Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 18:32:02 EST
From: Faradhi269@aol.com
Subject: My Life at Hogwarts 19

	*This story is a work of fiction.  The characters, real or
fictional, have not given me permission to use them, and if I made any
profit from this, it'd be violating copyright infringement.  But as I'm
not, it's all good.  If you object to stories of this particular nature,
you're in the wrong archive, my friend.*

	"What was THAT all about," Ron asked Harry.
	"I'm not sure," he said with a frown.  "But I certainly didn't like
it."
	"You two talk to Dumbledore and McGonagall," Hermione said.  "I
want to check something in the library."
	"Figures," sighed Ron as she dashed off.  "She hasn't changed in
five years, Harry.  You'd think she'd have every book anyway."
	"Wingardium Leviosa," Harry commanded, lifting one of the
overturned chairs and placing it back.  "Let her go, Ron.  Look at what she
figured out with all her work in the library.  She figured out that Skeeter
cow was an unregistered Animagus."  Ron nodded grudgingly.  "She figured
out what the monster from the Chamber of Secrets was."
	"Fat lot of good that did," Ron muttered.
	Harry grinned and poked him in the stomach.  Ron laughed sheepishly
and Harry pulled him in for a quick kiss.  The kiss lasted longer than he'd
originally intended, and when he broke away, he was breathing heavily.
	"C'mon, Ron. Help me clean this place up, or McGonagall will kill
Matt."
	"He deserves it, the wanker."
	"And us, too," he added.
	Ron's eyes widened.  "Good point.  Wingardium Leviosa," he added.

	While the two set the Gryffindor common room back to normal,
Hermione ran to the Chamber, flicking her badge in front of the pipe, which
opened soundlessly.  Moaning Myrtle watched her, intrigued.  After Hermione
disappeared down the dark hole, Myrtle floated forward.  A brief flash of
light struck out, flinging her back.
	"Ouch!" She cried, rubbing her smoking nose.  Miffed, she returned
to her toilet.

	Meanwhile, I ended up outside, sitting next to the nearly-frozen
lake.  I wasn't wearing winter clothes, but I didn't feel cold.  My anger
radiated off me in waves, slowly causing the ground around me to steam, and
taking the frost off the lake's edge.
	"What is WRONG with me," I raged.  "What's happening?"  A thought
occurred to me-my house.  I could use my casting room in my London house
and see what I might discover.  A flickering thought of the problems I'd
face if I left school grounds crossed my mind, but as I'd been bending or
breaking rules since I came to England, I didn't let it bother me in the
slightest.
	With a thought, I summoned the magic I'd need for a translocation.
Instead of just whisking myself away, I opened a dark swirling portal and
stepped through.  I didn't wind up where I'd planned, however.  Rather than
ending up in my house, I was where I'd begun at the lake.
	My eyes narrowed, and I cast a quick detection to see if anyone had
interfered with my magic.  I didn't get any form of response.  Eventually,
my confusion took over my anger, and it faded.  I sat by the edge of the
lake to think, as had been a habit of mine since I started school-all of
six or so months.  I looked at the ice-free, softly rippling water, and
calmed down.  Though past the deepest part of winter, it was still cold
except for the ground I'd vented on earlier.  That was stripped bare of
plant life and was still hot to the touch.
	I avoided it and moved to stare at my reflection in the lake.  My
mouth dropped open when I didn't see one.  What was going on?  It dawned on
me, finally.  Vampire blood.  Voldemort had done something to me, and I
didn't even see what it was until it was too late.  I collapsed to my
knees.  That explained everything!  Why I didn't die from the Nightshade,
and why I didn't feel cold.  Why I couldn't get into the Chamber of Secrets
or my own house.
	There had to be some kind of cure.  And I had to find it quickly.
How long would it be before the Thirst took over, and I'd be left with
nothing but an all-consuming hunger?  They would be forced to destroy me to
protect the students, and then Voldemort would surely win.
	I trudged back to the castle and through the passages.  Doorways
opened before me, and students avoided me.  I finally came to the Fat Lady,
who gave me one look and squeaked as she opened the door, without asking
for a password.
	The common room had been repaired and was dark and empty except for
one person: Hermione.  She stood from the chair nearest the fire once I'd
entered.  "Matt," she said gravely, "we need to talk."
	I blinked.  A confrontation?  The foolish girl!  My anger flared,
and alarmed, I reined it in sharply.
	Off to my right, from the stairwell to the boys' dormitories I
heard someone shout "Aramashe majicus!"  I whirled to see Harry, his wand
extended and pointing at me.  I my anger rushed out again, ripping its way
past my controls and I snarled.  My vision turned red, and I felt my teeth
growing into fangs, changing the whole shape of my face.
	On my left, Ron cried, "Petrificus Totalus!"  To my surprise, my
muscles all froze, binding my arms and legs together.  I fell back with a
jolt, though with my muscles numbed, I didn't feel the blow.
	"I'm sorry, Matt," Hermione began, "but I needed to talk."  I
blinked in confusion.  She nodded as though reading my mind.  "As to how we
got past your defenses, it was the book you gave me.  There was a spell in
there that claimed to be able to penetrate any spell-shield."  She frowned.
"Luckily, Harry was able to cast it."
	She sighed, and pulled over a chair to look down on me at the
floor.  Ron and Harry pulled over two more, and the triad faced me.
"Matt," Hermione began, "I know what happened to you."
	Harry and Ron nodded uncomfortably.  "We've seen you changing,
Matt," Ron said.  "You were arrogant before, but you tried to cover it.
Now it's like you don't even bother," he added angrily.  "What makes you
think you're so much better than us, huh?  I thought you were a friend, you
bastard!"
	Harry put a calming hand on his friend's arm.  "We followed you
because you were a good leader, Matt.  You knew so much.  You were so
genuinely concerned for us.  You risked yourself for me.  You taught us a
lot.  But you're not that Matt any more."  He wasn't angry.  He was sad.
That was different than I expected.
	"Matt, I know how to cure you," Hermione said, cutting straight to
the point.  "But I'm not sure how easy it will be, and like it or not, you
can't do it alone."  She looked at the others, who nodded-Ron reluctantly.
"We will help you through it, because of what you've done.  But, you must
ASK us for help.  We were impressed before.  We needed you.  Now you need
us.  No more ordering anyone around."  Her face and voice softened.  "I
know you're not trying to be mean by this, Matt, but you must learn to
trust your friends.  We're your friends, and we'll be your friends for a
long time, if you'll let us.  But friends must be willing to give and
take."
	I blinked my eyes a few more times.  They rose.  "We'll leave you
here to think about it tonight.  The spell will wear off by morning.  Good
night."
	Harry looked suddenly very tired, and Ron half-supported him as
they ascended the stairs.  Hermione gave me one last look before she, too,
went to bed.  The lights in the common room slowly went out, leaving only
the fire in the fireplace.
	I lay on the floor, unable to move, unable to even feel the tears
running down my cheeks.

