This story is a work of fiction. Harry Potter, Hogwarts and others are copyrighted by J.K Rowling and Scholastic books. If you are under the age of eighteen, good for you! Welcome! Anyway, you know the drill.
*Author's Note: I apologize for the typo in chapter 5 where I refer to Helga Hufflepuff as he. For some reason, whenever I saw it, I saw the s until three o'clock this morning when I re-read it.
The next morning, I had to deal with five other boys my age all waking with varying states of grace. Harry, Ron and Neville just didn't want to wake up, it seemed, but Seamus and Dean were ready to help me pounce on them. "Three, two, one, POUNCEE!!!" I yelled and proceeded to jump onto Ron's belly. He jerked awake with a look of shock on his face and I was ready to piss myself.
"Mornin' Ron," I grinned.
"You bastard," he coughed.
Harry was swearing underneath Dean's lean torso. "Oy Dean, I think he likes it," I laughed. Harry managed to remove Dean, but his face glowed red. Exertion or embarrassment? Hmmm...
Anyway, once we were all awake, I followed the boys to the bathroom, where they casually disrobed. "Uh, where are the rest of the students?"
"Seems like we come in shifts," Seamus answered as he removed his pajama bottoms. "I almost never see someone from a different year here unless it's a quick shower before bed. In the mornin' we stick with our years."
"Oh. Ok." I shrugged out of my clothes, too and stepped under the water. It's always nice to take a warm shower to wake up in the morning, and even nicer when there's so much to see. I noticed the others checking me out rather openly. I guess they'd all become used to each other.
Ron, especially, seemed entranced by my flaccid member. Finally, I caught his eye. "What is it, Ron? You're gaping."
Everyone laughed and Ron turned a bright red. In the shower, I noticed that when he blushes, he blushes all over. That's actually rather cute. I wanted to just "AAAAAWWWWWW."
"I-It's just strange," he muttered.
"Why? Dean is circumcised, too. Not like you've never seen a cut cock before."
"But, yours is bigger than his. And you have like no hair! What'd you do?"
"Oh, that. I trim it."
Everyone turned to look at me. "Why," Harry asked. I let my eyes wander down to his fairly full black bush. "Less hair makes it look bigger," I said. His ears burned. "Besides, I like it better. It doesn't itch as much, doesn't get as sweaty when I exercise, and it's not too much hassle to trim it every couple of weeks. All that."
"Makes it look bigger," Dean asked.
"Sure. Doesn't do anything but that, really. And comfort." I shrugged.
Was it my imagination, or did I notice a few twitches going around while I discussed my penis? Nah.
I turned conversation from body parts to what the upcoming year would be like.
"What are you taking, then," Seamus asked.
"Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Divination."
"Three? How are you going to find time for three other classes," Neville asked timidly.
"Yeah," Ron agreed with a snort. "Hermione tried that our third year and nearly drove herself batty."
"I'm not taking Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"WHAT?!" They'd all stopped.
"It was my focus back home. I think Dumbledore thought it'd be unnecessary for me," I said as I lathered my hair.
"Cool," Dean muttered.
"Anyway," I shrugged off, "let's get to breakfast." -Shit that was close!-I thought. -They'd have to find out eventually, but how could I just let it slip? I'm losing my touch. I cannot let myself get too close to these kids. I may have to sacrifice them to get Voldemort. Can I really do that, though?- We all rinsed off and returned to the dormitory.
If anyone noticed my troubled expression as we dressed, they refrained from commenting on it.
Breakfast was full, of course, and waiting for us were our schedules. George Weasley handed our to us. I had the same packet of paper as everyone else, but I felt something hard in the envelope, as well. I gave George a curious look, but he only shrugged.
At the breakfast table, we opened our schedules to find out the where and when of classes. A Double Potions class with Slytherin opened the day. Everyone around me groaned.
"What," I asked.
