted into a soft almost wistful gaze a ghost of a smile on her lips.

"And you both knew about each other?" Hermione asked as the two girls shared a look as Susan suddenly looked sheepish.

"Susan has about as much stealth as the sun on a clear day." Daphne said a smirk on her face as Susan buried her face in her hands. "I caught her stalking him and I called her out on it."

"I was not stalking him!"

"Looked like stalking to me."

"I was… just waiting for a chance to introduce myself." She defended weakly.

"Why didn't you? Either of you? Introduce yourselves I mean." Hermione asked.

"We tried." Susan sighed. "But Ron always got in the way or managed to hide Harry away when we came around." She said bitterly.

"He just went right up and told me to piss off." Daphne said her scowl returning. "It wasn't until this year that he finally was free of that weasel. I overheard him talking to Hedwig in the Owlery when he said he was going to go to the Library I knew that it was our chance, so we introduced ourselves there. Well, I did. He already knew Susan." She said a small glare directed towards Susan.

"Not really! He only knew my name." she defended herself. As Daphne just rolled her eyes.

"What about you Granger? What happened last year that made you fall?" Daphne asked. As Hermione tucked a hair behind her hair shyly.

"W-well, you remember Buckbeak?" she asked and both girls nodded "We kind of set him free together and we both rode on his back. I guess it was when we were flying together that I… you know." She said her blush intensifying at the end. All three girls just stood there in silence for a moment before Hermione broke it.

"So, what does this mean? I mean for him; and us too." She asked looking towards the two who shared a look between themselves.

"Okay, Hermione, you have to promise that you won't freak out okay." Susan said as Hermione slowly nodded before Susan took a deep breath.

Harry made his way towards the Hagrid's Hut Cloak in hand as he caught sight of the half-giant. Though he almost thought it was a different person for a moment. Since he's known him Hagrid wasn't the type to dress up. His coat seemed to be much better quality than his usual pick. Combed hair and a bright yellow flower tucked into his coat pocket.

"Hagrid?" Harry asked as he approached

"' Arry! You made it. Come along now." Hagrid said excitedly practically skipping into the forest. Harry hurried to catch up they walked for a little before Harry couldn't contain himself anymore.

"Okay! What's up with the flower?" He asked as Hagrid pursed his lips straightening his coat to make the flower more visible. "Also, did you comb your hair!?" he asked.

"As a matter of fact, I have; do you a great bit of good to do every once in a while." He said rather wittily. Harry just shook his head and followed Hagrid farther into the forest. They were enveloped by silence for the majority of the walk until a loud guttural screech shattered it.

Harry spun around trying to find the source but Hagrid seemed to be searching for something else.

"'Agrid!" a feminine voice called out with a French accent Hagrid's face suddenly gained a very healthy rosy hue matched with a smile. If he suddenly gained white hair and red robes Hagrid would make for a very nice Santa Claus.

"Oh! The cloak; put it on!" Hagrid said as Harry easily threw the cloak over his shoulders. It wasn't long until, with Harry following unseen, Hagrid met with the source of the voice. Harry had to contain the sheer surprise as best he could. The high society Madam Maxime was meeting the rustic Hagrid for a secret rendezvous.

"Oh 'Agrid! I've been waiting so long; I feared you 'ad second thoughts, that per'aps you may have…" she trailed off as Hagrid took her hand into his own.

"Never! I could never have second thoughts about you!" he exclaimed kissing her hand. Harry for his part did cringe slightly. It was sweet, but it was old people's love! Not that either of them was that old. Still!

"So…" she said idly fingering the flower that Hagrid wore. Harry rolled his eyes as he had to give Hagrid a mental point for that one. "What did you want to show me? When last we spoke, you sounded so, exhilarated." She asked as Hagrid's grin returned to his face.

"You'll be glad you came! Come with me." He said and Harry felt that the statement was for both himself and Maxime. Hagrid lead them a little more ways away before pulling back some shrubbery and Maxime and Harry's eyes widened; though for very different reasons.

"Ils sont magnifiques!" Maxime exclaimed looking towards a forest clearing containing four very large cages which held four very large dragons. Harry knew they were going to be used but knowing and seeing them was two very different things. He idly registered the fact that Maxime went to get a bit closer as Harry came forward himself.

"'Arry?" Hagrid asked lowly as Harry pulled back the cloak to reveal his head. Harry, for his part, couldn't tear his gaze away. The dragons were incredible; in a terrifying life-ending sort of way.

One of the dragons had brilliant crimson scales and a sleek slender body. Its snout was rather long adorned with a single golden horn on the nose as well as lower on the jaw. It had a crown of brilliant golden horns as well; in a way, it almost resembled a mane. The dragon was Wyernian in build with two leathery wings and two legs with a long tail that wasn't adorned except for a series of spines that began below the shoulders and flowed down the spin ending just before the tip of the tail.

