Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 18:35:55 EDT
From: Faradhi269@aol.com
Subject: My Life at Hogwarts 8

*This story is a work of fiction.  The characters in it are copyrighted by
Scholastic books and J. K. Rowling.  Any others are in my imagination, as
is their sexuality.  I hope you enjoy the story.  Flames will be read and
placed into the Goblet of Fire for further incineration.*

	I stayed up all night after Harry finally fell asleep.  My mind was
racing through the thoughts of Harry and Ron and I thought I'd finally
figured out why Ron was acting towards me the way he had been recently.  I
also needed to do a LOT of other things.
	To ease my mind, I went down to the common room and pulled out the
second book, which I began to translate into English.  The cover came out
Necromonen vash.  "Darkest Magick," I whispered.  I then began to work on
the pages, using the lists that Hermione and I had compiled.  Again, around
one out of every three words was in the ancient language of magic, which I
could understand.  The rest still eluded me, despite my best efforts.
	Around four in the morning, I felt a jerk of pain, and could have
sworn I heard someone-or something-scream.  I held out my hand, summoning
my ice wand (Michael had my fire wand, a decision I regretted at that
point) and raced to the top of the tower, whence I thought I heard the
scream.
	A sensation of dread came over me as I approached the top of
Gryffindor tower, and a purple haze clouded my vision.  It only grew
stronger until I reached the top step, and then it suddenly vanished
altogether.  I stepped outside, and the night air immediately made me
regret that I hadn't dressed more.  My light sleeping trousers were not
nearly enough to keep the chill out, but I had to endure.
	There was a half-moon shimmering down through the occasional
clouds, and I used its faint light to look around.  I saw nothing.  No
movement other than that caused by the breeze, no sounds.  Nothing seemed
out of the ordinary.  I moved to the center of the tower where I'd come to
practice with my swords on that first night, and a few times since.  The
moment I stepped on the stone, my feet felt warm again, but dirty.  It
felt...wrong...defiled somehow.  I needed more light, and with that
thought, a glowing ball of light appeared over my right shoulder.  It
wasn't overly bright, but as I needed more light, it gradually brightened
to almost a small sun.
	In that light, I could see the marks I'd carved so unwittingly into
the stone were now smashed and covered with soot and rubble.  They smelled
of magic to me, though cold and dead instead of living, fiery magic as I
was used to sensing throughout the castle.
	I bent down to examine some of the soot when I heard a voice
bellow, "Don't touch anything!"
	I jerked up, wand out, and whirled around to see that Professors
Dumbledore, MacGonagall and D'Angelius were all standing there.
MacGonagall stared at my light with a look that said all too clearly "why
am I NOT surprised?"
	"Professor," I asked Dumbledore with a sigh of relief, "did you
hear something, too?"
	"Hear something?  No, my dear boy.  Michael, here, came bursting
out of his quarters and tried to see me, running into Minerva in the middle
of her rounds.  The two came to me immediately, and Michael told me of a
problem here on the roof."
	I risked a surreptitious glance at Michael, who winked at me.  He
knew what I was thinking.
	He approached the ruined sigil and bent closer to examine it,
poking my little light with the tip of his wand to move it closer to where
he wanted it to be.  It was MY turn to gape in surprise as he manipulated
my spell away from me so smoothly.  I was beginning to understand why
Voldemort feared this man.
	"Well, Mr. Arico, it seems your ward has done its work well."  I
looked at him blankly.  "Didn't you know?  I admit, centering here might
have been an oversight, but it still did surround most of the castle
itself.  And that was sufficient."
	"But such a ward, sir," I began.
	"Would require a lot of power, I know," he interrupted.
	"Actually, sir," I said with a smirk, "I was going to say such a
ward wouldn't go off for just anything.  It would need a very powerful
trigger."
	"Indeed it would," he agreed amiably.  "Minerva, will you fetch
Mr. Potter for me?"
	"I'll go, Professor," I volunteered.  "Prefect's duty and all."  I
even managed to say it with a straight face.  There are times I amaze even
myself.
	"Yes," he agreed.  "That will be fine.  And perhaps you might want
to put on some clothes, Mr. Arico," he asked with a twinge of amusement.
	I hurried downstairs to the dormitory and woke Harry quietly,
pulling on a shirt while I did so.  He was actually on the verge of being
awake, and my touch jerked him up immediately.  He sat up and I looked at
him whilst he got his bearings.  A little thin, but then, so am I.  And I
like them lean.  Harry had nice, nickel-sized nipples that were a caramel
color against his pale skin.  Aside from a little bit of tufting under his
arms, he was still hairless (aside from his crotch, but then, we've
discussed that) and in the darkness of the room, his skin glowed.  The
miniscule light from the moon caught his eyes as he turned to me, and for a
moment, they glowed a reptilian green.  I shivered and held out a shirt.
"Professor Dumbledore wants to see you Harry," I whispered.
	He nodded and rose out of bed, grabbing his shirt and sliding on
some slippers.  "What's wrong," I breathed, "you look peaked."
	He shook his head and whispered, "tell you later."
	I nodded and led him up to the roof.

