Disclaimer: I still do not own either the Vampire Diaries or Harry Potter. It's still a sad fact. I also don't own the French textbook mentioned in the chapter. I do have a copy of it though, and it's my least favorite text I used in college.

XI

"I don't care if it hurts.
I wanna have control.
I want a perfect body.
I want a perfect soul.

I want you to notice when I'm not around.
You're so fuckin' special.
I wish I was special."

-Creep, Radiohead

ooo

On any other day, Harry would've enjoyed the English literature lecture taking place. The Canterbury Tales had always had a special place in the witch's heart. Today, as was becoming far too often, Harry's thoughts were preoccupied by something much more ominous.

Emily Bennett.

An enigma if Harry had ever encountered one.

All of the caramel skin, dark hair, and petite features that his best friend carried, but none of the kindness to back them up. Emily had clearly suffered some injustice in her life, and was back to right it. The story was all told in her eyes. Dark pools, void of all light, desperately seeking assistance.

Her only route to absolution was definitely the amulet, Harry knew. The amulet was her means of possessing him, the focal point of her powers in the mortal world. But what purpose did it serve? What did the amulet give Emily the ability to do?

What did possessing Harry allow the spirit to accomplish?

After training so often with Grams, Harry was aware of his own powers. Left to his own devices, Harry was indeed a powerful witch. With Emily's talisman, however, Harry was a tempest. A living, breathing entity of pure magical force. He was a wildfire, decimating anything in his path while encountering nothing strong enough to stop him.

Not even his own force of will.

And to top it all off, the talisman had been given to him by Damon. The elder Salvatore couldn't have known the effect that Emily's necklace would have on the slender witch. Harry hoped as such, anyway.

At least the amulet wasn't an issue anymore. It hadn't made a reappearance since Harry had banished it from Damon's dresser.

Harry tapped his eraser on the empty page in his notebook. He shook his head and attempted to tune back into the teacher, who was lecturing on the joys of the Knight's Tale. How wonderful it would be, he pondered, to exist in such a Middle English tale, the heroes and villains clearly defined. Real life, he was quickly learning, was never quite so clear cut.

Hell, he was dating a timeless killer with a somewhat nefarious disposition. One whose intentions were muddy at best. And damn if Harry wasn't falling in love with the insufferable vampire. Not necessarily a smart decision, but one the emerald eyed teenage was unable to change, even if he wanted to.

And he wasn't even sure if he wanted to.

The black haired witch sighed aloud and shut his eyes tightly, feeling a headache begin to bubble up. Too many questions and not enough answers. He was returned to reality by the bell ringing, signaling a class change.

Harry had to fight the urge to moan piteously as he opened his bag. There, seated regally on top of Espaces: Rendez-vous Avec Le Monde Francophone, was Emily Bennett's shining amber talisman.

Harry closed his messenger back quickly and stood up somewhat shakily. With a start, he realized that the classroom was utterly deserted, and not a sound was emanating from the hallways. Swallowing his panic, the green eyed witch closed his eyes again and exhaled slowly before speaking.

"Emily," Harry was surprised by the calmness and strength in his voice. "I know you're here, and I know you've done this. Show yourself."

"Your courage is admirable, Harry."

Harry's eyes snapped open as he turned towards the door. Emily was standing there, staring the younger witch down. Her outfit was the same as the last time she'd appeared to Harry. A grey cotton dress with a lighter shawl over it, and a bonnet perched jauntily on her head. Harry was again struck with how similar in appearance she was to Bonnie, but where Bonnie's features were warm and fae, Emily appeared sharp and austere. And her eyes were so very very dark.

The living witch's pretty green eyes narrowed as Emily began to approach him, and his hand twitched with the urge to cast on her before he spoke.

"What do you want from me?"

"Nothing you would not be willing to do for me," Emily's smile was cynical as she admitted this. "You would do my will of your own volition, were you only aware of all of the facts."

Harry's features became more guarded as the spirit rounded the row of desks he was between. She began walking down his aisle, trapping him between her and the wall.

"What facts? What am I missing?" Harry began backing up, towards the wall.

"I'm not sure I can tell you, Harry. Since you allowed me the power to be in this realm, the actions of the living are not so clear to me as they once were. Perhaps the path you were set on has been changed," Emily paused in her stroll to gather her talisman from Harry's bag on the floor. A genuine smile graced her face as she held it by its chain.

