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[Living for Tomorrow] Chapter 6 - Vicious
🕑 Added 2024-10-05 09:36:48 +0000 UTCHarry was not lying when he refused Florent’s invitation to go with him and their friends to Hogsmeade. He truly had plans to meet up with his younger brother and help him with his studies.
Seeing as Harry was in Ravenclaw and Matthew was in Gryffindor, the two of them did not get to spend that much time together. Regardless, Harry always made sure to spend a few hours with Matt every week.
Considering how useless Professor Lockhart turned out to be, Harry had made it his task to tutor Matthew in Defense Against Dark Arts. Harry himself was not on the level of a proper teacher, but he was confident that he would not lose to any fellow student in a magical fight or when it came to the knowledge of how to combat dangerous creatures. Therefore, he was more than qualified to teach his younger brother.
Once he was done with breakfast, he took out a pen and a piece of paper and wrote something on it. Then he charmed it to transform into an origami crane and fly to the Gryffindor table to his younger brother.
‘Meet me in front of the Keeper of the Keys’ Hut at 10 o’clock sharp. Bring your Nimbus with you, and don’t forget your wand like you did two weeks ago.’
When the paper crane ended up in Matthew’s hands, Harry snickered at the sight of his face scrunching up in annoyance and that of his three friends, Ron, Seamus, and Dean, laughing at him.
With that taken care of, Harry stood up before the rest of his housemates from the table in order to avoid the crowds and went back to the Ravenclaw Common Room.
⁂
One hour and a half later, Harry grabbed his broomstick and climbed up the stairs from the upper floor of the Ravenclaw Common Room, the ones that led to the roof.
Ravenclaws often prided themselves on their dorms, and the main reason for that was that they were the only House that had access to the roof, straight from their common room. Starting with the middle of the spring, that place was always packed with Ravenclaw students chatting, reading, or simply gazing at the beauty of the lands around Hogwarts. However, it was November now, and it was drizzling; the roof was deserted.
Once he arrived on the roof, Harry cast an Impervious Spell on his clothes to protect himself from the rain, mounted his Nimbus 2000, and took flight, heading straight towards the hut where the Keeper of the Keys lived.
A minute later, he landed in front of the hut, and its thick door opened before he had the chance to knock.
A middle-aged man with short grizzled hair tightened his green dragonhide cloak around himself as he walked out of the house.
“Glad you’re here, Harry. I thought the rain might’ve changed your mind about coming.”
“You know me by now, Angus, I wouldn’t leave you hanging like that.”
The older man chuckled at his words.
“That I do. I know you’re different from most of these greenhouse flowers these days.”
The thick Glasgow accent and the weird idioms he liked to use often made people have trouble understanding Mr Angus’ words, but Harry had been friends with him for years now; he was accustomed to his quirks.
The two of them made some light conversation for a while, with Angus complaining about his work and Harry mostly listening.
“By Circe, I don’t know how long I can do this for anymore. All those Hogwarts Governors walking around like a fart in a trance. Dumbledore must’ve owled ‘em a dozen times that the Acromantula colony is getting out of control but [...].”
To make a long story short, the Acromantula in the forest had bred too much and were endangering the ecosystem of the Forbidden Forest.
The forest was also part of Hogwarts’ Grounds, so it was Angus’ duty to watch over it. But that did not mean he was responsible for things like eradicating a whole Acromantula colony by himself. His job was to report the issue to the Governers of Hogwarts, who, in turn, would make a request to the Ministry of Magic for handlers from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to thin down the spiders’ numbers.
Seeing as his grandfather was one of the Governors of Hogwarts, Harry felt the need to defend him.
“It’s not the Governors’ fault; it’s the Ministry’s. We also got problems with some Thornbacks home, and lately, the Dugbogs are getting nasty too, but the Ministry hasn’t sent any handlers either.”
“Where about you from again?”
“Pitt-Upon-Ford.”
“Oh, right, beautiful hamlet. But I can definitely see how the Dugbogs are a problem with all the swamps in that region.”
They kept talking in the rain for about 5 minutes before Angus glanced at his old, silver wristwatch.
“When is your little brother going to arrive? Did he, perhaps, change his mind because of the rain?”
