Chp's 1 and 2 revised. 3-11 revision in process.

Chap. 12 Rage Against the Protector

Harry Potter was in a bad mood.

And after discovering that his body had been abused and stuffed under the couch, his hair had been cut off, and that he couldn't account for three days out of his life, no one really blamed him.

Not improving his mood, the kids had then bombarded him with question after question about his whereabouts. He couldn't take it; his annoyance was building up to his anger.

Noticing his discomfort, Ron had offered the ultimate distraction for his escape: "Anybody want to start a fight club?"

It surprised even Harry; with the responses that comment had garnered. Whether they were good or not, Harry didn't bother to decipher, he had to get out of there. He roamed the halls, ignoring stares to his new do, until he found a quiet hall that led to a dead end.

Now, if anyone were to stumble upon him, they would find a tranquil looking Harry Potter, sitting on the window seat and leaning halfway out of the window. Although his posture was nonchalant, his face was full of frowns as he dangled his hand out the window.

"Potter, I swear, I didn't mean any of that to happen." Aureline yelled in panic from where she was stranded out on the ledge. "I was just…playing around…I swear…I thought you would duck!"

Harry ignored her pleas and continued to dangle his hands just a teasingly short distance away from her grasp. He wasn't sure how much she deserved it, but he was sure it was enough. While he couldn't remember what had happened to him while his body was under the couch, though Aureline claimed him to have been a ghost, he could remember random bits of events he was sure didn't occur within three days.

It was more like scenes from his life. He remembered places and things like they were memories from his childhood. But none of them were possible to experience while with the Dursley's. At first he had assumed them to be memories of his past lives, but they were too vivid, and even though he remembered some things, he couldn't remember himself. The few memories that sprouted in his head didn't seem to be memories of someone who had a life, let alone multiple lives. There were no memories of families, no recollection on how he looked or who he was; his memories weren't of old age, of wives, of children, or of dieing.

Just random images of, what seemed, one day. One long day. But how would he know the difference. And what of past lives. If memories were starting to comeback, shouldn't they feel familiar and be triggered by coinciding events? Shouldn't his memories be extraneous and unsubstantial? One lifetime mixed with another? But the memories were so scant and few that he contradicted himself by thinking that he couldn't be certain of anything at this point. Only things he could easily get from the images, were the emotions. He knew exactly how he felt, yet not the reason or life at the time of the memory. Bitterness. Love. Loneliness. Anger. Boredom. Lots of boredom. And at one point he knew he was arrogant.

"Harry?"

Harry was startled out of his quagmire of thoughts, as a feminine voice spoke his name.

"Yeah?" he called out glancing over his shoulder to see Cho Chang looking warily at him.

"Hi," She said with a smile, and then gasped as he fully turned to face her. "Whoa, nice hair."

"Thanks." he grinned, running a hand over the only strip of hair on his head. "I wanted to start a trend. Is it working for you?"

"Um…yeah, sure." Cho answered, coming to sit next to him, her eyes never leaving his head. "…whatever floats your boat Potter…is someone out there screaming?"

Harry threw his arm around her and drew her close before she could turn to look out the window. "You float my boat." He growled, kissing her neck and making her forget about screaming cats. "Now, is there a reason you sought me out?"

"Reason?" she mumbled. "Yeah. Listen. I was thinking that it was going to be pretty hard for us to get together if we're were to keep us a secret. Until…I found the Venus room."

"Venus room?" Harry asked, with a skeptical look. "Never heard of it?"

"Good! At least I know I'll be the first girl to have you there. The Venus room is a secret room hidden in Hogwarts that only comes out at night. It's been here since the beginning and started out as a place for prefects to hang out but then it became a place mainly for couples to go to get some 'alone' time. It's never in the same place twice and people forgot about so it kind of became one of Hogwarts' little forgotten secrets."

"And you found it? How?"

"You never mind that." She said, poking him in the chest, "You just meet me there when the time comes."

"If it's never in the same place twice, how I am supposed to meet you there?"

"Right. I'll know where it is, and I'll just make a show to stand around its entrance during the day. That'll be our little game, Potter. If you find me, you find the

entrance, and that means…"

"I've won." he announced with a smile. "So what'll my prize be?"

Cho's eyes lit up with the sudden invitation and she leaned in close to him. "You want to find out now?"

"Now? Right here, right now?"

"Just a little preview." She whispered as she pulled out her wand. "Occulto."

