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Chapter 9

The Challenge


Harry stared at the numerous gravestones that laid about the fog-covered cemetery. This was a place that Harry was all too familiar with. The Riddle cemetery. Harry felt his breathe catch in his throat. A low moan echoed thru cemetery, an ice-cold wind blew past the gravestones. It was now that Harry realized that he was not as he should be, instead his body looked like he had in his fourth year. Harry felt an unfamiliar feeling of fear pass through his body. He had grown accustomed to his demon side and now without it he felt extremely vulnerable. Harry's trembling feet seemed to move of their own accord forcing Harry to step forward, getting closer to the source of the moaning.

"A Devil." Harry whispered in disbelief. The first thing Harry notice were the six blood red wings on it's back. Its skin was midnight blue, and covered with red tribal tattoos. The spiky raven black hair did little to hide its reptilian yellow eyes or the curved horns protruding from the forehead.

Chains of pale green lightning secured the Devil to the tombstone. Harry's heart skipped a beat. The devil was bound to the same tombstone that he had been chained to when Wormtail had taken Harry's blood to resurrect Voldemort. Harry stared at the devil in horror as it devoured a yellow python. Blood dripped from the devil's fangs. It looked up and stared directly into Harry's eyes.

"Harry." It said in a dark growling voice that seemed to echo throughout Harry's soul. "We finally meet face to face ... brother."

"W-What do you mean? Who are you?" Harry stammered. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't suppress the welling fear within himself.

"I am your other half. The devil that resides in your soul." Said the devil. "You may call me Griever."

"If your really a part of me, why haven' I met you before?" Harry asked defiantly.

"Oh but you have." Chuckled Griever. "I have spoken to you many times before."

"You're the voice I hear when I'm under Imperious." Harry realized.

"Yes. Devils are not fond of being controlled." Griever muttered darkly. "And now that you have found me you can release me."

Harry wasn't sure why, but the thought of releasing this devil from its binding didn't seem like a good idea. Harry shook his head and turned around.

"You cannot run from your destiny forever. You will need my help if you are to defeat Voldemort." Griever called after him.

"You're wrong." Harry whispered. Yet he couldn't shake the feeling that there was truth in the devils words.

"If that is what you wish brother, then have it your way, but be warned. There will be consequences."

Suddenly bodies began to rise from the graves. Soon Harry was surrounded by familiar faces: Dumbledore, Remus, The Weasley's, Various members of the Order, and the entire D.A. staggered and dragged their feet after him. Pale decayed fingers reached out and grasped Harry from all angles pulling and smothering him in a sea of dead bodies.

**

Harry shot upright in bed. He gasped for breath, and tried to get his heart to calm down. No matter how hard he tried though, he just couldn't get the sight of his friends' corpses all trying to strangling him. A small hand reached out and touched Harry's shoulder startling him. Harry had nearly jumped out of the bed before he realized that it was Hermione. She was sitting up in his bed next to him wearing one of his sweatshirts.

Last night after a quick explanation to Dumbledore detailing the incident in the Hospital wing, Harry and Hermione had went to Harry's room where Harry told Hermione everything. All and all, Harry thought she'd taken it pretty well. Though she had cried and blamed herself when Harry had told her how they nearly died in the Acromantula cave. Hermione hadn't rejected Harry for what he had become, she told him that it didn't matter what he became because he would always be her Harry. Then at some point in the night the two had fallen asleep on Harry's bed.

"Harry?" Hermione asked quietly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." Harry answered shakily.

"You're lying." Hermione said knowingly. She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I was in a cemetery. The corpses of everyone I care about rose from the grave. They called after me saying that it was my fault they were dead, and that I should join them." Harry said softly.

"Oh Harry. That must've been horrible for you." Hermione said consolingly. Harry turned his head to her and smiled sadly.

"Don't worry about me babe. I'll be fine. Nightmares are nothing new to me." Harry reached out with his hand and gently caressed a bruise on Hermione's cheek. "Personally I'm more worried about that bruise."

"It's nothing Harry. It'll be gone by tomorrow." Hermione replied.

"It's not nothing. Malfoy's not going to get away with this." Harry whispered angrily.

"Harry please don't do anything rash. You could get expelled." Hermione pleaded. Then in a softer voice she added. "I don't want you to leave me."

