Playing With Fire and Ice
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or settings in this story apart from those of my invention. Any who/that appear in the Harry Potter books belong solely to the brilliance J. K. Rowling. But the plot is my own.
A/N: Updates on this story may be slow to come, but be patient. I WILL update. :-) Also, the more reviews I get, the more updating I will do, so give me some feedback!
Chapter 1
Harry awoke with a start, straining his eyes so as to be able to peer into the darkness that enveloped him. He had a feeling that the same thing that had been unceremoniously jerking him awake every night for the past week had done it again; the problem was that he didn't know just what it was. A few times he's been able to catch a glimpse of something wispy and white and the idea that it might have been a ghost had crossed his mind, but that was ridiculous. For one, ghosts did not show up on Privet Drive in Little Whinging unannounced--announced either, come to think of it, and secondly, the white thing hadn't looked like any ghost he'd seen before. It had been completely formless. Sort of like a piece of cobweb floating above his head
Shaking his head slightly, Harry gave one last look around his room and then flopped back down on his side, pulling the blanket up to his ears. In a few moments, his deep, even breathing showed him to be asleep again, and the door to his closest creaked ajar. Should Harry have been awake, he would have seen a small, somewhat angular and ethereal face with piercing blue eyes staring at him mischievously out of the closet.
"Harry..." the voice was soft, like a breath of wind. One bright blue eye winked at him, and then the face vanished.
The next morning, Harry's nighttime disturbance did not cross his mind. He was too busy avoiding getting hit by the chairs Dudley was hurling at Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon because they hadn't brought him a present from their outing into town the previous evening. Dudley had already been furious about having to remain home with no one but Harry for company (although Harry hardly counted as Uncle Vernon had locked him into his room upon his and Petunia's departure), and apparently the lack of a gift had pushed Dudley over the edge. Still dodging the flying furniture, Harry ducked out the front door to get the newspaper.
As he picked it up off of the Dursleys perfectly manicured lawn, he noticed a funny envelope stuck to it. Curious, Harry pulled the envelope free and examined it carefully. Turning it over, he saw that his name was written on the front in delicate spidery handwriting. With a careful glance over his shoulder, to be sure that none of his relatives were looking out the window at him (he still remembered his experience with letters from Hogwarts before his first year all too well), Harry ripped open the envelope, pulling out the enclosed piece of parchment and stared bewilderedly at it.
It's almost time...
What was that supposed to mean? Harry rubbed his hand through his hair, making it stick up. Maybe it was Ron trying to play a joke on him? But no, the handwriting wasn't right, it was spidery and delicate, not scrawling. After puzzling over the note for a moment longer, he shrugged and stuffed it into his pocket. Turning, he headed back inside.
A glance around the kitchen showed that things had been gotten mostly under control. Dudley sat smugly in his chair while his mother, her lips tightly pursed, busied herself at the stove, and his father, face purple and shoulders heaving, glared at Harry as he came in.
"Took you long enough, didn't it boy?"
Wordlessly, Harry handed his uncle the newspaper and walked around the table to sit at his place. Breakfast was a bad meal to sit through in this house, Harry thought. All the meals were bad, but breakfast was probably the worst because none of the Dursleys were morning people. Things had only gotten a bit better when Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had taken Dudley off his diet, declaring that Dudley was big-boned and meant to be a hefty boy regardless of what the nurse at Smeltings said (they were now taking him to a tailor to get his uniform specially made). At least Dudley wasn't snatching food off of Harry's plate when he wasn't watching anymore.
After his initial remark to Harry, Uncle Vernon went back to ignoring him, "Got to get the yard people over here to take a look at that rose bush Petunia. I think they smashed it up last time they were here."
"Mm. Well it's under his window," Aunt Petunia replied with a head jerk in Harry's direction. Both his aunt and uncle turned to give Harry a nasty look, as though they thought that maybe he was the one going around and smashing up bushes.
This conversation seemed to cheer Dudley up to no end, as he always greatly enjoyed himself when his parents were attacking Harry. He was watching the exchange with his piggy little eyes, the bacon on his plate forgotten. Forseeing an addition to the conversation in the form of his cousin, Harry hurriedly excused himself, making his way back up to his room where he sat down at his desk with the idea of sending a letter to Ron, telling him about the note.
Just as he was placing his quill on the paper, Harry heard a noise behind him. Whirling around he saw Dudley standing in the doorway.
"What?" Harry asked rudely.
"I bet you've been practicing your," Dudley gave a quick look around and dropped his voice, "your magic on the rosebushes haven't you." Magic was a forbidden word in the Dursley household, and Harry was surprised that Dudley had used it. Normally it scared him silly.