"What was that?" he whispered, his eyes on her lips.

"A cover spell. Just in case we get any visitors. It's not as good as the Venus room, but it'll keep our profile from prying eyes."

"Good." Harry mumbled impatiently, as he pulled her closer and closed the gap in between them.

As the couple became lost in themselves, neither heard nor noticed as the Cat-like assassin lost her footing and fell from the ledge right outside their window. But Harry wouldn't have cared…even if he did hear it.

Harry arrived back to the commons room, in a fairly lighter mood. He hadn't realized he had been smiling until a sudden pain in his stomach caused him to lose it. He cast an angry eye around for his attacker and didn't have to look far before Aureline swung at him again.

"What the hell, Lin?" he yelled, causing everyone to stop what they had been doing to watch them, as he took the hit to the temple.

"Umm, Lin, we were only kidding about the fight club thing." Ron spoke up as he and Hermione came in between the two.

"What the hell was that for?" Harry yelled, getting his bearings back.

"You know damn well what that was for!" Aureline yelled back as she made a lunge at him, but was stopped as Ron jumped in her way.

"Harry, what's going on?" Hermione asked quietly, trying to keep Harry's and Lin's quarrel from the many spectators.

"He threw me out of a window!" Aureline yelled, not bothering to keep the secret, and as she yelled with such passion, everyone gasped and looked accusingly at Harry.

"You shaved my head and put my unconscious body under a couch for three days!"

"But at least I didn't throw you out of the window!"

"I wouldn't put it past you! You probably didn't have enough time!"

"That's not the point! I didn't do it! I only shaved your head, you threw me out of a fucking window!"

"What's the big deal? I thought cats were always suppose to land on their feet!"

"Harry! Did you really throw her out of a window!" Ron yelled, adding to the madness, and getting tired of getting pummeled by the enraged girl he was trying to keep at bay.

Harry finally tore his angry eyes away from Aureline and focused on those around him. He sneered as they cast accusing eyes on him; eyes that were quick to judge, quick to label.

"WHAT?" He yelled at him. "Does she look like she's been thrown out of window?"

The accusing eyes of his classmates turned toward the quieted assassin. Aureline's eyes were smoldering as they looked at her unscathed body. Not a scratch, bruise, or bump indicated that she had had an adventure out of a window.

"Don't turn this all on me!" Aureline growled as she snatched something from off her arm and hurled it at him.

Harry easily caught the object against his chest. As he looked at what he had caught, he threw a glare her way, only to find her smiling smugly at him.

"When the hell did you steal this?" he asked angrily, holding up the arm band that Jared had given him.

"When you were doing the nasty with your whores!"

Harry was stunned at her choice of words. Whores? As in, more than one. He couldn't get what she was saying. Did she see him with Cho? And if she did, where did the plural come from.

"In Africa." she filled in. "Jackie, Lexy, and Carissa."

"They are not my God Damned Whores!" Harry yelled angrily as she suddenly brought back memories.

"Really Harry? Three? Isn't that being a tad bit greedy?" Hermione voiced, giving Harry a disapproving look.

"You're my hero!" Someone yelled, but was ignored.

"Oh that's right. They weren't your whores…you were theirs."

Harry's eye twitched.

"Maybe I should tell your new girlfriend about them." Aureline continued, circling Harry in a wide circle as she headed for the door. Harry didn't move, too angry to respond to her taunting. He'd get her later, once he'd calmed down enough to be enraged.

"Hey, maybe I'll help her out . Seeing as how much you enjoyed them, maybe they all can get together and discuss what you like."

"I didn't enjoy it." Harry growled lowly.

"Keep telling yourself that. But deep down, you know you did. They know you did. Anybody who heard you, know you did. They didn't have the bottle the whole time. Sometimes it was just you and them."

Harry watched her go, vaguely wondering if anyone heard her, and greatly wondering if what she said was true.

"Harry?"

Harry sighed before turning to face the first inquirer, but what he wasn't expecting was to get slapped.

"NO!" he yelled, stomping his foot in anger. "No you did not, just slap me after I just went through all of that!"

"Since when do you have a girlfriend?" Lavender yelled angrily with her hands on her hips.

Harry's jaw jutted out in aggravation. "Since it was my bloody business and none of yours."

She slapped him again. "How long has this been going on? Was it before or after us?"

"Us? There was never any us. There was me, and then over there, there was you. There was no us."