Unlike what his appearance might suggest, Angus valued punctuality greatly.
“He knows better than to do that without letting me know first.”
“Well, no point in waiting in the rain, outside. Come.”
The two of them went inside the hut, and Angus lit up the fire in the hearth once again. Ten minutes later, they were warming up by the fire and drinking hot tea when someone knocked on the door.
“Aye, come in!” Angus raised his voice, and their guest opened the door by themselves.
It was a relatively short 12-year-old boy with red hair and brown eyes and a lightning bolt scar in the middle of his forehead. It was Harry’s younger brother, the famous Boy Who Lived, Matthew Potter.
“We’ve been waiting for 15 minutes already. I told you not to be late,” Harry said instead of a greeting.
“Sorry, as I was coming down, I met Slughorn. You know how he is. . . He wouldn’t let me go without talking to me. He’s throwing a big Christmas party this year, and he’s already invited some of his former students, many of them famous. And he wants me to attend too. . . but I told him I can’t come. We always go home on Christmas,” Matthew said, his voice slightly muffled by the thick Gryffindor scarf covering his lower face.
Matthew gulped when Harry’s eyes narrowed dangerously at him. But then he exhaled in relief when his brother appeared to buy his excuse.
Harry let out a sigh.
“We’ve wasted enough time; let’s just go already.”
He wrapped his cloak around himself, and Angus did so too before casting a spell to kill the fire. As the three of them came out of the hut and went to their broomsticks, Harry suddenly came to Matthew and pulled down his muffler faster than the young boy could react.
“I bloody knew it!” Harry let out a curse.
“What happened?” Angus asked when he heard Harry raising his voice.
One look at Matthew’s face was all he needed to understand the reason for the older boy’s anger.
“Who did this to you?” Harry asked, his voice low.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry,” Matthew said quickly and covered his face with his Gryffindor scarf again.
“Don’t give me that rubbish! Did you take a look in the mirror? How is that nothing?!”
Matthew’s lower lip was busted open, and one of his cheeks was red and swollen badly.
“I told you it’s nothing. Ron and I were just-”
“Don’t lie to me, Matt.”
Something in Harry’s voice made the younger boy flinch.
“If I tell you, promise me that you won’t do something crazy again?”
“I’ll hear you first and decide later.”
Matthew looked down, his face going through several different expressions in the span of a few seconds.
“It was Flint.”
“Who the hell is that?”
“A 7th year Slytherin. The guy who got held back a second time,” Matt explained. “Gryffindor will play against Slytherin next week . . . He and two of his teammates tried to convince me to throw the game.”
The muscles in Harry’s jaw could be seen protruding from how he was clenching his teeth.
"That piece of trash dared lay his hands on you?"
Matthew's face paled.
“Don’t do anything crazy, Harry! Please! I already told McGonagall about it. She promised she'd expel him from the Quidditch team and give him detention for the rest of the year.”
When his elder brother didn’t say anything for a few seconds, Matt looked as if he was getting increasingly anxious.
“Grandpa may be one of the Governors of Hogwarts, but even then, you might actually get expelled this time if you cause a scene again! I’m fine! I promise! Madam Pomfrey will patch me up in an instant.”
“Alright. . .” Harry said.
“Truly??” Matt asked as if he couldn’t believe he had managed to convince him that easily. Harry was much more stubborn than that. And he also knew how Harry reacted whenever someone tried to harm him.
“I said alright. McGonagall is going to deal with him, isn’t she?”
Matthew nodded furiously. “Yes. She’s not the type to play around when it comes to Quidditch. She won’t let this slide, rest assured.”
“Let’s hope so. Now, let’s go. Angus, we good to go?”
“Yeah, let’s head out,” the Keeper of the Keys said as he also mounted his broom.
⁂
The Forbidden Forest had two ‘apex predators’ or dominant forces, so to speak. The Acromantula colony and the herd of Centaurs.
Centaurs were never really a problem because they were intelligent beings who knew how to follow the rules, but the Acromantula were savage creatures driven by hunger and bloodlust. They cared not for rules.