Harry's back hit the wall with a small oof, and Emily returned her attention to him. She re-commenced approaching the teen, stopping at arm's length from him.

"Now, though? It matters not. I have made my decision, and I will not be swayed from my course. What I do is what is best, and all will be made clear to you in time." Emily the hand holding her talisman out towards Harry. Her eyes took on a steely glint as she spoke again.

"Put it on," she commanded.

"No," Harry shook his head slowly. "I refuse. I can't control myself with your talisman. I can't control my magic."

"Do not worry about that. I will temper your power. Put it on."

"You'll help me?"

"I will. Your need not be concerned with your actions as long as my talisman is around your neck. I will care for you."

Harry took the talisman hesitantly. The thought of the pool of magic afforded to him by the talisman, plus Emily's aid in controlling himself? It was a very tempting offer.

What the hell, the Harry thought ruefully. What else could go wrong? He slipped the talisman over his neck, and gasped as a wave of power hit him.

He quickly realized that it wasn't like the last time the talisman had inundated him in magic, and his now acid-green eyes cut back up to Emily desperately as he sank down to the floor under the weight of the eldritch power. The dead witch had a very self-satisfied smile on her face, practically beaming down at the other witch.

Shit.

The classroom began to blur at the edges, and Harry vaguely felt his cheek hit the floor as his eyes rolled back into his head.

ooo

Bonnie Bennett was many things.

A witch. Harry and Elena's best friend. Moderately sarcastic. Entirely too stylish for Mystic Falls.

But these was definitely one thing Bonnie Bennett was not:

An idiot.

Granted, Bonnie was not going to be the valedictorian of her graduating class, but she was observant. Especially when the observation involved someone that she loved. Bonnie was nothing if not protective.

Which was exactly why she was eying her best friend in the entire world, one Harry Potter, with no small amount of horror as he walked across the opposite end of the cafeteria of Mystic Falls High School. Bonnie had known the black haired boy since the second grade, and due to over a decade's worth of sleepovers, movies, boys, and now witchcraft, Bonnie could say that she knew Harry better than she knew herself most days.

She immediately bolted, throwing herself into the crowd as quickly as possible to get to the lithe teen. Even from across the large room, she'd noticed the dull, vacant look in Harry's normally astute gaze. His normally smooth, albeit clumsy, gait was mechanical, as if he was getting used to his legs again.

Bonnie didn't know what was wrong, but she was going to get to the bottom of it. She groaned in frustration as she pushed through wall after wall of the people changing classes. Light almond eyes caught a glimpse of a white t-shirt and a shock of black hair, and the elfin witch charged through the crowd with a renewed sense of purpose, dark curls flowing riotously behind her

She quickly came to the conclusion that Harry was heading for the double doors that served as the main entrance to the school. Cursing the skinny jeans and cute sandals she'd worn that day, Bonnie realized that playing fair was only going to let Harry get away from her. She continued to follow the other teen towards the entrance, and waited for an opportunity to arise.

Smiling triumphantly as a hole opened in the throng of teenagers, Bonnie let loose a cantrip meant to trip the other witch. Right as she let loose the small amount of power, though, Jeremy Davis walked directly in between Bonnie and her target, taking the tripping hex for Harry.

Bonnie narrowly resisted the urge to scream in anger, though the irony of the situation didn't escape the petite witch. Jeremy Davis had been the whole reason they'd became friends in the first place, sharing a crush on the boy in the second grade.

By the time Bonnie got a clear shot at Harry, the other teen was exiting the high school.

"Harry!" Bonnie shouted at the other, garnering a small response from the teens still milling about, reluctant to go to class.

Harry didn't even spare her a glance as he slipped out of the front doors, the large metal door pulling shut behind him. Bonnie growled lowly as she ran at the doors, shoving them open with no delicateness to speak of.

"HARRY!" She slowed to a walk before stopping on the sidewalk leading up to the school. "Harry?"

Bonnie looked left and right. The other teen was nowhere to be find.

"Damn it," Bonnie breathed. She let out a childish huff, thinking about what to do next. Clearly, she needed to find someone that could help her.