"You whoremonger, how could you say that? Every time I turned around, there you were, flirting and hitting on me. But I guess I was just part of your whoring route."

"Well I'm sorry that you were simple enough to misinterpret everything I said and delusion it into me flirting with you!"

Lavender gasped as hurt flashed across her face.

"Harsh Potter." Somebody muttered loudly.

The hurt soon faded from Lavender's eyes as rage conquered. She slapped him. He said nothing and she became angrier. She raised her hand to strike him again, but before she could connect, Harry had grabbed her wrist and stopped it.

"Keep…your…damned hands…to yourself." Harry growled, ignoring her futile struggling, but as he finished he tossed her hand to the side and sent her stumbling.

Lavender grabbed her wrist in pain and stared accusingly at Harry as Parvati came over to comfort her. Neither girl spoke to him as they passed him, but they did send him the evil eye. It wasn't until they got to the portrait that Lavender said anything.

"You're a freak, Potter! An asshole, orphaned freak! You should do the world a favor and kill yourself!"

"What the hell did you just say?" Harry growled vehemently, taking a step towards the closing door, but a step was a far as he got before Ron was forcefully

pushing him back.

"Just let her go, mate." Ron told him, his face set to manhandle Harry if the need be.

Harry was biting his lip as he clenched and unclenched his fist repeatedly, as her words struck home.

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked timidly, easing closer to him, but was held back by Ron as she got too close.

The movement had Harry setting his gaze to those around him. Angry, scared, pitying, accusing: the list went on. All eyes were on him, and he felt like he was going to snap. His day was getting worse and worse. Now he even had his best friends scared of him. The others, he could take their misguided assumptions, but not his best friends. He hated how Hermione was scared to come near and how Ron seemed ready to protect her from him. How could he convince them he wasn't a dangerous, asshole, orphaned freak, when he felt like killing something then and there?

"What time does the next class start?" He finally managed to say through his gritted teeth.

"In an hour?" Hermione told him softly. "Harry what-?"

"Good, come get me before it starts. I'll be by the lake." He didn't bother to hear any confirmation before he was gone and the portrait door was slamming behind him.

Harry floated under the water, trying to drown his anger. He was there just as a normal person, he wasn't under the influence of the water element, nor the air. He just was. He'd stay there until his lungs felt about to burst then he would surface long enough to get air then he'd sink back down.

He wasn't sure how long he had been out there before he stripped down and jumped into the lake, but he was sure it was getting close to class hour. Looking up at the surface, he sighed, making the remaining air in his lungs appear before him. As he made to swim to the surface, he was suddenly halted mid-swim as something slimy grabbed hold of his foot.

If he had had any air in his lungs he would have sighed in frustration, but he didn't even turn around.

"Ron, did…you hear something?" Hermione asked slowly as she and Ron rounded the corner and came face to face with a peculiar sight.

They saw Harry Potter and a crowd of mer-people floating in the middle of lake and staring off into the distance.

"Weird." Ron muttered, just as something big came crashing into the water at the far end of the lake. "What the hell was that?" Ron yelled as he and Hermione only caught sight of a tentacle as whatever fell began to sink.

"Harry?" Hermione called out, making the mer-people duck out of sight as Harry faced them. "What was that thing?"

"You missed it." He answered semi-enthusiastically, as he began to swim towards the shore. "The mermaids just made the squid do a flip."

"Mione, divert your eyes." Ron promptly called out, slapping a hand over Hermione's eyes as Harry emerged from the water.

"Ron, stop it." Struggling against his hand, Hermione pushed it away to find Harry standing in his wet boxers and holding his dry clothes forlornly.

"Mione, please?" Harry asked, but as he said the words Hermione was already ahead of him.

"Exaresco" She called out, pointing her wand at him, and within a few minutes steam rose from his body as he dried.

"Thanks." He offered briefly before putting on his clothes.

"So, buddy." Ron stated as he came over threw an arm around Harry's shoulder. "Do you feel any better?"

"Not really." he answered truthfully, buttoning up his pants.

"Good." Ron shot back quickly, slapping Harry on the back, earning him a glare.

"Why's that good?" Harry asked wryly, as he slipped on his glasses.

"Oh, nothing. I'd just hate for you to have gotten your spirits up just to get them knocked back down."

"What happened?"

"Ron." Hermione warned.

"Oh, nothings happened, but it's going to."

"Are you enjoying this?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"He is." Hermione answered, while Ron simultaneously said, "A little."