	As we approached the roof, Dumbledore asked, "How's your scar,
Harry?"
	Harry muttered under his breath, so low that even next to him, I
couldn't make it out.  "Sore, sir."
	The Headmaster nodded sagely.  "Did you dream of Voldemort
tonight?"
	Harry nodded again.  "He was on his way here.  He heard that we had
a book of magic here like he'd never seen before, and he wanted it for
himself.  He figured this night assault would be a good time to kill me and
Matt while we slept."
	I looked at Dumbledore and grimaced.  "Go on, Harry," he said.
	"That's about it, sir."
	"Who was he talking to?"
	"Wormtail.  Voldemort knew he couldn't get into the castle, but he
could get Wormtail in easily and he could change back to a human from
there.  He has this magical hand that I saw him crush a stone to rubble
with."
	I nodded.  "I've seen that hand, too, sir."
	Harry looked at me in surprise.  "Harry, did Voldemort touch down?"
	He shook his head.  "No, he flew directly over the tower on a
broom."
	Professor Dumbledore nodded, and held up the charred remnants of a
broomstick.  "This explains all the soot."  He sighed.  "So much for
secrecy."
	"Sir," I asked, "how did he know about the book?"
	Dumbledore's eyes glinted dangerously.  "I don't know, Matthew, but
I plan on finding out.  Go to bed, both of you."
	Harry and I nodded and headed downstairs.  "Well," I said as we
descended, "that explains why you looked ill when I woke you."  We entered
the common room on our way to the dormitory.  "I'm too awake to sleep," I
added.  "I think I'll stay here for awhile."
	"Me, too."
	I shrugged and flicked the fire to life in the fireplace and sat
down close to it, enjoying the warmth.  "Have any thoughts about Ron?"
	"Not really."
	"You know, Harry, I think he feels the same way about you."
	He looked at me intently.  "What makes you say that?"
	"The way he's been acting lately."
	He shook his head.  "That's not enough."
	I slumped down, defeated.  We sat in silence by the fire.  "Wait!
I have an idea!  You're still in Divinations, right?"
	"Yeah.  Why?"
	"Do you have a crystal ball?"
	"Yeah.  We had to get our own for this year."
	"Cool.  Get it.  I need to look something up."
	I clapped my hands together, and when I opened them, a book sat in
my palms.  I shuffled the pages as I heard Harry summon his crystal ball.
"Accio crystal ball!"
	I found the spell I needed just as a small little crystal whizzed
down the stairs and into Harry's waiting grasp.  "Set it down, Harry."  He
did and I held my hand out over the ball.  My hand glowed slightly with a
white-blue light, and the crystal ball resonated with the same light.  "We
need the truth, not what it seems.  Show us Harry's best friend's dreams."
	The light faded a moment.  "Inno dath mare," I commanded.  The
crystal flared into bright light.  For a moment, Ron's face was clear to
see, then it faded away.