Not liking the idea of a war being triggered between the two forces in the forest due to the spiders encroaching on the Centaurs’ territory, Angus took it upon himself to cull the offending side and eliminate the nests they made outside their own territory.
“Arania Exumai!”
“Incendio!”
Harry mostly stood and watched how his younger brother helped Angus fight the Acromantula. Of course, it was not like he was sitting with his hands in his pockets; he always stepped in when it looked like Matt was in danger. After all, this outing was for the sake of Matt getting combat experience, not for Harry to show off his spellcasting.
One of the smaller spiders jumped down from a tree, aiming for the weakest enemy, for their blind spot. Matt did not notice it, but Harry whipped out his wand and cast a mental ‘Imobulus’, instantly freezing the creature in mid-air.
It was a 'small’ spider for an Acromantula but it was still bigger than a cat. If a Muggle were to see a spider that big, they would have a heart attack. And for good reason: that 'little' creature could easily kill a person.
Matt quickly turned around and cast another Spider-Killing Spell, reaping the life of the spider who had tried to sneak attack him.
Soon, they were done killing all the Acromantula and Angus cast a Fire-Making Spell to burn all the webs and their nest.
“What are you going to do with corpses?” asked Matt.
“I’ll see if I can extract some venom or fangs from them; they fetch quite the price. But you two can go. Thanks a bunch for helping me out with this.”
“No, it was nothing. You could’ve handled it alone.”
“It wasn’t a difficult task, sure, but there’s still a danger of being attacked by surprise and done in,” Angus said.
“Thanks for letting us help you,” Harry said sincerely.
Any other professor would have never agreed to let a student put themselves in such a dangerous situation, but Angus was grateful to have an extra wand to help him in times of need. After all, taking care of a domain as vast as Hogwarts’ Grounds was not an easy task for one person, even with magic.
That suited Harry’s needs just fine. He liked helping Angus out with dangerous tasks because battling beasts like Acromantula, Dugbogs, packs of dark mongrels, and other dangerous creatures had allowed his skills to increase well beyond those of his peers. And now he was going to do the same with Matt too.
“Bye, Angus. If you ever need help with anything else like this, send me an owl.”
“Much appreciated, lads. Here, take this,” Angus said and threw them a small pouch of coins.
“You don’t have to-”
“Aye, I do. Just take it. You’ve earned it. Use that to take a lass out or something. Come to think of it, there’s a Hogsmeade trip today, isn’t it? It’s not even noon, so there’s still time for you to go have some fun.”
⁂
One minute later, Harry and Matt arrived at Hogwarts.
“You did good today,” Harry said, patting him on the shoulder.
“I messed up at the end. That spider almost got me before you stopped it.”
“When it comes to fighting, having guts and not freezing up in front of the danger is the most important thing. You didn’t lack any of that. Awareness of your surroundings is important too, but you will gain that in time, with experience. So don’t worry. You did great.”
Matt felt himself flush. Usually, his older brother was a slave driver and always demanded more and more from him. It was not often that Harry praised him like that.
“Thanks,” he muttered.
“Alright. Go to Madam Pomfrey to patch you up. I’m going to my dorm. I'm going to polish my Animations Charms.”
As Harry mounted his broom again and was about to take flight, Matt called out to him.
“Harry, wait.”
“What is it?”
“You really aren’t going to do anything to Flint, right?”
“You said McGonagall would deal with him, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. . .”
“Well, there you have it. Now, I’ll be off. See you at dinner.”
And with that, he flew away.
Parting ways with his younger brother, Harry flew to the rooftop of Ravenclaw Tower, heading straight to the Common Room, just like he said. He changed into a new, clean set of clothes and dried his broomstick before storing it safely in his trunk.
He left his bedroom and went to the Common Room, purposely saying hello in passing to the few students who had not gone to Hogsmeade but decided to stay behind and study in the Ravenclaw Tower.
“Hey, Andy.”
“Hi, Susie.”
“Hey, Mark.”
He did not spend much time with them. He only wanted to say hello for them to see that he was in the Common Room.
After that, he headed to the Library and asked Madam Pince to help him find a particular book on Advanced Animation Charms. He could have found it by himself, but he wanted to make sure that the irascible librarian remembered that he had visited the Library that day.