Elena and Jeremy were out of the question, they were both at school. Bonnie wanted to minimize the amount of skipping that was going to occur. She and Harry were pretty decent students, so the two of them cutting was already going to be slightly conspicuous. Adding Elena's compulsiveness about going to class, and Jeremy's recent one-eighty, they would definitely get caught. Bonnie was not about to get a detention for Harry, even if he was weirdly magic-ed out.

Who to get, then?

Bonnie's plum lips settled into a grim line as she realized the one person she could call on for help.

ooo

"Well, look who we have here," the vampire smirked, leaning into the doorframe. "Little Bonnie Bennett. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Stuff it, Damon. I need your help." Bonnie glared up at him. Her feet were in a wide stance, and her arms were crossed over her chest. About as intimidating as the girl could manage.

"Whoa, hostile. What's up?"

"I don't know exactly what you've got going on here, but I know there's something supernatural about you. I don't particularly care, at the moment, to be quite honest. You know that Harry's a witch, right?"

Damon's too-blue eyes revealed a sliver of surprise at the witch's forwardness before they returned to their icy, unreadable, natural state.

"Yes," the tall vampire admitted. There was some hesitance in his voice as he finally answered the witch.

"Good. Then you can help me rescue him," Bonnie didn't elaborate before turning away from the boarding house and beginning the walk to her Prius.

"Wait, what? Rescue?" Damon called after the girl. He was in front of her before she even managed to get a foot on the driveway. "What exactly does Harry need rescuing from?"

"I'm not totally sure to be quite honest," Bonnie huffed again. "I'm also not sure where he is. He was cutting class. He made a break for it during class change. He lost me in the crowd of students, and by the time I got to the front door, he'd disappeared."

"You came all the way out here to get me because he's skipping class?" Damon's eyebrow was at an all-time record height in terms of arch.

"Yes and no," Bonnie clarified, using a small push to close and lock the door to the boarding house. She began walking Damon towards her car. "Harry wasn't all Harry when he was skipping. His eyes, they were vacant. Dead."

Bonnie looked up from where she was unlocking her car to see a multitude of emotions flicker across the normally unreadable vampire's face. Surprise, worry, and most frightening of all to Bonnie, fear.

"Do you know where he is? What's wrong with him?" Bonnie's voice held more distress than she would've liked for Damon to hear.

She didn't get an answer from the older man, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

"Damn it." Bonnie hissed.

How was it possible to be a preternatural being, and still be left out of the loop?

ooo

Damon ran like he'd never run before.

Trees and wildlife blew past the vampire at a speed still somewhat less than his thoughts. He could punch himself for his own thoughtlessness. All of the thought the dark-haired vampire had put into The Plan, and he'd never considered the fact that Emily had enchanted the talisman to do more than she'd let on?

Hell, of course she would booby trap the thing. Damon would let her get burned at the stake a few short weeks later.

There was only one explanation that made sense to the vampire, and it was not an option he wanted to consider overly much.

He'd originally thought that the talisman was just something that Emily had put a little whammy on to give whoever wore it a little more strength. To give the bearer a little extra juice in order to open up the tomb under the remains of Fell's Church.

Clearly, he'd been wrong. Emily had done something to that talisman as a fail safe, and Harry was paying the price for it. The only possible place that Harry would've gone under the Bennett witch's juju was the ruin of the church.

Damon cleared the forestland between the boarding house and the church in an amount of time that he was fairly certain would break a land speed record.

The remains of the church stood in a small clearing, undoubtedly the entombment spell keeping the foliage from overgrowing what remained of the structure. Only about half of the outer wall of the church remained. Large gray stones sat in a parody of the once pretty little chapel, a couple of stone arches where windows had once been.

Anyways, his amazing timing would have been recording breaking if he wasn't dead and could come forward with such things, the vampire mused with a wry smirk.

"Still so self-satisfied, I see."

If Damon did such human things as jump in surprise, he would have. Needless to say, he did no such thing. He did, however, whip around to watch Harry approach him from the edge of the trees. Once in the clearing, the slight mage began to pace back and forth, Damon separating him from Fell's Church.

Bonnie was completely right, Damon noted. The Harry that was sauntering towards him was not his Harry, nor was it a Harry that Damon really wanted to meet. His normally vibrant green eyes were dull, a darker shade of green than the vampire had ever seen on the boy. His voice was also different. It sounded as Harry would sound, but with none of the correct inflections, none of the emphasis that the green-eyed witch would have spoken with naturally.

