Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2002 17:48:44 EDT
From: Faradhi269@aol.com
Subject: My Life at Hogwarts 16

*This story is a work of fiction.  You know the drill.  Copyright, etc.
Blah blah blah*

	I awoke with my arms still wrapped around Will.  I liked how that
felt.  He snuggled into me a little more, and I sat still, watching him
sleep.  God, he's so cute.  Barely older than I, it seems that despite his
maturity, he just has a naivete that I couldn't resist.
	After perhaps fifteen minutes, he stirred.  He felt my arms around
him and he seemed startled.  I smiled down at him as he twisted to see if I
was awake.
	"Morning," I murmured.
	"Er, morning," he said uncomfortably.  He twisted more and I
lowered my arms.  "I guess I fell asleep here," he said abashed.  "Sorry."
	"Don't be sorry," I said.  "I fell asleep here, too."
	"Yeah, but."
	"Will," I said sharply, cutting him off.  "I don't mind.  If you
feel uncomfortable with that, why have you been in the same bed with me for
the last week?"  He looked like he was trying to puzzle that out himself
when I leaned my head down and gently brought my lips to his.
	They didn't respond, and I pulled back.  I searched his face and
saw only shock.  "I-I'm sorry.  I shouldn't have-" he put a finger on my
lips.  "I'm glad you did," he answered before bringing us together.  His
lips were very soft and warm, and I gave myself into the sensation.  After
what could have been hours, but what was probably only a minute, I felt his
tongue pressing against my lips, asking for entrance.  He seemed unsure,
despite initiating the snog, so once we began, I took charge.  I wrestled
his tongue with mine, sucked on his lower lip, nibbled, all the things I'd
read about and done with previous encounters.  But they meant more with
Will.
	A flash and a bang pulled me out of my reverie.  Will and I pulled
away from each other, and I whirled around to see what happened.  From the
stairway to the basement, James stumbled up.  There was smoke clinging to
him and his clothes were so tattered they were ready to fall off.  It was
actually rather cartoonish, and I had to laugh.  "You OK, James?"
	He didn't answer or acknowledge I was there.  He just shuffled by.
Will and I shared a confused look and I followed him.  "James?  Hello?
Earth to James.  Blade, come in.  You OK?"
	As he reached the front drawing room, I finally noticed what he had
in his hands: my two books!  They sat one right on top of the other with
their bloodred lettering smirking at me.  "JAMES!  What are you doing," I
yelled, and grabbed for the books.
	Before I had time to react, his left hand whipped around, smacking
me in the side of the head and sending me flying.  "Stop," I yelled as I
got back up.  I jumped at him with a side kick, but he didn't stop when my
foot slammed into the back of his knee.  Instead, he let the knee buckle
and dropped to the ground, spinning on the knee.  His other foot came
around quickly and hit me behind both knees.  I dropped to the ground as he
stood and kept moving for the door.
	"God damn it," I cursed as I tried to stop him with a wall of air.
My power flowed off him and I gaped.  The front door opened and I saw
several people waiting outside the range of my wards.  James moved
purposefully towards them with my books.  I had no choice.  With a thought,
I summoned his gift to me-the vampire blood-and downed it.  I immediately
felt stronger.  My muscles solidified and grew and my vision and other
senses grew sharper.  I hurtled myself at him and grabbed his arm,
wrenching it away from my books.
	He couldn't pull his arm away, though his muscles strained.  I
snarled and with three quick kicks-to the shin, thigh and chest-sent him
flying.  I dove on him and now that my strength was equal to his, he lost
any advantage he had.  The books were momentarily forgotten as I swore to
destroy him for his betrayal.  My anger gave me even more strength and my
power exuded from me in a bright blue aura-tainted by streaks of red,
though I didn't know it.  I beat him nearly senseless and would have
continued until I heard a high voice call out "Accio!"
	I whirled in time to see my books flying into the hands of a tall,
pale, red-eyed wizard.  "Voldemort," I snarled, "not a chance in hell will
you get those books!"
	He laughed at me and grabbed the book of defensive magic.  The
moment it touched his hands, the book exploded in white fire and Voldemort
screamed in pain.  I laughed and called the book to my hand.  It returned
smoothly, but the book of darkest magic stayed frozen between him and me.
Each of us strained to draw the book to us.
	Voldemort stared at me with those reptilian eyes of his and
suddenly he laughed.  Keeping his Summoning Charm active, he waved his
wand.  "Wampir no dominatus!" he cried.  I felt a jerk and a rip of pain
flood through me as my muscles expanded even more and I literally felt
fangs growing in my mouth.  Against my will, my power on the book faded.
Unrestrained, the book of the most powerful necromantic spells ever created
flew into the hands of the Dark Lord.  With another high laugh, he
Disapparated, as did his followers.  I threw my hands into the air and a
thunderstorm burst overhead, shattering trees and throwing up fountains of
earth where they struck.