"I can't use magic during the summer holidays, you prat," spat Harry, "It's forbidden."
"Yeah? Well I wonder how Mum and Dad would like it if I told them I saw a girl climbing through your window last night?"
"What are you talking about?"
Ignoring Harry, Dudley continued, "Yeah, I don't think they'd much like it if they knew you were sneaking your kind into the house, not to mention a girl."
Harry stood up, "Get out. Now."
Dudley glowered at him, but Harry had had enough. He strode over to his cousin, looked him in the face, and then slammed the door. Breathing heavily, Harry sat down on the edge of his bed. What the bloody hell had Dudley been on about? No girl had come into his room last night or any other night either, although Harry couldn't say that he'd have especially minded if one had. A clicking noise at the window startled him and shook him out of his daydreams. Turning, he saw Hedwig tapping at the window with her beak in an irritated manner.
Once Harry had unlatched the window, the snowy owl soared into the room, alighting on his desk chair after having dropped an envelope in his lap. Harry picked up the envelope and at once recognized the handwriting on it. It was the same as that on the note he had received that morning. Wondering again who could be behind the letters, Harry ripped open the envelope, dropping it on the floor. As before, the note was short with no means of identifying the sender. If there was a spell that could track down the senders of anonymous letters, Harry didn't know it.
Now the game is going to get fun...
Who would send him something like that? Harry racked his brain, trying to come up with someone who would send anonymous letters to him. He couldn't do it, so he turned his attention to trying to figure out the meaning behind the sentences. It really wasn't possible to tell whether they were meant to be threats or just funny. Maybe Fred and George? But no, this wasn't really their line; they'd be more likely to send you some innocent looking thing that would explode when you touched it. Harry sighed and dropped the letter onto his desk. He ran his hand across his scar, which was twinging a bit and flopped down onto his bed.
A second later, his eyes flew open in surprise. A cool hand was stroking his cheek, and a pair of sparkling blue eyes looked down on him. A further examination found the eyes to be set in a beautiful face, which in turn was attached to an equally beautiful, willowy, and distinctly feminine form.
"Hello Harry...finally I see you awake," the girl's voice was soft and lovely.
Harry could only stare at her; words failed him as she leaned down and kissed his cheek.
When Harry had recovered himself sufficiently from his initial shock, he looked back up and the creature standing beside him, "Who--what are you?"
A laugh like the tinkling of many bells met his ears, "That does not matter for right now. All that matters is that I am here for you. Call me Ealia." Ealia's eyes fluttered closed as she leaned back down towards Harry, this time, no doubt, wanting to give him a real kiss.
Harry, however rolled deftly to one side and sat up quickly, "I don't think that this is such a good idea really. I mean, I don't know you or anything."
"No...but you will," Ealia's lovely lips curled up into a soft smile and she sat down next to him, wrapping her arms around him. It took all of Harry's self-control not to let himself fall into her, and he jumped off the bed and to his feet.
"No. I don't know who or what you are, and I'm certainly not trusting enough to fall victim to whatever little game you're having on me," he scowled at her, feeling rather like stubborn child.
Ealia sighed and rose smoothly to her feet, shaking her softly curling blonde hair behind her, "Very well Harry, very well. I shan't bother you anymore...for the moment," she added with a mischievous grin, "I suppose I won't send anymore letter either..."
"That was you?!" Harry cried, looking surprised.
Ealia raised one delicate arm, "But of course. They were just a teaser, mind you. But as you'd like me to be gone, I will go." With and impish wink, Ealia disappeared, leaving Harry blinking at the spot where she'd just been.
How had she disappeared? Apparating made a loud cracking noise, and her disappearance had been silent. Then Harry's eyes fell upon the window which was still open from when he let Hedwig in. Had the girl flown or climbed in? Harry thought for a moment more and then gave a little half shrug. He still had homework to do before term started in two weeks.
"Harry! We're leaving now, mate," Ron called up the crooked stairs of The Burrow. Harry had been fairly isolated since his arrival from the Dursley's nearly two weeks ago, and it made Ron worry a bit. His mother hadn't seemed to notice it, but Ron thought it abnormal.
"Coming Ron, just give me a moment," Harry's voice called down. A second later Harry appeared on the stairs, dragging his trunk behind him. They reached the bottom with a bang, and Ron gave Harry hand in carrying the trunk out to Mr. Weasley's newly recovered car.