"I'm not going to leave you. They'd have to kill me to keep me from you." Harry promised.

"Why does getting back at Malfoy mean so much to you?" Hermione asked.

"I promised myself that I wouldn't let anything happen to you, and I failed you." Harry answered quietly.

"You didn't fail me Harry. You saved my life" Hermione countered.

"Well you saved mine, so I guess that makes us even." Harry said.

"I stopped counting how many times we've saved each other a long time ago." Hermione laughed. "Come on Harry, it's late. Let's get some sleep."

**

"Alright then, so I'll meet you after breakfast, and we'll head to the Quidditch match together." Hermione said as she pulled the invisibility cloak on and headed out the door.

"See you soon." Harry replied. Harry had just closed the door when it suddenly opened back up and Ron walked in dressed in his Quidditch robes.

"Morning Harry." Ron said.

"Morning Ron. Don't you ever knock?" Harry said gruffly. "What if I had company in here?"

"Good one Harry." Ron laughed. "Like you would have a girl in here." Ron's laughter quickly died out when he spotted a crumpled shirt lying next to Harry's bed. "Isn't that Hermione's shirt?" Ron's eyes suddenly widened in realization. "No way."

"You tell anyone about this and I'll have to kill you." Harry said dead serious.

"Yeah of course Harry. So how was it?" Ron asked excitedly.

"Nothing happened Ron. Least not what you think happened. She spent the night is all." Harry answered honestly.

"Oh come on Harry you can tell me." Harry ignored him and left the room heading for the Great Hall. "Oh, so I'm just supposed to believe that there's nothing going on between you and Hermione? I mean come on, you guys are dating now right?"

"Yes and no." Harry answered. "I'm not quite sure where this thing with Hermione is going. I just know I want her to be happy."

**

Harry sat in the stands watching the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin begin. Hermione sitting next to him. Her hair was tied in a ponytail and pulled thru a muggle baseball hat, and she was wearing Harry's sweater again. Harry looked up at the game and sighed. True he had voluntarily given up playing, but that didn't mean that he didn't miss it.

"I'm gonna go get something to drink from the concession stand. Do you want anything?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Yeah sure, I'll have a-" Hermione began.

"-Iced tea with a slice of lemon and two packets of sugar." Harry finished for her. Hermione beamed at him.

"How did you know?" She asked. Harry merely grinned at her and set off for the concession stand.

Harry was gone for a scarce few moments, when Hermione saw the bludger heading straight for her. Goyle had noticed that Hermione was alone and had hit the bludger as hard as he could in her direction. There was no time for her to avoid it. Hermione screamed, and instinctively threw her arms up in front of her face to shield herself. A split second before the bludger hit; Hermione felt two strong arms grab her by the waist and pull her from harms way. The Bludger struck the space where she had been, destroying that section of the stands.

"Hermione! Are you alright?" Harry asked worriedly. Hermione looked up from his shoulder and nodded. Harry hugged her tightly and stared up at the match just in time to see Slytherin injure the Gryffindor seeker.

**

"I'm sorry Mr. Weasley, but there's simply no way you can continue without a seeker." Said Madame Hooch.

"Come on, it's not an advantage. We'll just play without a seeker. At least let us finish the game." Ron pleaded. Madame Hooch started to reply, but it was silenced by a deafening roar emanating from the crowd. Ron looked over his shoulder and saw Harry stalking toward the center of the pitch. Even from this distance Ron could tell that Harry was seriously pissed.

"If it's okay with you Madame Hooch. I'll be substituting for the Gryffindor seeker." Harry said. Quickly he summoned his firebolt and transfigured his clothes into his Quidditch robes. Madame Hooch looked deep in thought for a moment before she gave her verdict.

"I'll allow it."

Harry and Ron grinned and walked over to the team. Ginny, Alicia, And Katie Bell were chasers, and the Creevey brothers were the new beaters.

"Hope you guys don't mind me joining you, but I got tired of watching the Slytherins fly around like they own the sky. So what do you ay we show them who rules the pitch huh?" Harry asked. The team grinned in response. "All right Kick Ass on the snap."

"Yeah, then as soon as your clear I want you to set up the triple strike Ginny." Ron added.