	I lost myself in my rage and when I came to my senses, the ground
around me was pitted with craters, Voldemort was gone, James was
unconscious and everyone else was standing at the door staring at me in
horror.  Even Will.
	That calmed my anger.  The sight of his blue eyes so frightened of
me.  I pulled myself together and stalked towards the front door.  Everyone
pulled back from me.  I frowned.  "Don't do that.  I'm not mad any more."
	Hermione surged forward.  "What is WRONG with you, Matthew," she
snapped in a very adult manner.  "You could've blown up the house!  You
could have hurt all of us, and yourself as well!"
	I glared at her and she quieted.  "Voldemort," everyone but Potter
and I flinched at either the name or the tone of my voice, "got away with
the book of darkest magic, Hermione."  My voice didn't keep the temper of
my words.  "It will take him some time before he puzzles it out, but he
will.  He's very, very good."
	"What are you going to do," Ron asked hesitantly.
	"I'm going to triple the strength of the wards around these two," I
said, nodding my head towards Wills and Harry.  "And pack.  We leave for
school tomorrow.  Aside from that," I sighed.  "I need to talk with
Dumbledore."
	"Everyone, you need to pack," I finally said after several terse
moments of silence.  They nodded and split up to go to their separate
rooms.  I translocated myself to the wards I'd laid and decided there was
only one thing I could really do to make them stronger.  Pulling out the
defensive book, I willed a silver dagger into my hand and slit my left
forearm.  I grimaced in pain and read from the grimoire.  As it fell it
flared in blue-white flame and the wards around the school shimmered
briefly, lighting the sky as a lightning flash before fading from sight.  I
took a step and was at the other school, where I repeated the
fortification.
	When I returned to my house, I was far too tired to try to heal a
minor thing like a cut on my arm, so I wrapped a bandage over it and
gathered my bags.  I'd never failed before.  I didn't want to tell
Dumbledore how badly I'd messed up.  I looked around the room.  Will or
Harry had cleaned up.  It was nice of whoever it was.
	"Matt," Hermione's voice called upstairs, "we have a car waiting
for us!"
	I shrunk my bags and stuck them in my pocket.  I grabbed the house
keys in my other pocket.  I headed down where everyone was waiting for me.
James was already gone, of course, and I didn't blame him, though I'm sure
he wasn't happy with me.  Prince Harry led the three from Hogwarts out to
the car, which I could see was a limousine through the open door.  He took
one look at me and knew that I needed a moment alone with William.
	"I'm sorry to have put you through all this, Will," I said softly.
	He gave me a look.  "What are you talking about?"
	"I failed, Will.  I'm not used to failure!  I've only made the
enemy of the world stronger than ever and can't stay around to protect
you!"
	He gave me a half-smile.  "You've done more than enough, Matt.  We
will be fine."  His voice firmed.  "We don't need your specific protection.
The rest of the world needs it more.  You have a job to do, my friend.
Perhaps you should focus on the greater good."
	I frowned.  "But-"
	He put a finger to my lips.  (Again!  I must babble a lot) "I
appreciate your caring so much about me," he whispered as he brought his
lips to mine.  I felt the warmth of his breath before his lips, and I
closed my eyes.  His kiss was soft and gentle.  Comforting.  Reassuring.  I
have no idea how long we stood there in each other's arms, gently sharing
our souls.  All too soon, however, Harry coughed at the doorway.
	Blushing, we pulled away from each other and got into the car.
Harry gave me a grin and I elbowed him in the ribs.  His grin broke into a
smirk, and I couldn't help but laugh.
	The ride to King's Cross was silent and solemn.
	I was the last of the students to exit the car.  "I'll call you,"
Will said.
	"I'll steal his phone and call, too," Harry added.  I laughed and
gave them both a hug, quickly so the public might not realize who had just
dropped us off.
	Harry and Ron snuggled close on the seat across from Hermione and I
once we were safely back in our own cabin.  She and I were busy reading,
though I was sure I felt her eyes on me constantly.
	My mind was wandering all over.  I read the same page seven times
before I realized that, so I closed the book and went to get a snack from
the front of the train.  Strangely, nothing looked appealing, and I decided
to head back to the cabin and try to catch a nap.
	My mind was still out of sync when a foot stuck out in front of me
and I tripped.  Forgoing my usual grace, I fell face first onto the floor.
As I pushed myself up, I heard some snickering.  Draco Malfoy sat on my
right, laughing.  Goyle, who's foot I'd tripped over, still had his leg
extended.  Crabbe sat next to him, chortling.  I growled as I got to my
feet.  "You just don't seem to learn, boy."
	He laughed.  "Do your worst, mudblood.  My father showed me how to
deal with the likes of you."
	"He did, did he?  I'm sure."  I whipped my hand out, expecting him
to be sent flying, as usual.  But I felt my power strike some sort of
shield, though I couldn't see it.  "So he has," I muttered.
	Three wands came out and fired, but I struck away the colored bolts
contemptuously.  My anger grew at this.  These three DARED to interfere
with me at this time?  What did they think they were doing?  But Malfoy,
Crabbe, Goyle.their fathers are all Death-Eaters.  Perhaps show Voldemort's
followers that they are not safe in following the Dark Lord.  Yes.  That
would do nicely.
	The world had taken on a red haze, and my hands filled with flame,
glowing nearly white from the intense heat.  I clapped them together and
lighting played around the outside of a perfectly-formed ball of fire.
"Did daddy protect you from this, you little fuck?"  I unleashed the ball
and watched with satisfaction as their shields evaporated under the blow.
So did their clothes, their hair, a lot of their skin, and the rest of the
cabin.  The train shook violently as the outer wall exploded into shards,
streaming flames and smoke into the brisk January air.  Three charred,
blackened forms lay still on the floor in front of me.  I watched closely
as their chests rose and fell slowly and infrequently.
	"Still alive," I asked aloud.  "Pity."  Then I started making my
way back to the cabin.


	**I know this chapter is shorter than most of the others.  Sorry.
I've been busy, and this seemed a good place to end it so I can sort out my
thoughts.  Hopefully, part 17 will be much longer and a little more
completed.**