Hagrid had managed to lure it out of the Forbidden Forest, and it had been delivered to Mr. Weasly three days ago. The worked well enough, although it seemed to have developed a taste for the wild and was given to bursts of speed at rather innapropriate times. Just on the way to Kings Cross, Mr. Weasley had had to make several sharp turns to avoid running over muggles crossing the street.
With no small amount of huffing and puffing, Harry and the Weasleys hauled their trunks out of the back of the car and deposited them onto the Kings Cross trolleys. With the exception of Ginny Weasley's trunk falling off her trolley and bursting open (causing Mr. Weasley to make a rather harried explantion to a nearby official as to why his daughter had spellbooks and long black robes in her trunk), they all reached the barrier uneventfully. That is, until Harry looked up and found himself looking at Ealia.
She was standing slightly to the side of Weasleys and Harry, with a slight smile playing on her lips. The muggles in the station seemed completely oblivious to the young woman wearing a loose flowing green dress. They simply walked around her and continued on their ways. Harry stared, his mouth open. Was she following him? And who the hell was she anyway? As he stood looking at her, she seemed to fade away before him; the last thing he saw was her face, the expression of which seemed to flicker to a slightly threatening one before she vanished completely.
"Harry? Are you alright?" Ginny's voice came from his side.
"I--what? Yes, I'm fine," Harry said, tearing his eyes away from where Ealia had been and rumpling his already untidy hair with his hand.
Ginny was looking at him curiously, "What were you looking at? It was like you were hypnotized."
"Nothing," Harry replied, almost to himself, then in a louder voice, "Nothing at all, Gin. I must've just been having a daydream."
"Hmm," Ginny looked skeptical, reminding Harry strongly of Mrs. Weasley.
"I'm fine, really. Here, let's take our trunks to the train," Harry walked at quick pace towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten, Ginny following closely behind.
A second later, they were through, and the scarlet train stood before them, billowing white smoke. Harry couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief--he wouldn't be seeing the Dursleys again until next summer. It was such a very liberating feeling.
"C'mon Harry, let's get a compartment. I want to try to find Hermione," Ron materialized at Harry's elbow.
"Hermione, eh?" Harry elbowed his friend, and privately wondered to himself whether this year Ron and Hermione would finally get together; they'd had a love/hate relationship going on for ages, and Harry thought it time for Ron to do something about it.
Ron's ears turned pink, "Well, yeah, I mean, er, well we haven't seen her this entire summer."
"Must be a record," Harry fought back a laugh.
"Oh shut up, you," Ron replied good naturedly.
Together the two boys boarded the train, followed by Ginny, their trunks having already been taken aboard. Finally after walking the length of the train and stopping in to a compartment to greet Seamus, Dean, and Neville (which actually took quite a bit of time because Dean had wanted to regale them with his latest soccer news), Harry, Ron, and Ginny found Hermione in an empty compartment.
"Hi!" she said brightly after having turned around and recognized the intruders, "It's been forever. I would've died without all your owls Ron, yours too, Harry."
Ron turned pink again and started mumbling something about how he hadn't had too much to do over the summer, so he figured he might as well give Pig some exercise by writing letters.
"You were doing your homework, though, weren't you? We had loads this break," Hermione looked at Ron severely.
"What? I--oh, yeah."
Just then Hermione caught sight of Ginny who hadn't been able to get into the compartment due to Harry and Ron blocking up the entrance, "Ginny! How are you?" she pulled Ginny into a quick hug, "Sit down, sit down all of you. Hagrid's told me all about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
Harry let out a groan, "Hermione, can we not talk about school yet? There'll be plenty of time for that later." As much as he loved Hogwarts, Harry couldn't bring himself to listen to one of Hermione's lectures about classes just yet.
Hermione looked slightly put out, "Well, alright. What do you suggest talking about then?"
"Where's Crookshanks?" Ginny asked, and it was then that Harry and Ron noticed the absence of the orange cat.
"Mum and Dad wanted to keep him at home. We had a mouse in the walls and Mum can't stand mice."
"Yeah, and Crookshanks had plenty of practice going after rodents, what with Scabbers," said Ron.
Hermione's eyes went wide, "You can't possibly still be annoyed about that. I mean, Scabbers was Peter Pettigrew who betrayed Harry's parents! Besides, Crookshanks was just doing what cats do."
"It isn't about Scabbers. It's the principle of the thing. You can't just let your cat go after other people's pets."
"He's a cat Ron and Scabbers was a rat."
"So keep him shut up in a room then!"
Hermione looked extremely irritated. Harry looked at Ginny, who looked back at him, and an understanding passed between them.