The team took to their brooms and got to their ready positions. The quaffle was released and Ginny grabbed it. Two Slytherin chasers rushed her but were instantly tackled by the Creevey brothers. The third Slytherin chaser was sand witched between Katie and Angelina and then driven into the wall. Meanwhile Ron left the goal and swung from his broom kicking Crabbe in the face. Ginny was nearly to the goal when Goyle hit a bludger at her. It had almost reached her when a gold blur sped past and caught the bludger. Goyle lost sight of the blur for a moment, then looked up and saw Harry hovering over him with the bludger held in one hand.

"Hey Goyle, paybacks a bitch." Harry called out. He hurled the bludger with such force that it struck Goyle hard enough to send him into the stands.

Meanwhile, Ginny had reached the goal. As soon as she was in striking range, she tossed the quaffle up in the air and grabbing her broom like a bat she swung it knocking the quaffle thru the hoop. Katie waited on the other side and repeated the move knocking the quaffle thru the hoop from the other end. Lastly Angelina completed the play from the other end resulting in three goals being scored in rapid succession.

On the other side of the pitch Harry and Malfoy had spotted the snitch and were in the middle of a race to catch it. Malfoy held a slight lead on Harry, and refused to let Harry pass. Each time Harry would try to make a pass Malfoy would match the move and block Harry. The snitch laid barely a dozen feet beyond Malfoy's grasp. Harry knew he would only have one chance to beat Malfoy to it.

'Hermione's gonna kill me for this one.' Harry thought as he prepared for what had to be one of the craziest ideas he had ever come up with. Harry put on a burst of speed and caught right up to Malfoy. Without missing a beat, Harry leaped off his broom, on to Malfoy's back, and then jumped off of Malfoy to catch the snitch in midair. The crowd gasped as Harry went into a free fall a hundred feet in the air. Harry adjusted himself in the air and fell towards the bleachers. Later, he would remember Hermione scream as he fell past the stands. Harry thrust his arm out and grabbed the banner that hung on the side of the stands. The banner instantly began to rip slowing Harry's decent. Harry kicked off the wall rappelling down. Harry hit the ground and let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. "What a rush."

The crowd roared in joy celebrating the Gryffindor victory. Harry was greeted with cheers of joy and jubilation. His victory celebration was cut short when he saw Hermione running up to him with tears in her eyes. She nearly tackled Harry into a hug crying on his shoulder.

"How could you do something so stupid Harry? You could have been killed." Hermione cried.

"It's okay Mione. I'm alright." Harry replied soothingly.

"It's not alright!" Hermione snapped. "I thought you were going to die."

"I'm sorry Mione." Harry whispered.

**

A few days later Hermione forgave Harry for scaring her half to death. Harry had apologized profusely and promised that he wouldn't do it again. The DA was progressing nicely. Harry had begun to prepare them for demon combat. Though he hoped they would never have to use it.

"Okay guys, what we're gonna work on today are short range defensive techniques." Harry stated.

"Vhich are a vaste of time." Came a reply. Harry turned around and saw Victor Krum walk up behind him.

"Professors aren't allowed in DA meetings Viktor." Harry said evenly. "Get out of here."

"I am allowed in here Potter." Viktor smirked. "I vas invited to vatch this meeting."

"Invited? Who would invite you?" Harry asked. Instantly every set of eyes in the room shifted to Hermione. Who was fidgeting nervously in the back of the room.

"Um, well he wanted to see what happened in our meetings." Hermione explained. Ron slapped his forehead and shook his head.

"Fine then, let's continue. The idea behind this technique is to parry the wand movements of your opponent, and prevent them from being able to accurately target you." Harry said.

"Pointless. Any skilled vizard could easily defeat these frivolous tactics." Viktor scoffed. Harry ignored him.

"Everyone pair off, and start going through the exercises we talked about." Harry moved around the room and watched everyone practice. He looked to the other end of the room and saw Viktor taunting Neville. Harry narrowed his eyes and walked across the room.

"I haff no idea vat you think you can accomplish by moving so close to your opponent Longbottom." Taunted Viktor. "You don't haff the skill to cause any damage at such range."

"What the hell's your problem Viktor?" Harry asked angrily.

"There's no problem. I vas just joking." Viktor said.

"Yeah great joke. Why don't you come over here and tell me another one." Harry snapped.

"The only joke here is the pathetic skill of students like Weasley and Lovegood." Viktor retorted.