	The next morning dawned, and Harry and Ron, dressed in casual
clothes hurried down to the common room.  Their eyes immediately searched
the floor for me.  I wasn't where they'd left me, and they seemed surprised
by it.  They turned to go up the stairs again, ready to look for me
dormitory by dormitory, but Ron crashed into some invisible barrier.
	A chair in front of the fireplace-the same one Hermione'd sat in
the night before-lifted gently into the air and turned around to face them.
I sat in the chair, effortlessly guiding its movements.  They both paled,
and Ron aimed his wand at me, thrusting himself between Harry and myself.
	I grinned mirthlessly.  "How noble," I hissed.  "Not that it would
do you any good, Mr. Weasley."  He lifted into the air, his expression one
of panic, and Harry lifted away from him.  They reached for each other, but
as their hands were about to touch, I made a curt motion with my left hand,
and they were hurled away from each other.
	"Well now," I gloated.  My voice had changed, not that I
particularly noticed, nor would I care if I had.  It had become deeper,
more mellifluous.  It was insinuating and smooth.  It was frightening and
powerful and awe-inspiring all at the same time.  "I have here two more
people who claimed friendship with me.  What shall I do with them, I
wonder?"
	Ron aimed his wand.  "Impedimentia!"
	Nothing happened.
	"Stupefy!!"
	Nothing happened.
	"Aramashe majicus!"
	Nothing happened.
	"Expelliarmus," I whispered.  Ron's wand flew out of his hand and
into mine, sending him flying into the barrier with a thud.
	"No! Ron," Harry yelled.
	"So, you still care for him, even after what he did to you," I
murmured.
	"What do you mean, what he did to me," Harry demanded.
	"Please, Harry," I dismissed.  "Don't think me stupid.  Do you
think I don't know how much it hurt?"
	"Wha-what do you mean?"
	"Don't play the fool with me!" I snapped.  "Even now, it hurts
whenever he enters you, doesn't it?"
	His eyes widened and his cheeks flushed-with anger or
embarrassment, I couldn't tell.  "That isn't any of your business," he
returned.
	"Strange how he embraces pain and pushes away the one who would
spare him from pain," I whispered loud enough to be heard.
	"What are you talking about?"
	I shook my head.  "Apparently, you no longer have any respect for
me or my abilities at all."  My eyes darkened, sinking into my skin, which
was beginning to shrivel.
	His mouth opened in a soundless scream as a cadaver with lanky hair
and elongated canines formed in front of him.  My hand stretched toward
him, beckoning.
	"No!"
	Claws grew from my fingertips, and my clothes grew ragged around
me.  The stench of death filled the room.  "THIS is what I have become now,
you stupid boy," I rattled.  The beauty of the voice was gone, replaced by
a bone-chilling rasp as air tried to move dead muscles in my voice box.
	"This is impossible!  EXPECTO PATRONUM!" He roared, pointing his
wand at me.  A large silvery stag leaped out and tried to attack me.  I
blew on it, and it vanished in smoke.
	"Look well, Harry," I mocked, my voice fading away.  "See what you
have made and remember.  Hope, my dear boy, that the Chamber will protect
you, for I no longer will."  The flesh crumbled into ash, and the bones of
my body began to snap.
	"Fine," he roared in anger.  "I don't need you!"  He pulled my fire
wand out of his belt, and aimed it at me.  "Necro fornare immolatus," he
screamed.  A ball of roiling purple flames leaped from its tip and slammed
into the remains of the corpse in front of him, shattering it to pieces,
but leaving the chair unharmed.
	"Well done," my disembodied voice mocked.  "Look well upon what you
have unleashed."  The ashes coalesced to show Hermione's face locked in a
rictus of terror: frozen so in death.
	"NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" He screamed.
	My laughter filled the room while Harry knelt and wept.