Ron hadn't been too far off from thinking that Harry's mood wasn't about to improve. It was quickly proven to Harry the moment he entered the castle. After

walking only a few feet, who should come bounding down the stairs like an angry wraith, no one but Minerva McGonagall, and she was looking for Harry.

"Come with me, now." She just short of growled, before storming off, with a skulking Harry on her heels.

"Harry?" He heard Ron yelling. "Put the charm on. Use the…" but whatever he had meant to say was lost, as Hermione forcefully shut him up.

Up the stairs and down the halls, he followed her, and lower and darker went his mood. So when they finally made it to her office, the only emotion he felt and bared was annoyed anger.

He sat and smoldered as she yelled and reprimanded him for spraining Lavender's wrist. He hadn't even known he had hurt her. He shouldn't have hurt her. He hadn't even gripped her arm. He had only stopped her from hitting him again. He could only figure that in his anger, he hadn't known his own strength. And he had been beyond angry when it happened. He scowled at the thought.

Seeing his scowl, McGonagall had yelled at him to pay attention. Doing so, he found his mood wasn't up for it. He only got angrier and angrier as he listened.

And that would happen if you got two weeks of detention cleaning the school.

"And I expect you to apologize to Ms. Brown immediately."

"Sorry, Professor, but I can't do that." He said, giving her a deadpan stare.

On hearing his declaration, McGonagall sputtered her words in shocked astonishment.

"You can't do it?" she finally managed, her own anger rising to color her face. "And why not?"

"She didn't deserve it, and I'm sorry I hurt her, I didn't even know I had, but she was assaulting me and I only stopped her."

"She was assaulting you? She was assaulting you, and you sprained her wrist."

"I didn't know." he insisted through clenched teeth.

"The poor girl was in tears when she told me."

"I DIDN'T KNOW!" Harry yelled over ranting as he slammed a fist down onto her desk.

The silence that followed was a strained one as they looked at each other, but it was Harry who lowered his eyes first as he removed his fist from her desk and slouched back into his seat.

"I worry about you Mr. Potter." She said quietly after a second's pause, the concern in her voice making Harry avert his eyes. "Is there something you want to talk about?"

"Nothing, professor. Everything's fine." he lied with a shrug. Of course there was something. His head was a mess. And the Italian man laughing in his mind was no help.

McGonagall didn't believe him for a second, and that was made evident by the pursing of her lips. "Very well. Your detention starts tomorrow."

It was a dismissal.

Getting up to leave, he didn't even turn her way, though he felt her gaze on him.

"Mr. Potter?" she called, making him stop in the door frame, he still didn't look at her. "Apologize, you'll thank me later."

To say Harry's day couldn't get any worse was an understatement. It went to hell in a hand basket.

"Oh somebody's trying to be funny." he muttered to himself as he walked into DADA, only to find himself staring at the best punch line in the world.

"That hair in unacceptable."

Not only did he just find out that Snape was the new DADA teacher, but that his hair was unacceptable. And as the spell hit him and he felt and saw his remaining hair fall to the floor, Harry had to wonder, what was the point of coming back to school.

"Where do you think you're going Potter?" Snape said after Harry had walked the length of the class, heading for his desk.

"My seat, professor." Harry answered, ignoring the snickers of the Slyntherins.

"You have no seat. While you were vacationing, the rest of the class got on with their education. And if you had bothered to show up, then you would know that this years class will be sectioned off into partnered groups."

Harry sighed before he looked off at his fellow students and noticed that they all sat off into pairs. While the others laughed at him, he saw Lavender and Parvati glaring at him, Aureline was looking smug sitting with Neville, Ron and Hermione were looking sympathetic, Ron a little less so, and Malfoy…

Malfoy looked sick. His skin was paler than usual, and taking on a greenish hue, his normally well groomed appearance was disheveled, his hair wasn't slicked back, and fell around him in slight disarray.

'At least I'm not alone in this misery.' Harry thought glumly, as he watched Malfoy visibly try to hold back a fountain of vomit.

"Did you hear me, Potter?"

Snapping back to attention, Harry's mood, which had lightened at the sight of a sick Malfoy, soured as he turned to face his tormentor. By the sound of his tone, Snape had realized that Harry had tuned him out.

"I'm sorry professor," Harry said, making sure to keep his voice perfectly indifferent. "What am I to do then?"

"You are the class's new lab rat."