They gave me the dirt on the Potions classes. "Great. Sounds like fun," I said cheerily. Ron froze with a bit of food halfway to his mouth and stared at me. "Fun? Have you gone cracked?"
"Nah. I can handle Snape," I assured him.
I looked over and compared class times and schedules with them before feeling in the envelope for the hard thing I'd felt before. A piece of paper was tightly wrapped around a small...pin or badge and closed with Spellotape.
I opened it and with some loopy writing read, "Congratulations, Master Arico. It has been decided that as you have already undertaken the responsibility, I am pleased to make you a Prefect. Enclosed in the envelope, you will find a list of duties required of the Prefects and the subsequent privileges. Meeting for all Prefects, and the new Head Boy and Girl tomorrow morning, two hours before classes start. Enjoy." It was signed "Prof. Dumbledore."
I pulled out the badge. "Unbelievable," Seamus muttered. The rest of the paper in the envelope formed a VERY thick wad. "Great," I muttered. "More to do. Remind me to never tick off Dumbledore."
"What does he mean," asked Harry, "'as you've already undertaken the responsibility?'"
"I'm not sure. I'll have to ask him tomorrow morning, I suppose."
Breakfast went smoothly otherwise, with the morning mail being delivered by a host of owls.
Still unfamiliar with the castle's layout, I followed my fellow fifth-years to the dungeon and the Potions lesson.
Snape glared at Harry with extreme prejudice, and I winked cheekily at him. His eyes widened in outrage and I smiled. Grimly.
"Well, I see you have all managed to come back. Now, we will begin to see who of you has any real talent. Longbottom, that leaves you out, but I am required to watch over you nonetheless. Today we will brew the Drought of Living Death. I'm sure you remember it, don't you, Potter," he sneered.
Harry nodded uncertainly.
As Snape poured his hatred out at Harry, I felt something. A...tingling in the back of my head. And suddenly, I was certain. I stood.
"Sit down, Arico."
"Excuse me, sir, but I need to use the washroom."
"I said SIT!"
I moved toward the door anyway. As I'd expected, he lunged forward to block my exit. "Do you have a problem, Mr. Arico," he hissed.
"Not at all, Sir. How's your arm, by the way?"
"My what?"
"That mark on your arm, sir."
His eyes widened momentarily and then narrowed down dangerously. "There is nothing on my arm, Arico. Now take your seat."
"I don't think so, sir. I saw some friends of yours not too long ago. It wasn't a good meeting." My anger flared and my eyes glowed the same bloodred as Voldemort's. "If I find you were there, it will be my pleasure to put you away. Permanently." The color shifted to blue. "Now get out of my way before I piss on your shoes."
He lurched back as though burned and the glow faded from my eyes. I found the restroom quickly, but was fairly satisfied. -Apparently Snape DOES know what I'm talking about- I thought. -I'd better keep my eye on him.- After doing my business, I returned to the classroom.
"What did you say to him," Hermione hissed at me. "Snape looks ready to spit acid."
"Like he hasn't been already," I rolled my eyes.
Harry and Ron heard me and snorted in amusement.
"Welcome back, Mr. Arico," Snape greeted me with sarcasm.
"Thank you, sir," I answered with genuine pleasure. The Gryffindors tried to stifle their sniggers. I was getting under his skin already.
He gritted his teeth. "And may I say what a PLEASURE it is to be in this class," I added with my own sarcasm obvious.
Everyone stared at me in shock. Snape shook with rage. He opened his mouth to deliver a blistering denunciation, I'm sure, but I raised my eyebrow and he swallowed it.
The Slytherins in the room looked ready to faint. The Gryffindors looked at me with awe.
"So, sir, you were saying something about the Drought of Living Death?"
He took a deep breath and proceeded to give us our instructions.
"How did you get away with that," Harry wanted to know. He was actually pestering me! How strange.
"Just my personality, I guess. I told you I could handle Snape. Anyway," I rushed on, "have fun with your Defense Against the Dark Arts. I'll see you after. I've got Ancient Runes now."