Another Dragon was bulkier than the first with silver-blue scales. Its snout was pretty short with two long protruding fangs a pair going down like a saber-tooth cat and another pair going on up almost like a boar's tusks. Along the length of its snout was a sort of ridged horn that sort of reminded Harry of a sharp canine tooth with the multiple points in one growth.

A third dragon, the smallest of them all, but no less enormous to Harry, was green in coloration; a light green color not like Harry's eyes. Unlike the other two, this Dragon was not Wyernian in build but instead was a quadruped with two wings. Its eyes flashed gold as it released a torrent of brilliant Orange flames.

Then Harry's eyes came upon the last dragon, the fiercest of all the Dragons in terms of appearance. It was a dark black in colorization with terrible bronze spikes lining its back and tail throughout its entire length. The tip of its tail was like a single great spear studded with bronze spikes and its eyes, a horrid venomous yellow. Its snout also hooked down in front almost like a beak and Harry's eyes couldn't help but flinch as its eyes flashed towards him.

It was as if the Dragon saw him as her eyes narrowed glinting even in the dark of night. They flashed and her maw opened unleashing a torrent of flames in his direction igniting every bush and tree in its way and Harry drew his wands but was relieved when the flames died before they could reach him.

He barely registered what Hagrid was telling him as he simply bid the Half-Giant goodbye and returned to the castle under his cloak. He needed to identify those dragons and figure out if they had any weakness, especially that black one.

Hermione considered herself open-minded, she was always open to new ideas and tasks, and events. However, she did find some things rather backward, growing up in a home full of the latest muggle technology and news she realized just how much of a backwards jump it was coming to the wizarding world.

She loved magic, make no mistake. It was just everything else, like quills; she would never admit it, but she hated quills! She wanted her multicolored pens back! But those were muggle artifacts apparently. She sighed annoyed at the thought, so many great inventions that could be put to great use in the wizarding world but no! They were muggle artifacts and therefore illegal, she idly wondered if every wizarding community had the same restrictions.

Shaking her head her thoughts returned to the plan that Susan had proposed to her and a blush came to her face just thinking about it. It was mad! Pure and simple. Of course, leave it to the Hufflepuff to concoct a plan that tried to satisfy everyone involved.

'We'll share him, in a way. Only if he says yes of course we don't want to make him uncomfortable.' She said it like it was the simplest thing in the world. It obviously wasn't! She was almost as surprised that Daphne even agreed to the plan in the first place. Daphne didn't strike Hermione as the sharing type. Of course, when she had asked the Slytherin girl about it she just shrugged and said something about noble houses and bloodlines or something to that effect.

Hermione was more than uncomfortable with the idea of being in a Harem, even if Susan insisted it wouldn't be quite like that. What else could it be!? It was… well mad! Daphne however had made it very clear that if she wasn't on board, she was competition and Daphne didn't lose according to her.

After their talk and Hermione made her way to the Gryffindor common room to think she immediately just tossed the idea out, it was ridiculous after all. But the more she thought about it the more worried she grew.

After realizing just how she felt about Harry, about how close she grew to him and how important he was to her, losing her would hurt worse than anything else in her life. As Daphne said, if she wasn't on board, she was competition. This unfortunately wasn't a competition of brains or smarts, this was a game of the heart, of flirting and batting eyes.

Daphne was, to anyone with two brain cells to rub together, drop-dead gorgeous. Her straight hair and electric blue eyes and slender figure was model material. Susan was right up there with Daphne only with larger… assets to utilize in her favor.

Hermione got up from her bed and went over to a vanity mirror in the dorm. She saw her hair, bushy and untamed, not in a wild attractive manner, just an uncared-for manner. She looked down at her face and didn't believe she was particularly beautiful. She never even used makeup before!

Her body? She was healthy… and that was about it. She didn't see any features that would put her in the running with Daphne or Susan. She then smiled in the mirror and immediately covered her mouth. She always kept her teeth clean and well cared for, her parents were dentists after all, but she finally seemed to take notice of just how noticeable her buck teeth were.

They weren't the worst but they stood out enough. She frowned at her reflection, even her eyes weren't especially noticeable, simple brown. Not like Daphne's electric blue or Susan's warm Hazel. Even Harry's own brilliant emerald made her eyes seem so horribly… plain.

Yes, that's the word, she was plain… plain, and boring.