	"Harry," Ron murmured.  "Harry, you must wake up!"  He shook his
boyfriend, to no avail.  Ron looked at Harry's tear-streaked face,
concerned.  "Harry, please," he moaned.
	Harry's cry had woken up all the others in the dormitory.  Neville
sat up straight, his eyes wide.  Seamus was looking around.  "Wha-wha-wha's
going on," he muttered, his voice thick with sleep.
	"Something's wrong with Harry," Ron said.
	"It looks like he's having a nightmare," Dean said dismissively,
stifling a yawn.
	"But he's not waking up," Ron fretted.  In his worry, he climbed
into Harry's bed and held him close, heedless of the others.  Dean smirked
and Neville smiled.  Seamus didn't notice, as he went back to sleep.

	My laughter rang through the room.  "This is your fault, Potter.
What would your parents think," I gloated.  Ron lifted into the air again.
"Harry," I asked almost conversationally, "do you know what happened to
Neville's parents?"
	His head stayed lowered, weeping over Hermione.
	"Harry," Ron called weakly.
	Harry didn't hear him.
	"Harry, please," he moaned.
	"Tsk tsk," I chuckled.  "CRUCIO!"
	Ron screamed in agony as every nerve in his body exploded in pain.
	THAT jerked Harry away from the fallen.  He looked around the room,
trying to find the source of my voice, but all he could see was Ron's
floating, shaking form.
	"Finite incantatum," he cried, pointing his wand at Ron.
	Nothing happened.
	"Please, Matt," he begged, "stop!"

	"Please, Matt," he murmured against Ron's chest, "stop!"
	"Hush, Harry," Ron said, rubbing his hand down Harry's back.
"Matt's locked downstairs.  He can't move.  Don't worry, Harry."  Ron's
tears trickled down his face as he hugged Harry closer.  "Please, Harry,
wake up."

	From the Dark Forest, I let the spells forcing Harry to stay in the
nightmare drop and wandered, lost in my thoughts.  I was pleased at the
result of my spells, yet some small part of me was horrified and screamed
at me to wake up.  I ruthlessly crushed it.
	Before I was aware of what had happened, I found myself surrounded
by giant spiders^×each of them the size of a Labrador.  "Aragog," I
called out, "I recommend you call back your children."  Silence answered
me.  "If you don't you won't have any!"  They spiders came on, their
mandibles clicking anxiously.  "So be it."  I took a deep breath and spat
out a black cloud of noxious fumes.  As it passed over the spiders, their
legs curled under them and they died.  The cloud grew and spread throughout
the forest, withering plants and killing all animals that didn't run from
it.
	I looked at the destruction I'd caused and something in me broke.
Weak, I sank to my knees.  Without my direction, I found my hands moving,
drawing a circle on the ground, and within the circle lay a pentagram,
rectangle and circle, all concentric.  I tried to take control over my
limbs, but they refused me.  They pressed into the ashy loam, digging deep,
and the circle pulsed silver against the darkness of the Forest.
	From the silence, a soft chanting began:
	"Agnus Dei...
	Agnus Dei...
	Dona nobis pacem...
	Agnus Dei...
	Agnus Dei...
	Dona eis requiem..."
	The circle pulsed brighter as the chanting filled the forest,
driving away the fear of the woods with its own haunting sound.
Subconsciously, I recognized the feel of High Magic.  Strange how much it
resembles prayer...
	"In pacem...
	Aeterna pacem...
	In pacem...*"