I didn't really see them for the rest of the day, although I DID manage to see Professor Dumbledore in the hallway.
"Excuse me, sir. Have you got a moment?"
"Of course, Matt. What can I do for you?"
"Tell me why," I pointed to my Prefect badge.
He paused for a moment. "Matt, do you remember anything about last night?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Do you remember what you drew last night on the tower?"
"I remember doing it, but I never saw the completed...drawing, I guess you could say. Why, what's it look like?"
"Here, look." He took out his wand and drew as strange shape in the air. It was very complex. A pentagram with a concentric circle, square and triangle as well as a crossed pair of elongated ellipses with a circle in the center of the square where they cross, naturally happening in the pentagonal center of the star.
I gaped. "I did that?"
"Yes. And I had to look it up myself to figure out what it meant. There's something very strange about you, Matt. Be careful with what you do."
"Yessir." He patted me on the shoulder and walked off. I rushed to the Gryffindor common room and pulled out my Ancient Rune chart and Arithmancy books to find anything correlating to the design Dumbledore'd told me about. Nothing.
Others came into and out of the common room. Most ignored me as I was deeply engrossed in my schoolbooks and they assumed I was doing homework.
An hour or two later, I sighed and gave up. Feeling the need to stretch my legs, I passed through the Fat Lady and made my way down to the corridor. As I did, my stomach growled and I figured a snack was in order.
On my way to the kitchens, I came across Draco Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. He beelined toward me, a snide remark already on his lips when I cut him off.
"Don't you remember the repulsion spell," I asked angrily. I guess my failure to find anything frustrated me more than I'd realized.
"Lucky shot," he snapped. "You're all alone now."
"Yes, and you'll have farther to fly. Keep that in mind. I don't want to see you like this again."
"Whatever you say, Mudblood," he bowed mockingly.
"5 points from Slytherin, Malfoy." I said coolly.
"You can't do that," he protested.
"Oh yes I can," I gloated. What can I say? School brings out the worst in people sometimes. "And I don't want to remind you again." Once more I cupped my hand and flung it towards him without looking. As before, some invisible force struck him and his cohorts and sent them flying. This time, however, the far wall was over thirty-five feet away. He slammed into it with a groan and slumped down the stone. Crabbe and Goyle then slammed into him, crushing him further. Feeling much better about myself (I shouldn't have, I know), I went down to the kitchens and asked the house-elves for a snack. They happily obliged and I retreated to the lake, looking for a quiet spot.
I munched my snack and thought about what Dumbledore'd told me. I couldn't believe I'd created such an intricate sigla without knowing what it does or how I did it. I could always go see it for myself later. My thoughts focused then on how it could come to be. The Imperius Curse? No. I'm immune to the Unforgivable Curses. Possession? That was a distinct possibility, especially after traversing planes. My mood darkened as a third possibility occurred to me. Schizophrenia. Split personalities. I didn't like that possibility at all.
As my mood grew darker, so did the sky overhead, and I decided to head into the castle. As I got up, the surface of the lake rippled, and a pair of giant tentacles rose from the lake's center. I watched as the tips bent towards me slightly, straightened, and bent again several times before I'd caught on to the fact that the damn thing was WAVING at me! I waved back, and I just couldn't stop the smile on my face.
As I returned to the common room, I saw that the Weasley twins were once again causing havoc, it seemed fairly good natured. I sat back in one of the great puffy and watched carefully. Everyone talked about their first day of classes and what they'd done over the summer.
"Harry," I called the moment I saw him, "could you come over here?"
He shrugged his acquiescence and I pulled out my wand. "Please work," I whispered. "Accio chair." A second puffy bulbous chair maneuvered its way towards me, and Harry sat in it.
"Yeah?"
"Can you keep a secret," I asked.
"Yeah," he replied, looking a little confused but interested.
"You mustn't tell anybody. Not even Ron or Hermione."