After storing the book that he had borrowed and his wand in his backpack, Harry left the Library. Once he was out in the corridor, another wand slipped into his hand from the sleeve of his sweater.
It came from a wand-holster strapped to his arm, one that had a Space-Expansion charm cast on it in order to accommodate the wand's length since it was longer than his forearm.
This second wand was the reason why Harry had been confident about letting Professor Flitwick check the spells he had cast in order to prove that he had not done anything to Felix Brunt on the train.
Nobody knew about this second wand. He had bought it from the Knockturn Alley. It was not a perfect match like the wand that he had bought from Ollivander, but it was a wand without the Trace on it. It gave him the means to practice all sorts of spells, be they legal or otherwise, and a way to prove his innocence when needed.
Using this second wand, Harry cast a Disillusionment Charm, turning himself completely invisible. Following that, he rushed to the fourth-floor corridor, only stopping when he arrived in front of a mirror.
⁂
The sky was covered with grey clouds; it was raining, and it was so cold that it was almost freezing. Despite the terrible weather, Fleur was having the time of her life. She, Elora, Simon, and Elspeth had been touring Hogsmeade for two hours already.
They went to the Honeydukes and had a bite out of everything the sweetshop had to offer; they visited the tailor shop, where Elspeth all but forced ‘Florent’ to try out all sorts of dashing, male robes, and then they also spent nearly an hour at Zonko’s Joke shop. Her three friends had laughed with tears at the scene of her getting her nose chomped on by a Nose-Biting Teacup.
Now, the four of them arrived at the Three Broomsticks to have lunch. Before they entered, Fleur stopped and said:
“I am going to wait outside. I am supposed to meet my parents ‘ere.”
“Oh, right. We had so much fun today that I forgot about that,” Elspeth said.
“They’re coming all the way from France?” asked Simon in surprise.
Fleur smiled, a smile so sweet that it made Elspeth’s breathing quicken.
“Yes, they’re coming with my little sister too. I can’t wait to see them!”
Elspeth gave her friend, Elora, a meaningful glance before asking ‘Florent’:
“Can I stay to meet your parents too?”
“Sure. They’ll be ‘appy to see that I made friends at ‘Ogwarts!”
At that moment, Elora also spoke:
“Simon and I will save a seat for you at our table, Lizzie. Take your time.”
Simon wanted to protest, but Elora grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him inside the inn after her. Fleur could see the pained look that the boy threw over his shoulder at them. He must have understood what Elspeth was about to do.
“I had a great time today,” Elspeth said coyly, moving a strand of her short red hair behind her ear.
“Me too,” Fleur said. “Except for the moment when that teacup nearly bit my nose off.”
Elspeth giggled.
“I’d like to do this again,” said the redhead. “And . . .” she looked up at ‘him’, “. . .I was thinking, during our next Hogsmeade trip. . . maybe it could be just the two of us?”
To say that Fleur had not seen it coming would be a lie but now that she was experiencing the moment itself, she was at a loss for how to react.
Since she arrived at Hogwarts, Elspeth had become her dear friend, alongside Simon and Elora. As a girl, Fleur also knew how difficult it must have been for Elspeth to make the first step, to be the one who confessed instead of waiting for the boy to make the first move.
“I’m sorry, Lizzie,” Fleur said awkwardly. Her heart went out to the girl when she saw her eyes suddenly becoming wet. “I- . . . I don’t want to lead you on. I think you’re a great girl. You’re cute and lively and a pleasure to be around, but I just . . . I actually like boys.”
Elspeth’s head shot up, her eyes wide.
“Ehhh??!!”
Fleur’s cheeks immediately got red when she remembered that she was supposed to be a boy; she realised what it meant.
“So the rumours were true?!” Elspeth asked in disbelief.
“What rumours?”
“Word goes that you and Harry-”
“No?! There’s nothing between us!” Fleur sputtered. “What gave you that idea?!”
“Well, Harry has always been a loner, but now he suddenly cares about you, a transfer student whom he’s never met before?"
Nobody knew that Harry was looking after 'Florent' at Professor Flitwick's request.
"And he also went after you to make sure you were fine after the fiasco with Lockhart. . . It all makes sense now!” Elspeth continued as if things finally clicked in her head.