"Erm, Ginny and I are going to go look for the food cart. We'll be back in a bit." Harry said, and then he and Ginny quickly left, leaving Ron and Hermione to battle it out.
"I can't stand it when they do that. And they're so clearly in love with eachother," huffed Ginny as the two stood a little ways down the corridor.
"Yes, I don't know what Ron's waiting about for. I mean, if I liked a girl, I'd do something about it," replied Harry.
"Would you?" Ginny looked up at him, and for the first time, Harry was struck by how attractive Ginny really was. Her flame colored hair fell loose around her shoulders, her cheeks were flushed, and her brown eyes sparkled up at him. The form beneath her robes (which she'd already changed into) was none to shabby either. Pairing that with her strong personality, Harry wondered how he had failed to notice her.
"Yeah, yeah I would," Harry felt himself blushing.
"Hmm," Ginny said knowingly, looking up into his green eyes. Before he knew what he was doing, Harry leaned down, touching his lips to Ginny's. Ginny put her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, but then as suddenly as he had begun it, Harry ended it, pulling back and quickly straightening up.
"Sorry Gin. Erm, shall we just go back now? I'm sure Ron and Hermione's row is over," and without really waiting for her, Harry strode off down the passage. What had he been doing?! He had never cared for Ginny before, and he wasn't sure he did now. Well, alright, so maybe he did, but still, it would never work out between them. And Harry didn't really understand where his impulsive move had come from. He had no idea how he was going to act around Ginny anymore after this.
Harry and Ginny entered their compartment and were met by the sight of two seemingly unaquainted, irritated people. Hermione was stony-faced, staring at a book, and jiggling her foot, and Ron, his jaw-set was staring out the window.
Ginny looked from one to the other and sighed, "Oh please you two, this is ridiculous. Stop being so infantile."
Hermione and Ron glanced at her briefly and scowled, and then turned back to what they were doing. Harry, who was used to his two best friends' behaviour, simply sat down in his seat and motioned at Ginny to sit down too. He then set to trying to find something, anything, to do that would keep him from having to talk to Ginny. He thought that if he was just able to avoid her, he might be able to sort out his feelings. The problem, Harry found, was that as hard as he tried, he couldn't keep from peaking at Ginny over the top of his Quality Quidditch Supplies catalogue. Ginny, on the other hand, was quite content to absorb herself in conversation with Hermione and seemingly did not care or notice that Harry was sending her sidelong glances.
"Please gather your things together. We will be arriving at Hogwarts in approximately ten minutes," the voice came over the intercom.
Harry, glad for an excuse to put away his catalogue, which he hadn't really been reading anyway, shoved it into a bag, "C'mon Ron, let's go change."
"Yeah ok," and with a last glance at Hermione who was still staunchly ignoring him, Ron followed Harry out of the compartment.
When the door closed behind them, Hermione looked up at Ginny, "I don't know what to do about your brother. He's absolutely infuriating!"
Ginny grinned, "I know. Believe me I know. I have to live with him."
"I really like him, you know, but sometimes I honestly can't stand him," Hermione wrinkled her nose slightly as she pulled on her robes.
"Yeah, and--oh," Ginny said as though struck by a sudden thought, her arm halfway into a sleeve, "you have to promise not to tell..."
"Ok," Hermione leaned forward.
"Well out in the hall just now--" but before she could finish, the door burst open and Harry and Ron reentered the room in their school robes, looking flushed.
"Damn git," Ron was muttering between gritted teeth.
Hermione and Ginny looked at them questioningly. Harry only had to say one word, "Malfoy."
"Oh," the two girls nodded in understanding.
"He tried to ambush us in the hallway, full of his normal abuse. Harry and I didn't bother to stick around. We just turned around and left."
"Yeah, he can't do anything without Crabbe and Goyle," Harry was rumpling his hair, trying to think of the best way to get back at his enemy. Ginny, who found herself staring at Harry, couldn't help but think how adorable he looked with his dark hair sticking up in all directions and his green eyes flashing with anger. Just then the train squealed to a halt.
"Finally," Hermione said with some relief, "I've got to get this essay checked. I think I may have missed some key points." She waved around a role of parchment.
As they exited the train, Ron and Hermione walked together, dispute apparently forgotten, and Harry found himself next to Ginny. The situation, Harry thought, was decidedly awkward.
A/N: This chapter is far longer than what the rest of them will probably be, due to the fact that I had a three day waiting period before I could start publishing (because I'm a new member). This meant that I worked on the story every chance I got and it just kept getting longer. Please review!