He would have been the lab rat even if he had been to class. That's what Harry got out of Snape's tone of voice and facial expression. Or maybe it was because he was just old. And if he expected a better reaction out of Harry, he was sadly mistaken.

"Come, here, Potter."

And just like that, Harry's day started going to hell.

"Just breathe Harry." Hermione coaxed him as they left class.

Having been beaten and humiliated in front of class, Harry felt he was taken things pretty well.

"I am." he replied.

"You need to calm down, Harry."

"I am calm, what are you talking about?"

"Harry!" Hermione snapped as she jumped in front of him, making him stop. "You're grinding your teeth and growling like an animal."

Upon hearing her words, Harry relaxed his jaw and was surprised at the pressure he had been applying.

"It's okay, mate." Ron reassured him as he threw an arm around Harry's shoulders. "When classes are over, I'll smack you around the courtyard for a bit."

Harry just looked at him with deadpan eyes.

"Does that sound like fun?" Ron asked him in a patronizing voice as he pinched his cheek. "Want me to smack you around like I did the other day? Huh? Does that sound like fun? Want me to smack you around? Make you cry like a little girl? Yeah you do."

"Get off, you nut." Harry laughed as he pushed his friend off of him.

"So, Potter, does that greasy haired man not like you or something?" Aureline finally asked what she had been wondering for the past hour.

"Don't talk to me." Harry told her firmly.

"Drama queen." she muttered, but with a look from Harry, she backed down…for the second.

"What is with you two anyway? Why are you mad at her?" Hermione asked, but it was Ron who answered.

"Lover's quarrel."

"Shut up, Ron!" Harry growled.

"Oh that right, you have a girlfriend, now. Who is she?"

Harry merely glanced at him with a small smile before walking ahead of them.

"What? Is she so secret you can't tell your best friend about her?" Ron asked as he jogged to catch up with his shorter friend. "Come on, Harry. The girls are back there, now tell me about her. They can't hear us."

Harry looked over his shoulder at the girls and saw them straining to hear. He burst into laughter. Feeling better, he didn't notice the person standing in front of him until it was too late.

"Whoa, I'm sorry." he mumbled, but lost his train of thought when he saw who he had bumped into.

It was a girl. A beautiful girl with long, shiny blonde hair that fell to her knees. She was about an inch or so shorter than Harry and when she looked up at him, her beauty astounded him and he barely had time to register that her eyes were as black as the night sky before he found himself tongue tied.

Along side of him, Ron was in a similar state. But when the girls arrived and elbowed the boys into awareness, the trance was broken…somewhat.

"Hi." both Ron and Harry said at the same time, making them glance at each other competitively. But with an annoyed cough from Hermione they snapped out of it. The girl in the meanwhile was staring up at Harry expectantly.

"Harry," Ron whispered non too lowly. "She's looking at you. If…if this is your girlfriend, just shut up, quit acting like a prat and thanks your lucky stars."

"Sorry mate, and believe me, at this moment, I am sorry. But this isn't my girlfriend. If she had been the one to sexually assault me at the lake, then she would be."

"Hey, she's right here and she can hear you." Hermione snapped.

"Excuse me?" the girl asked in a unique accent, looking at Harry with irritation. "What do you mean…I'm not your girlfriend?"

Harry laughed nervously while Ron backed away slowly. "Harry you're a bit of a whore, mate."

"What?" Harry asked the girl.

She didn't reply but crossed her arms and stared hard at Harry with her ebony eyes.

"I…I don't know you." He finally answered, causing the girl to gasp with a pained expression on her face.

"Damn Potter," Aureline commented after an awkward second had passed. "I don't remember her…"

"LIAR!" the girl screamed as she swung her petite fist at him.

Dumbfounded by the meeting, Harry didn't try to dodge the blow and ended up staggering back from the pain she caused.

"NO!" he growled, trying to see around the stars swarming around his head.

"She ran off." Ron told him in awe.

"Could this day get any better!" Harry snapped, blinking his eye back to corrected vision. "That's the third girl to hit me today! Ugh! Hermione do you want a go at it! Want to join the rest of the bloody female population and beat the crap out of Potter?"

Hermione was quiet for a moment. "Think I'll save it for another day."

Ron smiled and Aureline laughed aloud. "She gave you a black eye!" they both laughed in unison.

"Days like this can cause a man to drink." Harry muttered darkly to himself.

"You're fifteen!" Hermione reprimanded him. "Hardly a man."

"This must be what hell is like."