“No, they don’t! Stop making fake scenarios in your ‘ead!”
But Fleur’s vehement denial only served to incriminate her in Elspeth’s eyes. Luckily, she was saved from further teasing when her parents appeared in their line of sight.
“Whoa…” Elspeth unconsciously let out at the sight of the gorgeous middle-aged French woman. But it was not just her. Many of the students and other passers-by on the street turned their heads after the Delacours.
In a manner unusual for a 15-year-old boy, ‘Florent’ broke into a run and threw himself into his mother’s arms.
“Maman!”
A moment later, Fleur let go of her mother and took little Gabrielle in her arms, lifting her off her feet.
⁂
Fleur spent the better part of two hours having lunch and chatting with her family at the Three Broomsticks. In the beginning, many people, especially among the students, gawked at them. Leaving aside how good-looking Apoline, Gabrielle, and ‘Florent’ were, the fact that they were talking in French was even more unusual. Nevertheless, half an hour later, the novelty of it passed, and they stopped paying attention to them.
Fleur talked up a storm, telling them every little thing that she had experienced in the last 2 months. She told them about getting stuck by the wordplay riddles at the entrance to the Ravenclaw Common Room, about the moving staircases and getting lost in the castle, about Minerva McGonagall being a cat Animagus, and even about the embarrassing incident during the DADA class when she blew up at Gilderoy Lockhart.
Eventually, the Delacours decided that it was time for them to leave the inn. They wanted to take Fleur with them and visit a nearby wizarding settlement called Araneshire. Jean and Apolline had some special plans for the cosy little hamlet.
Going by foot, especially through that rain, was not an option, so the French family went to Spintwictches Sporting Needs first to rent two broomsticks. The next time they visited Scotland, they could just Apparate wherever they needed, but they could not do so now for it was their first time there.
When they came out of the shop and were about to mount their brooms, a bloodcurdling scream shattered the peace of the village, startling everyone in the square.
⁂
Few people knew that the mirror on the fourth-floor corridor hid the entrance to a secret passageway that led outside of Hogwarts. Harry would have most likely not known about it either if not for his godfather, who had been a notorious troublemaker in his school days.
Ten minutes of running later, Harry arrived at the end of the passage, stopping in front of a very large piece of rock that blocked the exit. Once he levitated it away (just enough for him to pass through), he found himself on the bank of a narrow stream flowing at the outskirts of Hogsmeade.
Seeing as he was still invisible, he was not worried about anyone spotting him. He levitated the large rock back to cover the entrance to the secret passage before placing his wand on top of his palm and whispering:
“Point Me: Marcus Flint.”
It was a Tracking Charm used by Aurors and Hit-Wizards, an advanced spell derived from the Four Point Charm.
That being said, it was not a precise method of tracking, and the caster also needed to have a general idea of where their target was located. If that condition was not fulfilled, the wand would just spin aimlessly in the palm of their hand.
Following the directions from his wand, Harry sneaked around Hogsmeade in search of the 7th-year Slytherin. It did not take that long to find him; after all, Hogsmeade was only so big.
Marcus Flint, together with two other 7th-year Slytherin boys whose names Harry could not be arsed to remember were just coming out of Hog’s Head when Harry found them.
‘They’re drunk, huh? Perfect. It only makes it easier for me.”
He cast a Silencing Charm on the surrounding area to make sure that nobody was going to hear their screams. Then he attacked.
The three boys never saw it coming. A Bone-Breaking Curse hit one of the boys in the leg, shattering his femur.
Watching their mate collapse on the muddy ground howling in agony, the other two snapped out of their drunken haze and took out their wands.
“Who’s there?! Come out in the open, coward!” Marcus Flint shouted while he and his still-standing friend moved back to back to cover each other’s blind spots.
Unfortunately for them, Harry was invisible. No matter how hard they stared at their surroundings, they couldn’t see their attacker, all the more so when Harry cast a spell that didn’t have a visual effect next: a Levitation Charm.
Flint’s friend was flung into the air and then smashed against the cobblestone road violently two times.