	In the light of the crystal, I was standing in a small bedroom,
wearing black robes with glowing red eyes.  Even taller than I normally am,
and much meaner-looking.  And behind me, tied down to a bloodred bed was
Harry.  He was bound spread-eagle and naked with a look of absolute terror
in his green eyes.
	"You're mine, Harry," I said, my voice deep and menacing.  "I'm
going to enjoy this."
	"NOOOO" screamed Harry at the top of his lungs.  "HELP!"  He
struggled against the bonds holding him, but I only laughed and ran a
finger down his naked chest, stopping to twist his nipple painfully.  He
screamed again, and I slapped him hard enough to click his jaw shut with an
audible snap.  "Hush, Harry," I said almost gently.  "This will hurt
enough.  Why make it any worse?"
	The door burst open, and Ron stood in the blight.  He had a wand in
his hand which he aimed at me.  "Avada Kedavra," he yelled.  A bright green
light struck me in the chest and I screamed before falling over, dead.
	Harry cried in relief as Ron cut the ropes binding his arms and
legs and used his own robes to cover Harry's nudity.  He pulled the weeping
Harry into a hug, consoling him and telling him that I would never bother
him again.
	When Harry looked up at him, he lowered his face until their lips
met.  Both of them eased into the kiss.  It was so soft, so loving.  Ron's
hands moved down Harry's bare back...the crystal faded into darkness.

	"Wha-what happened," a shocked Harry asked me.
	"I cut it off.  I don't think the rest was entirely necessary to
see.  Do you?"
	"Well, I did kinda want to," he said with a blush.
	"Why don't you find out for yourself," I suggested.
	"I dunno..." he said.  "I'm not sure I should..."
	I smiled gently.  "Sure you should.  Go on, Harry.  Let him know
how you feel."
	He took a deep breath and nodded.  I gave him a wink and he smiled
weakly at me.  As he started moving up the stairs, I noticed his step
became more firm, his carriage more secure.  He'd made up his mind.

	Once he was out of sight, I activated the crystal ball again.  In
the pale light of the setting moon, I saw Harry enter the dormitory and
move to Ron's bed.  He quietly slid the curtains aside and through the
crystal, I heard Ron whisper, "Harry, is that you?"
	Harry answered that it was and sat down on the edge of Ron's bed.
"Ron," he whispered, "there's something that I've been wanting to tell
you."
	Ron sat up.  He looked at his best friend's face and could see the
struggle, even in the dim half-light.  "What is it, Harry," he asked
gently.
	Harry looked into Ron's eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.
I could have sworn I could almost hear his heart, it was beating so
strongly.  He jerked forward and planted his lips on his best buddy's.  He
then jerked away and said, "I mean, erm, well, maybe tomorrow, then," as he
started to stand.
	Ron's hand snaked out from the covers and caught Harry's arm,
pulling him back to the bed.  As Harry gaped, Ron pulled their heads
together and it wasn't long before the two were snogging like experts.
	I smiled and let the globe's glow fade.  It was getting close to
dawn, and I wasn't overly tired, so I decided to sit back and play with the
fire.  I'd always had a fondness for fire.  As I sat in the comfy chair, I
cupped my right hand and pulled a string of the flame away from the
fireplace.  It came to rest in my hand, glowing and pulsating like a living
thing.
	For a while, I just played with it: I changed its color, expanded
and shrunk it, made it dance, split it and juggled, etc.  Finally, I shaped
it into the pattern I'd seen on the tower roof, and it resisted.  I tried
to force it into that pattern when it exploded silently, but with a force
that knocked me over backward.  It also blew out the fire.
	"What the hell was that," I asked no one in particular.  At that
point, I stood, righted the chair and went up to the dorm to get dressed.
	Harry's bed was empty when I got up there.  I had a brief surge of
worry, but when I opened the curtains to Ron's bed, the two of them were
intertwined together, fast asleep.  I sighed in relief, grabbed some
clothes and went back downstairs.
	I moved all the furniture to the sides of the room and began to
work some of my forms-without any weapons, of course.  I allowed myself to
become lost in the technique when I realized the sun had risen long ago and
people were coming down on their way to breakfast.  I waited patiently,
then joined Lee Jordan and the Weasley twins on their way down.  I needed
to talk with them...