Chapter 14: Harry Gaunt - Chapter 14
Harry was having déjà vu as he continued his walk, which wasn't a feeling he enjoyed as he glanced at a large tree. "It's the same," he realised, frowning at it and the others around. "And that."
There were holes in the ground here and there, even webs that sprawled above him.
Harry flicked his wand from his sleeve, alert now as he crept cautiously around the trees and roots that were the size of cars. Harry wasn't exactly sure where he was going, but hoped it was this way, otherwise he might turn back and restart in the village he'd found.
Click.
"Ha!" Harry spun around, his eyes wide upon nothing but darkness. This was even worse than the Forbidden Forest. "LUMOS!"
The ball of light fired between the trees, burning hot like a fiery Patronus as the darkness crept away.
Harry could see a bit more now, he'd keep it up until he was clear-
!
Harry blasted the spider away, letting out a shout as the huge arachnid collided with a solid tree trunk. It wasn't alone as Harry ran, hearing more scuttling from above and crawling from below.
He glanced back. These were bit bigger than Aragog as Harry lashed his wand across the space before him, creating a swell of fire he could circulate around him. He couldn't run anymore, the roots would trip him.
SCREECH!
Harry expanded the flame with a thrust of his wand, swirling it into an orb that sliced and deter the encroaching spiders. Harry could hear from inside as they were burnt alive.
"Gah!"
Harry appeared from within the flame, then disappeared a moment later with a silent crack… he appeared by a distant tree. "They're not as clever," he let out with a few breaths, taking a peek from behind the tree. "Bigger though."
And no more fire resistant than their English cousins. The entire space where they'd been now covered with soot and shrivelled limbs, yet none of them had even tried to flee, they'd just kept coming.
Harry set off once again, turning about with his Lumos above as he followed a different path. He began to wonder how long it would really take before he finally left this place. Harry had considered trying to make a Portkey to take him home during his walk, which although plausible, was ill-advised.
Harry hadn't made an International Portkey before, and people had gone missing in the past when they'd tried it themselves.
"There must be something ahead," he said hopefully, taking care across the smaller tree roots. "Hmm…"
It all looked the same to Harry. He couldn't even see the sky up above him.
Harry would just have to make do then as he continued to walk, doing just that for over an hour until something finally changed.
"What the?"
Harry gaped at the castle in the distance. "Hogwarts?"
No it couldn't be, Harry was in a America as he hurried between the remaining trees. He was having déjà vu again, but it wasn't Hogwarts he was seeing, it was Ilvermorny.
"It really does look like Hogwarts," observed Harry from the final tree. "Of course… Isolt," he blinked. "Gormlaith!"
Harry realised why he'd come here, the magic from the village he'd arrived in, it was Gaunt magic. It must have pulled Harry in when he'd bounced across the ocean.
"And the castle," he breathed, looking upon the school Isolt Sayre, niece of Gormlaith Gaunt had founded. "No wonder Gormlaith got in. The wards must be ours too."
Harry of course hadn't been able to get his hands his family's texts, but given the histories he'd read about at Greycup's behest, it all made sense for the wards to be the same.
"Which means…" as Harry glanced at the doors he could see, wondering if they'd be alerted should he slip inside.
Ilvermorny might have Portkey's, lots of Portkeys as Harry waved his wand, disappearing from view with an excited smile. It would be a quick in and out, everyone was probably still asleep as he jogged across the green.
Harry saw the Quidditch pitch along the way, the hoops just visible above the roof of a nearby greenhouse. Harry wanted to take a closer look as he slowed by the wall, but didn't as he reached for the heavy handle on the door.
It clicked open at his touch. Hermione would be proud as he slipped inside.
Harry arrived in a corridor lit by candles, which while more modern than Hogwarts, weren't really new as he peered along the corridor. It might take a while, but Harry was confident he could find what he was looking for as he creeped along the corridor.
All he had to do was…
Elsewhere at the same time.
"I just can't understand it," complained a girl as she walked beside her friend. "If he likes me, why doesn't he just ask me out?"
It was impossible to know what boys were thinking, even her friend with all her books hadn't a clue. She shrugged, that was all she could offer.
"You're right," sighed the girl as they turned a bend. "I should just ignore him. If he can't summon the courage to ask then he's not worth the time."
The girl nodded to herself. that made sense.
"But he's asked out other girls," offered her friend.
"No he hasn't," denied the girl with a glance. "Who then?"
They came to a stop in the quiet corridor.
"Umm," said her friend. "Carol. And Penelope I think." She thought there was one more as well, but couldn't think of the name as she pondered with a frown. Lisa was always getting in a tiff over which boy she liked. "Oh I remember now," said the friend again. "It was-"
"Shh!" hushed Lisa. "Shh…"
Lisa was staring down the corridor, her eyes fixed on a spot where a shadow had caught her attention.
"What is it?" whispered her friend as she clutched her books. "Lisa?"
Lisa's friend followed her gaze.
"Just there…" murmured Lisa, feeling sure that the shadow didn't look right by the candle. It flickered, the shadow that is, but it was too…
A spell fired right at them.
"LISA!"
Lisa was pushed by her friend as the spell whizzed between them, a sickly red that would have stunned them both.
"Stupefy!" shouted Lisa's friend, wand drawn and books in disarray on the floor. "CONFRINGO!"
She panicked when her stupefy rebounded back to her, the two spells colliding with a bang in the corridor. The shockwave hit her chest, leaving her gasping for breath.
"PROTEGO!"
Lisa shielded another spell that appeared from nowhere, and in the same moment, was promptly blown off her feet when her shield collapsed. She went flying down the corridor.