"The gears in your mind turn at an alarming rate, Damon Salvatore," Harry's normally sweet smile was a twisted mockery of itself. "You wonder what is wrong with your lover?"

"What's going on here? Emily? Is that you?" Damon's glare would've punched holes through a lesser being.

"You always were such a clever boy," Harry slash Emily stopped finally pacing, turning to level Damon with a wicked glare. "Too clever. For too long I've watched your maneuverings, vampire. Such a grand maestro, with all the town your orchestra. A whole century you've played all of us. It ends now."

"Oh, does it?" Damon sneered at the witch possessing Harry. "What exactly do you plan on doing, O Great Dead Witch?"

Rather than formulate a response, Emily/Harry flicked their wrist, and Damon suddenly found himself launched into the air, held in a magical vise. The force on him was so great that he couldn't muster the strength to move at all.

Emily/Harry then bent down, delicately beginning to roll up the bottom of the boy's jeans. The spirit then turned up to Damon, grinning devilishly.

"Harry is terribly fond of these pants. Rolling them is a necessary precaution, lest the get dirty in what will ensue."

The spirit then mildly flicked its wrist again, and Damon came crashing down onto the Earth with the force of a small meteor. All of the air left his undead body, and he was fairly certain that several bones had been broken by that one. Damon made a mental note not to piss Harry off once this was all over.

Provided he survived. Emily was taking much longer than most people to warm up to him, it seemed.

Ghosts these days. No sense of friendliness anymore.

"Do forgive me for the rough landing, I just needed to make sure you could witness this with no quips coming from that barbed tongue of yours."

Damon abruptly found himself sitting, undoubtedly pulled by the spirit's powers. He was still fully immobile, and more than a little dazed and winded, if he was going to be completely honest. Eyes the color of glaciers finally focused on where he assumed Harry was.

The possessed witch was indeed standing there. His jeans rolled up neatly, and his white v-neck shirt was mostly untouched by the chaos of the day. It was mid-afternoon, and the sun was beginning to descend behind the teen, casting him into a silhouette. The breeze ruffled his unruly black hair lightly, and the smile on his face spread greatly as he realized that Damon's attention was back on him.

"Now, you will see what it is like to have your life ended before your eyes," Emily's vindication played out in high definition on Harry's face. "You will understand the pain that you have put this entire town through so many times."

Emily walked closer to Damon, settling down on her knees in front of the vampire. She sat back onto his heels, and reached into the neckline of his shirt. A cold sense of dread made its way up Damon's spine as he started to realize what Emily's intentions were.

"Em-Emily! Don't do anything you'll regret!"

Emily fished the talisman from Harry's shirt, smiling triumphantly as her vision shifted back to the vampire helpless before her. The ghost held no satisfaction as she gazed upon the loosely veiled fear playing out in the vampire's blue eyes. She felt no sense of happiness as it began to dawn on him that she was about to destroy everything he'd ever wanted.

She was only a ghost, in the end, and such emotions were for the living, and only the living.

What she did feel, however, was an awe-inspiring sense of justice. Emily Bennett was filled with the knowledge that what she was doing was right, and after so many years of waiting, she could finally rest after this single act.

With a mere look, she flung Damon against the stone wall of the old church. She held him with enough magic that he would stay for a few minutes once she was done, and returned the little witch to his body. Such displacement was unpleasant at best, and she pitied the boy the reality he was returning to.

It mattered not, the spirit decided. He was a strong witch, from powerful stock. He would fare much better than she in this life. And, as she cut her eyes over to the vampire, perhaps the cold one's plans had changed without him realizing. Harry's memories led her to believe as such.

But all of that was conjecture. All that was concrete and mattered to the spirit was the talisman in her hands now. She held the talisman outward and whispered a few words in gaelic. The amber colored gem grew brighter and brighter, shining pure white after a few seconds.

A soft smile grew on the teen's face. One that Harry would be more likely to wear. Emily looked up at Damon, hearing no words as he clearly pleaded with her to change her plans.

"It's over," Emily whispered through Harry's mouth.

She clenched the hand holding the talisman into a fist, and the pristine white gem was crushed into a thousands pieces. A blinding light filled the clearing as all of the talisman's powers were released.

As Emily's consciousness fled Harry's body, the last the she heard on this plane was a hoarse scream filling the clearing.