"You think your such a good teacher huh? Well why don't you try teaching me?" Harry challenged. "If I win you leave. If you win, you get control of the DA. Sound good to you?"

"Sure Potter. It sounds like fun." Viktor answered. Slowly the rest of the DA stepped back giving plenty of room for the two combatants.

"I don't play for fun Viktor. I play for keeps." Harry snarled.

"Then let's play."

Viktor moved first. He drew his wand and snapped it forward firing off a stunner. Harry responded however, by tapping Viktor's wand with his own spoiling Viktor's aim. The spell zipped past Harry's ear by a fraction of an inch. Viktor's eyes widened in shock. He jumped back and fired another stunner. Harry stepped forward and parried the blow once again, and grabbed Viktor's arm. He twisted Viktor's arm around and pressed his wand to the back of Viktor's head.

"You see Viktor. The key to this technique is to make your opponent's moves work against him." Harry said.

Viktor twisted around removing himself from Harry's grip. Two more spells were shot from his wand. Harry responded once more by blocking Viktor's wand movements. Viktor growled, and tried a front kick. Harry matched the blow with his own foot. Launching himself in the air. Viktor seeing an opportunity shot three curses from his wand. Harry shot three spells from his wand that matched Viktor's. The spells clashed in midair flying in all directions. Harry landed and ducked yet another attack from Viktor.

"What's wrong Viktor? I thought a skilled wizard like yourself could breeze past my defenses." Harry taunted. He ducked another curse and closed the gap between himself and Viktor.

"I vonder Potter. If you know the truth about your little girlfriend?" Viktor asked quietly enough so only Harry could hear him.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Harry asked.

"Haven't you ever vondered how she gets such good marks. Especially the classes with Male Professors?" Viktor whispered as he and Harry circled each other.

"I know what you're doing, and your playing with fire." Harry warned.

"I've heard the stories about her they pass around in the staff room. And she's already been to see me about her grade several times." Viktor grinned maliciously.

"You're lying." Harry hissed. He was struggling to keep the devil under control. Already it was screaming out for blood. Viktor's blood.

"Oh you wish Potter. Vould you like to know the nickname she has among the staff? Her-moan-ee."

BUMP-BUMP

Several things happened at once. Viktor felt a magical pulse sweep across him. A low feral growl escaped Harry's throat. His eyes shifted from emerald green to a piercing yellow. Before Viktor knew it Harry was holding him by the shirt collar. A fleeting thought passed thru Viktor's mind. 'Maybe I pushed this one to far.'

**

"I'm telling you Severus, I have every bit of confidence in Harry's ability. Yet I don't think he's ready for such an assignment." Dumbledore said as he and Snape walked down a hallway.

"The boy cannot be controlled Headmaster. The longer you try to hold him here the more of a danger he is to those around him." Snape reasoned.

"Harry is not a danger to anyone. He-"

A loud explosion cut off Dumbledore as the form of Viktor Krum came barreling through the nearby wall. Quickly the two professor's rushed to Viktor's side. Dumbledore looked back at the whole in the wall and saw Harry step out of it. For the first time in many years Dumbledore's eyes widened in fear. Harry's eyes glowed a vicious yellow. Crimson lightning crackled around his body lashing out and igniting nearby paintings on fire. Dumbledore stood between Harry and Viktor with his wand trained on Harry.

"Stop right there Harry." Dumbledore ordered.

Harry took another step forward. Dumbledore fired a powerful stunner. In an instant Harry's gauntlets flashed into existence. Harry batted the spell back at Dumbledore catching him off guard. Dumbledore fell to the ground unconscious. Snape stood over Viktor's body and tried to draw his wand. Harry thrust his palm forward and a surge of red electricity burst forth-striking Snape down. Viktor regained consciousness just as Harry reached him. Weakly he attempted to crawl away, but Harry hoisted him up by the throat and slammed his back against the wall. Harry tightened his grip and Viktor began to choke.

"Kill him." Whispered a voice in Harry's mind. Viktor began to gasp for air as Harry drew back his fist. "He will take her from you. He will hurt her." Crimson lightning swirled around Harry's fist and a circle of emerald fire ignited surrounding the pair.

"Harry stop!" Hermione screamed. It was as if someone had slashed cold water on his face. Harry's eyes snapped back to green and the flames around him died down. Harry dropped Viktor and looked around horrorstricken.

"What have I done?"


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Hunting