Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 20: Apologize
"Get away from me, Potter." Pansy had her wand in hand and was pointing it at him.
Harry grinned. "Are you going to curse me?, very well...go on… show me what you got."
"Urgg…!" Draco's noises of struggle called for his attention.
"Right… I forgot about you." He removed the hex before the boy died. It wouldn't be good to start killing students on the first day of his return.
A red spark hit his shield, fizzling away in a second.
Harry's eyes went back to Pansy, who looked quite terrified.
"A stunner? I thought you Slytherins were all about embracing the dark side of magic. Surely you can do something much better than that."
Pansy's eyes became narrow. "Fine then… what about this?!" Her next spell came in the form of a quick wave that was aimed at his legs.
Once more, his shield stopped it, but it struggled a lot more to fizzle this one out.
"Oh? Was that a Bone-Breaker Hex? Much better, and borderline illegal." Harry looked a bit impressed. That was not an easy spell for someone that young to do.
'Perhaps this girl has more in common than just looks with Helena.' Harry thought.
After all, that princess had been a genius in many areas like music or painting.
"Y-you are going to get expelled for this, Potter. Draco's father will… he will…" Pansy tried to sound tough, but her hands were trembling.
"Me?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I will remind you that it was you guys who attacked me first. I was merely defending myself. Now, why don't y—"
He heard the sound of steps approaching. "It looks like we'll have to continue our conversation another time, my dear."
His wand appeared in his hand, and in the next instant, Harry had vanished from view.
Just a moment later, several Slytherin seniors came walking at a fast pace, and began to run when they saw their housemates on the ground.
"What happened here?!"
"Merlin! Is that Malfoy?!"
"Who did this?!" They turned to Pansy for an explanation, since she was the only one who looked uninjured.
Pansy stared into the empty alley where she had seen Harry disappear, still wondering how he did that.
"It was… Harry Potter."
"Potter did this?" a seventh-year student called Marcus Flint asked her. He had a cruel smirk on his face as he did so.
"Was he alone?" another one added.
Pansy glanced at the senior and nodded. "Yes, alone."
Flint turned to the other boys. "One of you, take Malfoy to the infirmary. The rest, come with me. We're going to find Potter. He is going to pay for this."
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After removing the invisibility charm, Harry returned to the lower floors. He had missed the chance to eat lunch at the hall, so he felt somewhat hungry.
However, there was something more important that he wanted to check.
With that in mind, he climbed down the stairs to the second floor.
Several students passed by his side and gave him nasty glares, although so far, they had left him alone.
This 'peace' did not last for long, though.
"Harry! There you are!"
It was a female voice, but not one that he wanted to hear.
"Hermione." Harry glanced at the girl. She didn't look very happy, and next to her was Neville Longbottom, giving him a clue as to the reason behind her apparent anger.
"I've been looking for you all over the castle," Hermione said while trying to recover her breath after all that running around.
"Harry, you missed lunch," Neville added.
"Didn't feel very hungry." Harry gave a cutting response, hoping that they wouldn't waste much of his valuable time.
"Harry, they told me what happened between you and Ron," Hermione said. "Why did you attack him?"
"Attack him? Is that what they told you happened?" Harry glared at Neville, and he promptly looked away in fear.
"I saw the marks that Ron has on his neck." Hermione frowned. "He's scared… Why did you do that?"
Harry realized that this girl was going to be a problem. All he knew about her told him that no matter what he did, she would be standing in his way.
'Mmm… I suppose I could try that on her.'
He gave her another look. If one could look past her messy hair and big mouth, Hermione could be considered very attractive.
He was just noticing that because the original Harry never did, and so far, she had done nothing but be obnoxious to him.
"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" Hermione was glaring at him with her arms at her sides.
"Mmm, and what would you have me do, Hermione?" Harry asked.
"For one, you should apologize to Ron for what you did. You two used to be friends, so it's the least you can do," Hermione said.
"Apologize?" He had never apologized for anything in his life. At least not with any degree of sincerity.
"Absolutely!" Hermione exclaimed. "Seriously, Harry. What happened to you? You are… so changed since you returned from… well, from the last task."
There was a hint of concern in her voice, one that Harry did not miss.
"Maybe you would feel better if you talked about it with someone…"
"Yes, I think that could be a good idea," Harry said, taking Hermione by surprise.
"Really?" She had never expected him to say that. The Harry she knew was always a closed book, and she had to try her best to open him up—even just a little bit.
"Really. But…" Harry looked around. There were a few students walking through the hall. "Not here. Let's talk somewhere more… private."
Neville got a bad feeling from the way Harry had said that. "Ehm… Hermione? I don't think that y—"
"I know just the place." Hermione was too ecstatic to listen to him. She grabbed Harry's hand and dragged him away.
Neville stood in the middle of the hall, not sure what he should do now.
"I probably should go find Ron, though."
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