Ooo

Harry was only aware of two things as he began to float back into consciousness.

One: Passing out and waking up with the mother of all hangovers was becoming all too common in his life, especially given the distinct lack of alcohol in it as of late.

Two: The fact that his first cognizant realization was that he'd been possessed by the spirit of a long dead witch said that he needed to do some immediate re-prioritization of his life.

On the periphery of his awareness, he could vaguely hear someone yelling. It wasn't altogether unpleasant, Harry decided, this state of underwater near-limbo he found himself in.

It was warm, and peaceful, and he could already tell that he was going to wake up with a monstrous headache.

"Awaken, little witch."

And with those three words, Harry was cast back into complete consciousness. He sucked in a deep breath of air and attempted to take in his surroundings. He was outside again, much like the last time he'd been possessed. He opened his eyes blearily, and waited for something to come into focus.

The loud wail he'd been aware of only peripherally before had stopped as soon as he'd regained awareness.

He was at the church again. Harry was immensely thankful that Emily had been so kind as to leave his glasses on this time, and to keep them in good condition. The black haired boy sat up slowly, turning to survey where he knew the remains of the church to be.

He bit back a gasp as the wall came into his full view. There, on the wall, was Damon Salvatore looking like Harry had never seen him before. Those icy blue eyes were burning with rage, and every muscle in that warrior body was straining against some unknown force. The full force of that glare was on Harry, and for a moment the witch felt his heart stutter in his chest.

Harry wondered what could have caused such horror in the vampire, and as he began to think on it, the events of the past few hours came crashing down on him. It played out like a movie to him; Emily possessing him in the classroom, making his way to Fell's Church, confronting Damon, destroying the talisman.

None of it made sense to Harry.

Why would Emily destroy a talisman she had created? Why was Damon so distraught at it's annihilation?

What had the talisman been the key to?

A key...Harry's mind began racing. Flashes of unimportant conversations came back to him, and suddenly the puzzle pieces began to make a macabre sort of sense.

"She died," Zach said frankly. "There was a fire, and she died in it. Damon and Stefan were left behind, with nothing but malevolence and bad memories between the two of them."

"A fire," Damon answered, keeping his attention on the river. "A tragic fire."

"Ancestors of our Damon and Stefan, they were named after them. Apparently the Salvatore name was like royalty here, even more than the Lockwoods, then Willow Creek happened. They lost someone they loved very much when Fell's Church was razed, and their own father shot both of them shortly afterwards."

"Actually, an ancestor of your good friend Bonnie's. Her name was Emily Bennett, and she was an exceptionally powerful witch. She made this for me and did me another favor. In return, I promised to keep tabs on her descendants," Damon replied.

A moment of startling clarity shook Harry to his very core. The fire at Fell's Church had killed people, but Katherine was not among them. Emily had protected her using the power of the talisman, and Damon had given Harry the talisman in order to free her, or save her, or whatever needed to be done.

A sick heaviness formed in his stomach as the truth began to settle in. He'd been played all along, nothing more than a pawn to be moved about at Damon's whims.

Harry turned with a lightning quickness towards Damon, who was still fighting the invisible bonds placed on him by Emily in Harry's body.

"Stop," he commanded. His voice was barely above a whisper, yet all of the fight drained from Damon's body and the older vampire hung limp in his magical chains.

Harry didn't feel the hot tears begin to burn their way down his flushed cheekbones. He didn't hear the soft exhalation of his name under Damon's breath. He didn't see his own too-pale hands begin to shake in a weird mixture of outrage and pure pain.

All he felt was a deep, overwhelming numbness. He felt cold all the way through his bones.

Faced with a reality the witch hadn't thought he would ever have to wake up to, he did the only thing he could think of.

Harry ran.

ooo

A/n: Hi there, everyone.

I'm obscenely sorry for taking so long. Suffice it to say, I am on the mends from a very wounding autumn season, lol. I went from being able to write pages at a time to having no time, and sometimes no will, to write. Last week I sat down to write some more of this chapter and literally added one word before I had to save, shut down, and go do six trillion other things.

I have the first chapter of an Hp/Twilight (I know, I'm judging myself, too) fic mostly written. I'll try to post that in the next week or so. Expect chapter 12 of this story within the next two weeks, as my life is starting to normalize.

Thank you all for sticking with me and reading!

Please review!