"Erm, well..."
"I know that's a lot to ask, especially coming from someone you've only just met." He nodded glumly. "But I know I can trust you," I continued intently. "And I need your help."
"I won't tell anyone," he promised.
"Thank you," I sighed in relief. Looking around the noisy common room, I decided to be extra cautious.
"Silencio," I murmured, cupping my hands. All sounds in the room, even the crackle of the fireplace, stopped.
"What did you do," Harry hissed.
"I surrounded us with a bubble sound can't go through. We can hear each other, but not them, and they can't hear us," I said, making a vague gesture to the rest of the room.
"You're paranoid," he harrumphed.
"You would be too." I told Harry a little of my story. How I became an Auror. The nature of my powers I'd discovered so far. And most importantly, why I was at Hogwarts. "What I need from you," I said when I finished, "is a complete accounting of your first four years here. I'm sure that Voldemort tried to get at you. There's no way he couldn't."
"Four years is a long time to talk about."
"Tell me year by year. And be as detailed as you can about everything. If it's too personal, of course, I don't want to intrude, but I need to know about as many people in this school as I can, and your insight will be helpful.
He nodded and took a deep, calming breath.
Across the room, Ron watched our silent conversation suspiciously.
Harry told me of his first year at Hogwarts in quite a lot of detail. Several times, I Summoned a bottle of butterbeer for him to whet his throat so he could continue. I heard about Professor Quillon and the Philosopher's Stone. And about Harry's extraordinary defenses.
"Are you still safe, Harry?"
"No," he answered glumly. "You see..."
"Wait until tomorrow, if you will, Harry. It's already one in the morning, and I have a six o'clock meeting." He agreed and we both rose stiffly from the chairs and stretched.
"Oh, by the way," I added, "who was your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?"
"Professor Dumbledore covered today," he said with a look of wonder.
We were too tired to extrapolate, but I thought about that as we went up to our dormitory.
The next morning I woke up early and went to the meeting with the Prefects and others. It was fairly simple, outlining the responsibilities we had, the chain of command, so to speak, etc. At the end of the meeting, I asked Professor Dumbledore if he needed any assistance with the DADA class. "I mean, sir, aren't you a little busy to handle that class as well?"
"Wouldn't that, shall we say, blow your cover, Matt?"
"No sir. Watch." I focused intently on what I wanted to do and felt my power flood through me. I'd only done this once before, but passed out when I tried. In a moment, I felt a great, wrenching pain as though I were being torn in two. With a snap, it stopped. I was panting, and I heard someone else panting next to me. Dumbledore's blue eyes were surprised, but he otherwise had no expression. "Now", the two of me said simultaneously and similarly out of breath, "I can be in two places at the same time." I felt strange the way the words echoed and resonated with each other. The other me focused, and I felt his power flux. Suddenly, a tall, well-built man with blazing green eyes and golden hair stood before us. He looked like a more mature, muscular me, but with a better aura. His voice was soft and rich as he spoke. "I would be more than happy to be your Replacement teacher, Professor Dumbledore."
He smiled and held out his hand. "What is your name, then, my friend?"
My double and I looked at each other and grinned identical grins. "Michael," he replied. "Michael D'Angelius."
"Welcome to Hogwarts, Michael," Dumbledore said. "Now, Matt, Michael, do you share your knowledge?"
"Yes," we said at the same time.
"Can one of you turn against the other," he asked.
"No." I explained further. "I am the original, much as he's better looking than I am." Michael grinned at me. "As such, it's my power that sustains us both. Without me, he'll vanish. We are two, but not completely separate."
"I see. How long can this last?"
"I don't know," I said. "Truthfully, I've never gotten him to be so solid before. I've never been strong enough to do it."
Dumbledore nodded. "Keep me informed."
"Of course, sir."
"Be careful with what you do. Well then, Michael," he said, clearly dismissing me, "let's show you around the school."
I smiled. All was in place. Let Voldemort come now.