Nine Lives and Bad Luck

28

'Hadrian Tiamat; a misguided youth or a looming threat?' The headlines of the papers screamed the next day. This time he didn't miss them, nor the finely printed 'article by Independent Journalist Rita Skeeter' that sat proudly beneath it. 

It stung a bit, seeing those words written so callously for all the world to see, although not as much as he figured it might have. He repeated to himself once more what Silk had always told him.  He took a deep breath as he reminded himself once more that being dangerous could mean that you could protect just as much as you had the ability to destroy.  It was his choices that determined who he was, not capability.

      "Are you okay?" Hermione's said quietly from where she sat next to him.

       He stared down at the headlines again, accompanied by an old picture of him from the circuits standing beside Silk, although she had been cropped out of the picture he still remembered it from the dueling magazine it had originally been taken for, on his other side Ambroglio had very purposefully not been completely removed.

Forcing a weak smile he answered, "Yeah."

He wasn't sure if even he believed that though, logically he knew the article wasn't true and just aimed as an attack piece, but he didn't know what he did wrong and even then it still hurt. He hadn't even known this Skeeter reporter before she wrote that first article about him, which had been an unflattering attack piece already.

He sighed, taking a bite of his bacon halfheartedly despite having lost his appetite after catching sight of the day's Daily Prophet. Starving himself was never the answer. He could already hear the whispers and see the glances from others who had received a copy of the news. This was going to be a long day, he could tell already. Logically he knew he shouldn't let this bother him, and he knew Silk wouldn't care if it was her in his place, but that still didn't make it any better.

       He took the time to skim through the article, Silk might not have put any worth into what others thought, but the other duelers that he had gotten to know and Akasha had made sure to emphasize the importance of at the very least knowing what was being said about you. Most of them firmly believed it was important to control what information was known in public and private as well, but that was so far out of his reach right now it might as well just be a joke.

        The newspaper seemed to be filled with vitriolic words and ideas about what had happened, but it seemed to be missing the most crucial few details that made it clear that the article was purely speculation. The thing that really had him tensing up was on the next page, after a warning for those with delicate stomachs, a tap of a wand on the page revealed the gruesome, several day old, remains of the troll that Harry had fought.

Feeling his few bites of breakfast rising to the surface again, Harry fled the room to the loo with one hand firmly clamped over his mouth. The fowl taste of troll filled his senses again, he could remember it despite the pain filled haze he had been beaten into with that first attack. A part of him though mocked at how foolish he had been; that said he would just appear more guilty to those already convinced, he was just  fleeing from the accusation. He should have stood his ground.

He found as he heaved up what had to be the remains of the small snack he had snuck from the dining hall during dinner, that he didn't even have the strength to raise himself from where he kneeled before the toilet bowl.

He tensed as the bathroom door opened, suddenly reminded all over again why he shouldn't have left the hall, or even the table, alone. Quirrell was at the very best just insane and going into the Forbidden Forest to drink unicorn's blood because of that. At worst... he didn't even want to thin that there were two teachers which he needed to watch out for.

"You okay asp?" Neville's voice reached him and he felt the tension leave, "Asphodel?"

      "I'm here." His voice came out strained, but he heard the sigh from over where Neville waited in the entry.

"Alright, Mione, Lav, and Ti are waiting just outside... are you..." he trailed off, "We're here for you okay?"

Harry pushed himself up, spelling his mouth clean as he stumbled over the sink, "I know."

He took a moment before the both of them headed out to where Hermione and Lavender were arguing over the article's contents and what their response should be.

      "Asphodel!" Hermione whirled about to him, giving a big hug the second she saw him, "Are you okay?"

      "Can you believe this Skeeter lady!" Lavender agreed with a sniff, "The nerve."

Parvati hurriedly stuffed the newspaper back in her bag when she saw Asphodel and offered a weak smile, "Well, she's good at what she does, I can bet it'll only be a few hours before the howlers come in. Parents are going to be up in arms about this since they only know you from what this says."

"Yours too?" He asked weakly.

"Yes," Parvati sighed and looked away uncomfortably before rushing to reassure him, "But-"

      "Tiamat, so this is where you are, is it true?" Malfoy interrupted as he approached their group, flanked on either side by Crabbe and Goyle.

      "Is what true?"

      "Are you a dark wizard from a long line of necromancers, dark lords, and others experienced in the dark arts of course." The platinum blond demanded, focusing on one particular speculation that the article mentioned.

'What, I ask you my dear readers, other than the Darkest Arts could do so such a thing to a troll, a creature well known for the magic resistant qualities of its hide.' Skeeter had speculated, 'It had been for this reason that I had suspected this growing threat to have been a werewolf, but it seems I was too hesitant and merciful to believe him to be anything less than this mysterious danger to our lives and the lives of our children that he truly is...'

      "No," Harry blinked in surprise, "Of course not, I know a bit of dueling but I'm not involved in the Dark Arts any more than the average person... like I know of them," he emphasized  as Malfoy narrowed his eyes looking entirely unconvinced with his deflection.

He knew a bit more than most, he realized a bit guiltily a moment later that he might actually know more than most. Silk didn't categorize magic, Akasha collected books like a dragon hoarding gold, and Ambroglio thought calling Dark arts 'dark arts' and 'dangerous' was so delightful he spent quite a bit of time studying it when those terms first began being used. Even the non-vampiric, more human people he'd grown up around had knowledge on dark arts though; excluding Avium, actually, he doubted there was a dueler who had made the challenge circuit leap who didn't use at least a little.

He didn't think that particular piece of information about his knowledge of dark magic getting around the school would be very helpful for him though so he kept quiet.