!
But she stopped mid-air with a jolt, then was plopped to the floor in a disgruntled heap. "Ow."
Lisa gripped her wand with an angry face. Someone was playing a trick on them as she craned her neck, looking over to her friend who had just received the same treatment, blown back into a heap beside her.
Lisa reached for her as she began to cough, but then a moment later a spell struck them both, freezing their limbs and nothing else as footsteps drew near.
This wasn't right, thought Lisa, feeling panic rise in her chest as the steps became louder. "HEL-"
Her voice was taken, then her friends a moment later. It was like clockwork, whoever this was didn't hesitate for a moment.
Lisa hadn't heard them speak either, which meant it must be an upper-year.
Harry chuckled.
"You're not bad," he praised, finding how they fought fairly interesting. They made lots of noise. It was distracting when casting spells. "Sorry?" asked Harry, seeing that the two were trying to speak. "Oh."
Harry waved his wand in an intricate fashion, building a ward that would surround them and contain the sound. "You can speak now," he advised as it fizzled into place.
The first girl swore at him, then said. "Are you crazy!" she shouted, wriggling on the floor while her friend seemed to whimper. "You'll be expelled for this!"
She made a vain attempt to reach for her wand, all the while missing Harry's laugh. "I should think so," he said agreeably. "I attacked you."
This wasn't Hogwarts. Harry probably would be expelled if he was a student here.
"Let us go!" tried Lisa.
"Not yet," returned Harry with a different air, one of focus as he raised his hand. "I just need one more thing."
Lisa began to tilt as she rose from the floor, rising as if she were afloat beneath the water. "W-what do you want," she stammered, her face just away from the invisible Harry's. She was deathly afraid.
"Ah!"
She eeped, feeling strange as memories flashed like a dream within her mind. She saw everything, all her hopes and dreams, fears and doubts before a voice said kindly in her head.
'Forget about him. He's afraid to ask because he knows you're better… he's a loser. You are not.'
The voice might have smiled, but didn't as it spoke again in a trusting tone... 'Portkeys… show me where…'
A picture of Professor Bemidi's office sprang to Lisa's mind, then the route to get there from here.
Lisa's head was hurting, and her eyes wouldn't close no matter how hard she tried. She'd never experienced anything like this.
'Thank you, Lisa Harpenstone.'
Harry withdrew from her mind as gently as he could, then set the poor girl down beside her friend before stunning them both. That hadn't gone exactly to plan, but as Harry looked between them both, he was pleased to have run into them.
Lisa was a nice girl, she cared about her friends more than many might realise. And she wasn't half-bad at duelling - for a fifth-year. Harry had become curious when Lisa had spotted him. "I best leave them here," he decided, stepping around them both as he made his way towards Professor Bemidi's office. "Head of School Transport."
Harry was amazed they had a position for that, but considering how international Ilvermourny was, as opposed to sleepy Scotland, he could see why. They probably had all sorts of school trips, outings and visitors needing transportation.
"Here it is."
Harry checked along the corridor he'd arrived in for any more students, then at the all clear shuffled up to the strong looking door. He touched the handle, but it didn't give. "Makes sense," he pondered, Isolt hadn't put the wards on this door. "Alohamora."
Harry hissed the unlocking charm, which when combined with a firm tug with his wand clicked open the door. Parseltongue was a very useful language as Harry slipped inside, shutting the door with a flick from his hand.
He was inside an office now, which had cupboards and boxes stacked along its walls. There was a desk too, neat and well-organised just away from the window at the back.
"Point me Portkeys."
Harry felt a tug from his wand towards a small cabinet below the window, which as he walked over to it, realised it was attached to the floor. He crouched down to it. "Alohamora."
The door flicked open, revealing a few rows of muggle keys each labelled with a destination. Arizona, Brazil, Cuba and so on through a strange mix of different places.
"Europe… Europe…" Harry scanned with a finger over each one, hoping to either see Europe or at least a country on the European continent.
But there weren't any. In fact, there was only one that Harry recognised.
Hogwarts.
Harry chuckled as he plucked the old looking key from its hook. He'd hang onto this one, there couldn't be that many of these around as he rose back up, preparing to leave after closing the door.
He had to get outside.
Crack.
Harry appeared by the tree he'd stood by before, then with the key in hand glanced one last time at the school his ancestor had built.
He smiled. It wasn't so bad being a Gaunt. "Hogwarts."
The portkey activated.
Swooooooosshhhhh
Harry was flying across the ocean. He couldn't believe he'd done this while apparating, then what felt like a moment later, he plopped onto the stone in the Hogwarts courtyard.
He rolled onto his back with a groan, lying still to gather his bearings. The sky was already dark here as Harry looked up, the stars up high making him think about Sirius and Bellatrix. "How can I be friends with them," he sighed, running a hand over his face. "They don't know me. What would they say if I told them the truth?"
They'd call him mad. Mental like Ron always did to Hermione, yet the difference this time being that they actually meant what they said. "I am a Gaunt. They won't believe me."
Curse Harry's luck and every connection he'd ever had to Tom Riddle. He knew full well how similar they were, yet despite Harry's shortcomings when it came to attacking foreign students, he knew he would never be evil.
Harry just wanted to start again, forget Voldemort and all the bad things they'd done. And Harry would, he'd have his peace when the deed was done. But until then as he climbed to his feet, he had work to do.
Hogwarts was a means to an end, nothing more as Harry went home to his tent. He only had a month until the new term started, so he'd prepare all he could before the day came.
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