Distortion (Book 2 of The Corruption Sequence)

Chapter 1 - Idiocy

Harry's first thought as he woke was surprise that he had actually slept. For a moment this stopped his mind informing him what had caused him to wake. Lying perfectly still, he was frozen trying to work out what had so suddenly pulled him from what had been a dreamless rest.

"I wouldn't do that," Malfoy's familiar voice said in a warning tone, "he'll..."

Something touched Harry's arm and he knew what was troubling him as his senses became suddenly very clear. He reacted without even thinking. He twisted where he was lying, his hand coming up to snatch what he knew was a wand pointing at his shoulder, before he dragged his legs up towards himself, coming onto his feet on the bed.

It did not occur to him to use the wand and he faced the very startled looking wizard, snarling his displeasure at the unfortunate individual.

"...see it as a threat," Malfoy finished with a definite 'I told you so' implied on the end.

Harry's instincts screamed at him to attack. He only just held on to himself as his conscious thoughts tried to make sense of what was happening.

"Harry, you are perfectly safe," the sound of one voice confirmed what his magical senses were telling him.

Grabbing on to the headboard of the bed with his free arm Harry looked across the room at Albus Dumbledore. So many emotions hit him at the same time that he began to shake.

He slowly slid down the wooden support, still clutching the wand he had taken by the wrong end. Part of him was insisting very loudly that he was in danger and he needed to rectify that, but he focused on Dumbledore's calm words. Gasping at the effort, he put the genie back in the bottle. His eyes flicked between the three people in the room: Dumbledore, Malfoy and the unknown wizard.

"Who are you?" he demanded of the stranger, needing something more to bring back the very sensitive balance in his impulse-saturated psyche.

"Auror Caveo," the man said slowly as Dumbledore nodded at him.

That didn't do a lot to settle Harry's nerves, since he did not exactly trust the Ministry or any Aurors he did not know. However, it gave his more logical aspect something to use. Before he could talk himself out of it, he threw the wand back at its owner and hunched down further against the head of the bed, instinctively making himself a smaller target.

"Leave," he said shortly.

It was too soon for his control to be tested so blatantly. What a fully trained Auror had thought he was doing waking any dark creature at wand point, Harry had no idea. If Caveo made a habit of it the Ministry was likely to be down one employee in the near future.

"I don't think you are in any position to ..." the Auror tried to protest as he retrieved his wand.

Harry snarled and growled, showing the wizard a mouth full of very sharp teeth. He wasn't really aware if any other changes occurred in his physical form, but the man took a step back.

"Perhaps is would be best for you to wait outside for a moment, Auror Caveo," Dumbledore interposed smoothly before the disagreement could go any further. "Harry has been through a terrible ordeal and we would not want anything untoward to occur because of the duress of the situation."

The Auror appeared very uncertain about that idea. The way Caveo gripped his wand in a tighter fashion, Harry was not sure the headmaster was going to win this discussion. Then he felt it; a calm, serene feeling emanating from Dumbledore and he saw the Auror begin to relax. The revelation rather than the actual influence caused him to sit down in shock.

"Harry and I will have a little chat," Dumbledore said pleasantly, "and then I am sure we will be able to clear up what happened here."

"Mr Malfoy is in custody," Auror Caveo said with a nod, "I will have to take him with me."