A Twist of Fate

Chapter 13: Home

"Thanks for helbing me out." Harry spoke through his bloodied up nose.

Tonks waved away his thanks. "Don't worry about it. Besides, it's that Luna girl you should thank- she did help me out with finding you and all. Why would you lay under your invisibility cloak of all things on the train?"

"Er- dat wasn't really my choice," Harry fixed his gaze to the grassy ground that gleamed with fresh dew as they walked towards Hogwarts. "Dra- Malfoy cursed me...

And broke my dose." He dabbed at the remaining spots of blood with a napkin Luna had given him.

"Didn't Luna fix your nose?"

"Well, yes. It's judt a liddle difficult to talk."

"It'll wear off." She shrugged. "Ah, here we are. Don't get your knickers all in a twist and break something else. Catch ya later, Harry!" Tonks smiled, waving a hand before leaving Harry in the custody of- Snape. How wonderful. The tall, metal bars of the Hogwarts gate stood between them.

Snape smirked smugly. "Potter,"

"Sir," Harry shifted uneasily on his feet. The metallic gates opened just enough so that Harry could slip in through and come face to face with dark eyes and long, greasy hair.

"Come," Snape turned abruptly on his heel and gave a swift wave of his hand for Harry to follow. Harry hastily caught up, staring at the ground. After a few minutes of walking, Harry could hear the jolly voices inside of Hogwarts, all laughing and guffawing as usual. Only he was out here, away from all that cheeriness and warmth. He went to pull open the door handle as soon as he saw it, but was cut off by Snape.

"Potter," he said in a menacing tone. "Keep quiet. Don't attract attention." Snape slid into the castle before Harry did. With a confused shrug, Harry stepped into a room of familiarity. Down a small hallway he went, up the staircase and into a whole new light.

The Great Hall shone with its warm, vibrant colours, mimicking the feeling of a toasty fire. The start-of-the-year drapes were hung up, the four Hogwarts House emblems proudly displayed. Ravenclaw, the watchful hawk. Hufflepuff, the relaxed badger. Gryffindor, the roaring lion. Lastly, Slytherin's snake leered down upon the people seated at the long tables. And there sat Dra- Malfoy, right underneath the snake. He seemed to take no notice of Harry, which sent a small 'twang' in his heart. Harry looked elsewhere, to the loudest table by far. Fred and George were cracking up jokes again, and as Harry approached he even saw Seamus snort out some milk from his nose. Hermione spotted him first, her lips mouthing "Harry!" as her eyes widened. Ron turned and locked eyes with him, seeming a little surprised by the blood on his face.

"He's covered in blood again. Why is he always covered in blood?" Ginny commented from beside Hermione. Harry had gathered a bit of attention on his way over, but most of the eyes had peeled away from him by now.

"What happened, Harry?" Hermione urged before he had even sat down. Harry scooted into his seat, muttering loud enough for them to hear. "Malfoy." Ron and Hermione nodded, but still poked at the topic until Harry spilled the rest of the details.

"Unbelievable," Ron grunted, taking a bite of chicken. "I thought you two were, you know."

"So did I," Harry shook his head.

"Don't worry mate, there are plenty of candles in the sky. Surely one of them can handle you."

"My, you were almost poetic, Ron." Hermione mused, her eyebrows slightly raised in surprise. Before Ron could badger her about her comment, Dumbledore gathered the attention of the school.

"Attention everyone! I have a couple of announcements to make. First of all, you may have noticed that there is a stranger dining with us. It is my pleasure to introduce Professor Slughorn, who will be resuming his old post of teaching Potions. This means that Professor Snape shall be taking the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts into his own hands. Furthermore, the forest just beyond the castle is out of bounds..." He went on describing the usual routine of Hogwarts, rules and such.

"Potions?" Ron's mouth gaped open. "I thought Slughorn was supposed to be our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher!"

"Odd, why would Dumbledore let him do that?" Hermione seemed confused herself. Harry felt befuddled. The level of information he was taking in was already at a peak, and it had just jumped off a cliff. Everything he knew seemed clouded, or false. These thoughts kept on bothering Harry even when he took the usual staircase up to Gryffindor Tower. For a moment he wondered where Ron and Hermione had gone off to, but then remembered they had to attend to the first years, as a part of their Prefect duties. He sighed. The portrait of the Fat Lady seemed a bit welcoming, at least.

"Password?" she asked, just like every other time.

"Mimbulus mimbletonia." Harry scratched his head. The painting swung open, revealing the all-too-familiar common room that he had spent so many hours in before. There was the seat that he always sat in, doing homework or just chatting. A girl with brown pigtails occupied the seat, reading a thick book, so he didn't bother her. Not that he would have ordered her to get out of that seat even if he did want to sit down, anyway. That would be rude. Instead, Harry hopped up the steps to the boys' bedroom. Inside, he saw that all of his belongings were already beside his bed, Hedwig chattering loudly when he came in. He went up to her, stroking her beak and digging in his suitcase for any owl treats he might have left over. There seemed to be none. Harry cursed under his breath.

"Sorry, Hedwig. You'll have to wait until later." Hedwig chirped in slight annoyance, but shuffled herself into a sleeping position. She kept one of her eyes a sliver open though, watching Harry. Harry flopped on his bed, his mind racing. What was he going to do this year? Would Voldemort try and launch an attack again? Probably. Rolling over to where his clothes lay, Harry changed into his jumper and pajama pants. It was quite comfortable, he thought. Comfortable enough, he could fall asleep quite easily. And so he did, quite easily so. He didn't think about what was in store for him tomorrow, though. The future could remain a mystery for a while.

Okay, okay, I'm a little turd. I get lazy when writing. One sentence a month is okay, right? Not right. I'd like to keep more of these chapters going, but once again, I'm running out of ideas on how to continue this story. I have a small idea but it isn't big enough to run several chapters on it (aside from the entire Draco hating on Harry for no reason thing) so, if you want to suggest something, go for it. I'm up for suggestions. Not just on this story, either. Don't be afraid to talk to me either, I like talking. A lot. That's why these little notes get written faster than the actual story. Whoops. I'll keep that one to myself, locked away in a Mystery Dungeon... done! Wait, everyone has already started reading this? They're seeing my thoughts? They know where that thought is?! Well this has been quite the adventure. Bye, invisible people.