Her eyes drifted away from her reflection to the many beauty products on the vanity mirror. It was lavenders so of course there was. Reaching forward she fingered around before grasping a gold tube. Rolling it around in her fingers she grasped both ends before splitting it and had to flip it seeing she was holding it upside down.

Looking towards the lipstick it was a bright red color and she rolled it around her fingers examining it. She then hesitantly held it to her lips and began to rub. She was clumsy, it was less of an application and more of a smudge.

Looking at her reflection now she had an uneven application of red lipstick. She tried to smile again but it quickly morphed into a frown. She sighed as she replaced the lipstick on the vanity desk.

"Hermione?" she jumped her knees banging against the vanity mirror as she turned to see a wide-eyed Lavender. Hermione for her part was mortified, never mind she had horrible lipstick applied to her but she basically stole it.

"I… um, I…" she couldn't find the words as she suddenly felt inexplicable tears sting her eyes as she shot up. Sprinting out of the room she ignored the surprised yelp of Lavender and her attempt to call her back. She barreled through the other girls coming into the room for the night and ignored their cries of surprise. She ran through the common room and out the door. She shot through the Halls no even caring that it was after curfew.

She didn't quite track how long she had been running but she suddenly all but rammed into another body and both she and the other person were suddenly sent spiraling to the ground as Hermione slid scraping her knees and elbows.

"Bloody hell! What do you think you're doing!" an angry voice she recognized hissed out as Hermione looked up seeing Daphne her perfect hair disheveled from their impact and an angry scowl on her face. Though her face morphed into confusion when she spotted Hermione.

"Granger? What are you doing… is that lipstick?" Hermione quickly covered her mouth shaking her head. "Granger I'm not blind. What are you doing anyway? You know it's past curfew, and you're not one to break the rules. At least not without Harry with you." Daphne said righting herself and resting on her knees.

"I could ask you the same." She challenged back before Daphne merely shrugged.

"Susan and I often talk late into the night; we know the castle well and can make it to our dorms undetected. You just missed her we had to split up since her house is in the other direction." She explained. As Hermione stood, she hissed in slight pain feeling the sting of her scrapes.

Daphne noticed this and approached her, she drew her wand and lightly waved it with a few lowly muttered incantations. Hermione felt relief as the sting lessened greatly.

"That's the second time I've patched you up Granger, I should charge you at this rate." Hermione just scoffed as Daphne looked into her slightly red eyes. "Why do you have Lipstick on anyway?" she asked as Hermione stiffened.

"It's stupid." Hermione mumbled.

"Try me." Daphne said walking over to a wall and leaning against it. Hermione didn't want to reveal her embarrassment but thought better of it. If she was going to go with Susan's mad plan, then it would be helpful to establish some trust.

"I- I just wanted to feel pretty…" she mumbled as Daphne raised a delicate eyebrow.

"Really? You wanted to feel pretty?" she drawled out and Hermione scowled.

"Of course, you don't understand." She bit out and Daphne felt a bit of ire rise in her.

"Careful Granger."

"Why? You don't know what it's like to be me! Especially when compared to you! Look at me!" she said gesturing to herself "Then look at you! You don't understand what I feel right now!" she growled out. Daphne's eyes narrowed.

"You don't know me!" she snapped right back.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure you out, Greengrass! The perfect life, Perfect looks, Perfect Blood!" she yelled this time and was suddenly snapped into stunned silence as her face whipped to the side and smack wrung out in the silent halls of the castle.

"My life was anything but perfect!" she hissed out her electric blue eyes glinting dangerously. "My father was sent to Azkaban because he was press-ganged into joining the Dark Lords army! And unlike Malfoy, he didn't have bottomless coffers to draw upon to get his ass out of the fire! I was two years old!" she yelled at Hermione whose eyes went wide her hand resting on her slightly red cheek.

"I grew up without my father for five years! And when he finally came back, he was a shell! He barely recognized my mother he didn't even know my little sister! She was born just after he was sent to Azkaban! He barely recognized me; do you have any idea what that's like? To see a man, you could only remember smiling, and then have him look at you like a stranger? We had to spend the next three years just to get him back to normal!" she said eyes pooling with tears and Hermione suddenly felt very small for her rather selfish problems.

"Everyone has problems, Granger! Don't think just because I don't wear my problems on my sleeves that they don't exist!" she hissed out glaring at the girl in front of her guilt clearly showing in her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry." Hermione apologized bowing her head not willing to meet the other girl's eyes. Hermione just felt stupid, she had gone and gotten all upset over something as stupid as appearances. Lashing out at Daphne for her tiny problems was just, barbaric.

Daphne for her part just closed her eyes taking a deep breath, she hadn't meant to unload on Hermione but the revelations that another girl was going after Harry irked her more than she wanted to admit. With Susan at least they knew each other, so when Susan suggested her plan she hadn't put up too much resistance. Even if she wanted Harry all to herself.