“C-Come out! I’m warning you! I’ll kill you, motherfucker!” Flint screamed, his voice tinged with panic and desperation when he saw blood flowing from the cracked skull of his friend.
When he didn't receive an answer, Marcus Flint broke into a crazy run, sprinting faster than he had ever had in his entire life.
If he had been in the right state of mind, the boy would have chosen to Disapparate. After all, he was 19 years old; he had gotten his Licence 2 years ago. Unfortunately, consumed by terror, he couldn’t think straight.
Flint didn’t get to run for long because a Knockback Jinx hit him squarely in the back, hurling him through the air for over 10 metres before he smashed into the wall of a nearby house brutally.
A clear snap was heard as his shoulder broke and he screamed from the agonising pain.
“Shit,” Harry cussed under his breath when he realised that Flint’s act of running and then getting sent flying had made him leave the area that had been silenced by his spell.
He knew that other people must’ve heard his scream and that some concerned passers-by would rush to see what happened, but he couldn’t leave that guy with a mere broken shoulder.
That was nowhere near enough to quell his rage and thirst for violence.
He went to the collapsed boy and started kicking him savagely in the stomach, ignoring his desperate screams for help.
‘Trash like you dares to hit my brother? Huh?’
He wanted to scream those words as he beat him to a pulp, but he couldn’t afford to do so for he did not want to give away his identity.
Thinking of how beat up Matthew looked with his busted lip and his swollen face, his rage smouldered like a volcano.
By now, Marcus Flint was curled up in a fetal position, his arms covering his head, and throwing up uncontrollably.
Not even half a minute passed since Harry started kicking him but he was breathing as heavily as if he had run a marathon.
He would have loved nothing more than to continue beating the living shit out of Marcus Flint for another 15 minutes at the very least but he noticed with the corner of his eyes what appeared like a family of four getting closer to his location.
He soccer-kicked the Slytherin viciously two more times with as much hate as he could before running away from the scene, rushing to the secret passage.
Fifteen minutes later, he was back in the Ravenclaw Tower, taking a shower, but he could still not quell his anger.
‘Fucking bastards. Inbred animals,’ he cursed. ‘I killed Voldemort with my own two hands last year! I’ll kill anyone who dares lay their hands on Matt.’
Unlike Marcus Flint, the majority of the students at Hogwarts knew better than to mess with his younger brother. It was not the first time someone had tried to do that, and it was not the first time Harry had retaliated viciously against those either; Matt’s pleas to stop him from doing something reckless again were not for no reason. However, when it came to matters concerning his younger brother, Harry’s sense of reason went out the window.
Comments
suspicious
I think it's a writer thing. You've got a clear scene, picture in your head. But when I'm in the flow of the story it seems strange to have something akin to a comment from the author - like PoV change inside the chapter.
Grumpy Wolf
Yes, "show, don't tell" has always been something I needed to work more on. I'll be more mindful of it in the future. Didn't think that typing out PoV change would be jarring like that. Hm, I'll keep it in mind from now on. Thanks for the constructive criticism 👍
suspicious
Hey, like the direction this is going, especially plotwise, but I would avoid writing things like PoV change that break the flow. Just weave your plot points or PoV's together with a sentence that makes it clear we're looking somewhere else. (With a line break of course) Example: While Fleur was basking in the presence of her family, Harry's thoughts turned around violently maiming Flint. Since the moment his brother told him about the incident, his mind was running wild on how to plot his revenge. And then you just continue with his PoV. I would also recommend to reread later parts of the chapter where I had the feeling you were explaining things a lot - Harry's thought processes etc. instead of just showing them if you know what I mean. This ties together with your AN, you shouldnt feel the need to explain, just show us what's happening inside Harry with a sentence like this and it becomes superflous: Every time since that fateful night that Harry felt a danger to his brother, an overwhelming instinct to protect his own by all means necessary clouded his every thought. Having the memory branded into his mind, did nothing to alleviate his fears. Same stuff with the Point me spell - don't explain it, show us how Harry read in an old auror manual about the disadvantages of it or something the like. I think this would greatly improve the immersion, but maybe that's just me. Please keep in mind that I'm trying to help, even though I know some people don't like hearing stuff about their creations ^^ Kudos and all the best!