	I felt a wrenching inside me, and with a cry of pain, the circle
flared with blinding light.  I experienced a sensation of pulling, and when
the light cleared, I shakingly stood.  Directly in front of me, someone
else was doing the same thing as I.  I looked at him.  He stood about my
height and wore clothes of the purest white.  His hair was gold, and his
eyes a bright green.  At his side was strapped a sword made of silvery
metal, resembling Excalibur.  Once I saw his face clearly, I bit back a
snarl.  He looked just like me!
	It was then I chanced to look down at myself.  I was entirely in
black, with an identical sword strapped to my waist, though it was black as
night.  I grinned, feeling my fangs brush my lower lip as power coursed
through me and my eyes glowed bloodred.
	I itched with the desire to destroy this doppelganger, so I readied
a bolt of lightning and fired.  As it left my hands, it proved to be black
as a void and cackling with power.
	He held out his hands and retaliated with a bolt of lightning that
light up the forest.  The two bolts met with a crash and vanished.  I gaped
at my opponent.  He looked sad, but his eyes held a firm resolve.
	"This must not be," he said in my voice.
	"No," I agreed.  "You must be destroyed."
	"And that is what must not be," he countered sadly.  "I will not
let you do this."
	"Fool," I snarled.  "You think you can stop me?"  I lashed out with
a beam of pure darkness, as I had used against the draconic form of
Voldemort.  It sucked all the light into it, returning nothing but the
sensation of a burning pain.
	Again, he calmly raised his hands, and a beam of white fire slashed
into mine.  The beams met and vanished with a rushing sound and a feel of
pulling.  I glared at him, my burning eyes intensifying.  "DIE!"
	He was surrounded by a globe of pure darkness, which slowly began
to shrink.  But he glowed with an intense blue light, shattering the
darkness into shards.  With a wave of his hand, I found myself trapped in a
sphere of glowing azure light, which constricted, crushing me in its grip.
"NO," I cried, summoning all my dark power.  It poured out of me,
eliminating the trap and allowing me to stand upright.
	I called upon that power, and pushed.  He flew backwards at my
strike, and I used the moment to change.  I hunched over in pain, screaming
as I felt my back being ripped apart.  From my shoulder blades burst a pair
of feathered wings, dripping in gore and as black as my clothing.  I spread
them and waved them around, drying them as I moved.  Once they were dry, I
took to the sky, drawing my sword and looking over my shoulder for my
opponent.
	He was only moments behind me, his sword drawn and wings of snowy
white on his back.  I swore and turned around to rush him.  Our swords met
with a crash, and sheet lighting flashed across the sky.  Thus began the
most difficult swordfight I'd ever had.  My blade felt weightless, and with
my power surging through me, I moved faster than the eye could see, but he
was always there, his parry to my strike, his counter to my attack.  He
went on the offensive, and it was my turn to block with all I had.
	Back and forth we fought across the sky, each trying to get past
the other's guard, but each knowing what the other was going to do before
he did it.  Finally, we struck our blades at such an angle that they flew
out of our hands at the same time.
	I lashed out instantly with an eagle-claw to the throat, but he
counter with a hook block and reverse punch.  I took his punch across my
jaw and spun, bringing both fists into the back of his head.  He staggered,
and I lashed out with a snap kick.  He caught it with a low cross-block and
retaliated.
	Again, we were too evenly matched; each knowing the required
counter for the other's moves and performing them faster than the eye could
follow.  In the end, I tried to result to brute force.  I pulled all of my
power into me, focusing it through my vampiric strength and hurled myself
at my opponent in a vicious body check.
	He did the same and we crashed with a bone-jarring thud.  We
flapped our wings desperately and pulled away, only to crash into each
other again.  And again.  And again. On the fifth strike, I flapped my
wings to pull away, but found I couldn't.  He and I had struck too hard to
disentangle ourselves and we plummeted toward the ground.  As luck would
have it, right toward the glowing shape I'd drawn in the dirt.
	I closed my eyes when we hit, and suddenly, I felt strange.  I
opened my eyes to see, but couldn't.  The circle no longer glowed, and the
forest blocked all light.  I stood and found myself dizzy.  I also felt
some extra weight, and pulled my black cloak aside to find a pair of swords
strapped to my waist.  One that was silver was on my left, and its shadow
on my right.  I placed a hand on each hilt and felt the blades thrum with
power.
	My mind was clear, and I was actually calm.  I spoke a single word
and felt my power rush into me, though it was under control, and not the
same violent torrent it had recently become.  As it flooded me, I lifted
into the air and made my way to the castle, so I could be there when the
others woke up.  I had a lot of explaining to do.