Losing all chance with him was worse than at least coming to a kind of agreement. And over the years she and Susan had gotten close, she could see being a sister-girlfriend with her and even a sister-wife. Hermione… not so much, all she knew was that she had an unfair advantage, at least in Daphne's opinion, and the fact that she was a rather talented student. That was it.

She wanted to tell her off and get her to go away, make way for her and Susan. But she could practically hear the disappointed tone of Susan ringing in her ears just from thought alone. Looking toward Hermione she sighed shaking her head.

"Hermione, you know the second-floor girls' bathroom?" she asked as Hermione turned to her and slowly nodded.

"Me and Susan go there to talk from time to time, meet us there tomorrow. After dinner." She instructed walking off in the direction of the dungeons. Hermione didn't say anything just nodded and watched the girl walk off. She slowly made her way back to her dorm hoping that by the time she arrived the other girls would be in bed.

"So, a Welsh green, Swedish short snout, Chinese fireball, and a Hungarian horntail." Harry said a few books opened in front of him. Tracey and Blaise sat in front of him. It was just after lunch and the two had a short break before their next classes. Harry hadn't seen Daphne, Susan, or Hermione all day and when he asked Tracey she simply smirked and said not to worry about it.

"Okay, the two worst ones are going to be the Chinese fireball and the Hungarian horntail, the Hungarian horntail being the worst of the two. If you could get the Swedish short snout or the Welsh you'll have a much easier time." Blaise said thinking.

"I think the Swedish short snout would beat out the Chinese fireball." Tracey said but Blaise shook his head.

"The Chinese fireball has a worse temperament and is faster, it's more likely to incinerate first then ask questions later." Blaise said as Tracey had to concede his point. Harry just looked between the two incredulously.

"You both can never become healers of any kind, your bedside manner sucks. You do remember that I have to face one of these things, right?" he asked as Blaise just grinned sheepishly.

"Just stating the facts mate." As Harry just rubbed his eyes under his glasses. The fact that he was facing dragons with a possibility of facing the worst of the worst out of all the known species was already weighing on him. But beyond that, the grimoire was being weird too. As it turns out he needed to master the second to last spell in its entirety before the first ritual would be revealed to him which was the last entry in the book before it goes blank.

So, whatever the ritual did he assumed that it would reveal the rest of the contents. The first eight spells would teach him the specific techniques and help from a foundation and the final spell required all of them to pull off. Thankfully he could make it through the task with the spells he had already learned… hopefully.

"Okay, Dragons are magically resistant right?" he asked as Tracey nodded.

"Yup, their eyes are pretty weak though so maybe aim for that?"

"That's an idea." he mumbled looking through the notes they had made.

"Also see if you can practice some water or ice-based spells, especially defensive spells." Blaise said and Harry nodded, he had become proficient with casting Auguamenti and Glacius normally so that was good. He still only had about five or six bursts of high-powered casts in him before he became too exhausted to move. If he tried to push past that he would surely lose consciousness.

He did have Demona, though he was unsure if she would be allowed to even enter with him. Still, he could play off her showing from his shadows as a spell. Yeah, that could work. But even still Demona was linked to him much closer than he thought since she relied on him for magic due to her not being of this world despite not being a conjured magical creature. She might have been summoned but she wasn't tuned to this world's magic, so it was a bit spotty.

That meant when he got magically exhausted and drained, she wouldn't be able to perform at her top level. She was slowly becoming tuned with the world's magic, but it was slow going; too slow. No, he had to rely on himself for the most part.

"What about your Parselmouth abilities?" Blaise asked as Harry looked at him.

"What?"

"Well, Dragons are often described as flying serpents, right? I know it's probably just a figure of speech but still." He said and Harry nodded thoughtfully.

"Maybe… we'll have to see; I'll try to be behind cover before I try though." He said with a chuckle which Tracey and Blaise matched.

"Oh of course." Tracy said with a grin.

They were only able to stay for a little while longer before they had to leave for classes. Harry for his part just poured over the notes memorizing as much as he could about the dragons. Trying to make sure he was as prepared as possible for the harrowing task ahead.

_SCENE_

There it is chapter 4 and I have to say the part that I am most scared that I messed up would be the Hermione and Daphne scene. I hoped it felt genuine and flowed well. I know that it might seem dumb that Harry tried to reveal his book to the others even though he's only known them for a little while at this point. But try to remember that Harry doesn't like to be alone and also, he hasn't fully broken from Ron's imprinted idiocy that has rubbed off on him. He's getting there though but I'm trying to make it gradual not night and day.