ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
-CHAPTER ONE-
BETA: Hannah
INFO: www. livejournal. com /users/ draycious
LINK: http:// www. fanfiction. net/s/3040483/1/
DISCLAIMER: All of the recognized characters belong to JK Rowling, and not me. I do not own anything that belongs to the HP world, nor do I make any money out of this
NOTE: This story was rewritten in October 2006.
He was running so fast that he almost fell. He knew he had to run no matter what.
Run, run, and run.
No feelings, no anything.
It didn't work. A burning hate kept him going.
"Hey! Slow down or you'll kill yourself!" a voice shouted at him from behind. Harry Potter came to a dead stop. A black haired man ran almost into him, since he wasn't prepared for the abrupt ending of the chase.
"Honestly Raven!" the black haired one said scolding in-between laboured breaths. The man leaned over with his hands on his knees, fighting the urge to give in and drop down towards the ground and just rest.
"Oh shut up Blade! I know that you enjoy chasing me in at that neck breaking speed!" Raven/Harry teased with a cheeky smile firmly in place.
"I would if you did it because it was fun, but you don't really do it because of that, do you?" the man asked him seriously and looked at him intently. Harry didn't answer. Instead he turned his face away.
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨About three months later¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
Harry a.k.a Raven stood just outside the entrance of platform 9 ¾. His eyes swept forlornly over the many children with their families. They all looked so happy, despite the dark times with Voldemort's return. He felt a bit sad when he thought about his own life. He didn't have a family. Well, he had one now, but he couldn't tell anyone about them. People wouldn't understand if he did. He wanted to be normal like the rest of them, to be able to do things without being judged by everybody.
A black haired man named Blade joined his side.
"I can't believe you talked me into this!" he complained as he dragged a heavy trunk behind him. It made a lot of noise and since the man didn't particularly care where or who the trunk might hit people had to part and jump out of its way.
"Oh shut up already! Hogwarts needed a new DADA teacher!" said Raven in a voice revealing they had had this conversation many times before.
"Why me?"
"Because no one else dares. Besides, you'll be near me!" he said cheekily.
"Oh yeah... what a bonus," said Blade sarcastically and kicked the trunk in frustration when it tipped over because of weight of the things inside it. Raven only smiled softly at him. He knew the man well by now, and knew this was just an act to hide the fact that he was a little uneasy. Blade didn't like being around too many children at once, he claimed he couldn't handle them. Raven had to remind them that the ones attending Hogwarts would be older than three.
"So where's your friends?" Blade asked him and stood up straight after his private fight with the trunk was over. He put the hair hanging in his face away with an annoyed gesture.
Raven shrugged. "I don't know. We'll see them soon, I think," he answered and looked around slowly.
In the meantime people began to stop nearby to watch them. The girls drooled over the two men. Because men they were.
One with raven black half long hair, pale skin and piercing green eyes, slim and fit but well muscled and tall. He looked very mysterious. Something was familiar about him but no one could put their finger on it.
The other man also had black hair, but it was a different shade. It was black, but with some blue shades in it. The hair went down to his chin with some of it hanging down in his eyes, just like the black haired one. The two men looked quite alike in their facial features, but the black haired one with blue shades were a bit taller than the other one. The black haired man with blue shades even had green eyes, like the other one, but they were darker, almost black.
"Who are they?" Hermione whispered to Ginny a distance from the men so they couldn't hear them.
"I don't know. Could they be exchange students?" she asked with a thoughtful frown.
"They look too old for being 7th year students, at least the taller one does," Hermione answered immediately. She was a true know it all at heart. There was probably nothing that could ever change that.
"They can't be professors, can they? Somehow I recognise the shorter black haired man from before…," said Ginny and Hermione nodded in agreement.
Ron on the other hand was one of the few who wasn't very impressed by the men. He was standing a bit away from the rest of his family, shooting dark looks at the two men that drew the entire female populations eyes upon them. Even his own mum's!
"Mum. Do you know who the new DADA teacher is? I mean, did Dumbledore tell anyone during a meeting?" Ginny asked in a low voice.
"He did mention it, " answered a flustered Mrs. Weasley. She hadn't been this worked up since the Lockhart incident. "He said he didn't have a clue about who the person in question was. He's never met him. We all thought that was a bit odd, especially during these times," she answered but didn't seem to have much against the choice now when she had seen the man, if he was the new professor, they didn't know that yet.
"Still do, mind you," Arthur added, not at all bothered with his wife. He knew she would never act upon a little crush.
Quite a lot of the order members were standing all around the station today because Harry would be arriving together with the Dursleys. They couldn't be careful enough, an attack today could prove to be fatal for the Order. There wasn't much protection around the train, and magical wards were hard to set up since there already were a dozen keeping the muggles out.
"We haven't heard from Harry all summer! What if the Dursleys have done something to him?" Ron asked when he gave up glaring at the men. They didn't look his way anyhow.
"I don't think so, dear. It's true that no one of our guards outside his home have seen much of him this summer, but Albus would know if something was wrong, dear," Molly said and tried to peak over a group of girls' heads to be able to see the two men better.
"Oh my!" said Arthur when they saw the Dursleys come straight at them but without Harry. Vernon was looking angry.
The raven-haired man said something to the taller man. The taller one nodded, went over to the Dursleys, and stopped them before they could reach anyone from the Order. No one could hear what the man said to them, but the Dursleys got a scared look upon their faces and hurried away from the station. The man returned to the raven haired man and they talked quietly with each other. Soon afterwards the two of them went through the stone wall towards the Hogwarts Express.
The lot that had surrounded them followed quickly and Hermione and the Weasleys were left alone.
"Where is Harry?" Hermione asked the others in an anxious voice even if they didn't have any more answers than she did. Molly looked worried as well.
"Where did they go?" Lupin shouted to them. He had come out from behind a garbage bin.
"Who?" Ron yelled back in hope that Lupin had seen Harry. Remus pointed toward the general direction the Durleys had gone. Lupin hadn't been able to see more than that they had gone left, from where he was hiding.
"The Dursleys!" Lupin clarified with an impatient movement. He had thought it had been obvious.
"I don't know! Check the car park!" Arthur shouted back to him and walked away to talk with another Order member, probably to see if there was anything he could do. The Order were running around like confused hens. They hadn't expected anything quite like this. A possible fight, yes, but certainly not a whispered conversation and no Harry!
"Stay here in case Harry arrives," Moody ordered the rest of them from behind. He was taking charge over the situation, someone had to.
Tonks, disguised as a young girl, asked them quickly about the black haired man.
"I've never seen him before, but I recognised the raven haired one," said Molly as she wrung her hands anxiously. Her dreams and illusions around the tall man had been shattered the moment she realised he had something to do with the loss of Harry.
"Strange... death eaters?" Tonks asked.
"Maybe. It's possible. I'll go through and watch them!" Arthur announced just as he came back, and leaned casually against the wall falling through without any muggles realising he had just disappeared.
Raven and Blade were currently eating a lollipop each. Raven was licking his while looking at Blade teasingly. He was putting on a show. Blade on the other hand was glaring at him and didn't quite appreciate the gesture.
"You'd better stop that before you cause the girls to faint, or some boys even. They're getting all hard," said Blade and looked at Ravens pink tongue that was 'working' the blood red lollipop. Raven took a glance at the crowd. People were indeed watching him non-stop with their eyes glazed over.
"Right..." he said slowly and threw away his candy nonchalantly on the floor. For a while it looked like some girls would dive after it and keep it as a trophy before they decided against it. Maybe they were trying to save the very little dignity that they had left.
"Sometimes I wonder about you," Blade said.
"Why's that?" Raven drawled.
"You've got tons of girls drooling over you and you don't seem to care. Tell me... are you gay?"
Raven snorted. "I don't want drooling girls. It's a real turn off. If I'd want something that drools I'd buy myself a dog. Come on, what do you want me to do? Pick one of them right now and fuck her senseless up against the wall?" he asked sarcastically.
Blade crossed his arms and looked at him defiantly. "No , I wasn't thinking that... but it's appealing. It would be a hell of a show I'm sure!" Blade said excited with a new light coming into his eyes when he realised the possibilities.
"Shut up!" Raven said hitting him on the arm.
"Aww!" said Blade in a baby voice.
"Look! There's Arthur! I think he was sent here to watch us. They're probably wondering whether we're death eaters or not since you told the Dursleys to fuck off."
"Yes. We couldn't have them revealing that you haven't been with them at all this summer, could we?" he said knowingly as he too watched Arthur trying to keep an eye on them, in a way that he himself probably thought was discreet. It wasn't, the way he kept sneaking glances at them was extremely obvious and Blade rolled his eyes.
"Nope, we couldn't have it that way, but I think they'll find out I wasn't living with the Dursleys sooner or later."
"No doubt, but at least we buy ourselves some time to explain."
"I don't see why you want more time," Raven said with confusion even if he hid it on the outside.
"It's better to explain it at Hogwarts than here," said Blade calmly.
Raven nodded. He could understand the reasoning behind that. There were too many people around this place, and enemies. Chances were the conversation would be overheard.
"Let's get our asses on board the train," he decided as he grew tired of watching Arthur make an ass out of himself. Blade went on the train first. Raven handed him his trunk. It was a brand new black one so no one would recognize him because of it.
"Come on Raven!" said Blade and led the way to a compartment.
"Geez! One would think you're the one that has been on this train the previous five years," said Raven amused. Blade didn't comment on that. Instead he sat down in silence and made himself at home. Raven sat down across from him and just watched him without a word.
"What?" Blade said when he was tired of being stared at.
"Are you going to say something?" Raven asked.
"Um... no?"
"Oh... OK." Raven continued to look at him.
"You're just doing that to freak me out, aren't you?" Blade finally said.
"Why, yes, I believe so!" said Raven with a little smile on his soft pink lips. They always had some weird things going on between them.
"So what do you want me to say?" Blade asked as he gave in.
Harry shrugged non committedly and flicked a speck of dust off of his pants nonchalantly. "Perhaps tell me about what you're planning on doing once we're at Hogwarts?" Raven asked. He really liked to know things before they happened. He didn't like surprises.
"Eat," was the simple answer from Blade. Raven waited for more to come but it never did. He began to grow a little frustrated.
"Eat," he said in disbelief.
"If you're trying to freak me out I feel free to give the very same treatment back to you." Raven sighed at their own insanity and took out a book called Curses and Defense and began to read it.
"So you won't be keeping me company then?" Blade asked when he saw that but he wasn't really expecting an answer.
"No!" he grunted, still with his nose in the book.
"Ah... I thought so. I might as well get some sleep. Something tells me we won't get much of that tonight," said Blade in a resigned voice.
Raven eventually abandoned his book and just lay back with closed eyes like Blade.
Who is he trying to fool? He knows just as well as I do that we won't sleep now, Raven thought. Raven never did let himself fall asleep during rides such as this. To many things could happen if they let themselves be vulnerable and sleep in the open. Anyone could enter this compartment while they slept, speaking of which… He opened his eyes immediately when he heard the door open...