Chapter 151: Scarlet Hound

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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

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17 September 1993, Hogwarts

It's been over two weeks since term started, and Harry still had no partner for his Ancient Runes project. He was probably going to agree with the first person who asked him because he couldn't be bothered asking around, but no one ever came up to him.

It just didn't make any sense. Harry was known in the entire school as a magical prodigy. His skill when it came to any kind of practical magic was far above OWL students – at least as far as they knew – and partnering with him was a guarantee of getting a perfect grade. Harry wouldn't accept anything less. But for some reason, no one even tried.

It was maddening, and it made Harry have to actually take time from his busy schedule and ask someone to be his partner. Not that it worked. He went through the entire Ravenclaw roster. Padma Patil was taken by Daphne, Su Li by Lily Moon, Lisa Turpin by Pansy Parkinson, Morag McDougal by Tracy, Terry Boot by Blaise, Anthony Goldstein by Nott, Stephen Cornfoot with Malfoy, and the rest were muggleborns, which would make him a pariah in Slytherin if he publicly and voluntarily agreed to partner with one. He didn't care, but it would be troublesome in the long run.

The only possible candidate left was Michael Corner and Harry couldn't see the boy learning an extra runic language just for the sake of learning, especially considering how he dropped out of Arithmancy so easily. And even if he decided to dumb things out for the boy's sake, Corner kept glaring at him all the time for some reason.

Well, all the male Ravenclaws tended to glare at him. It was really weird, but it hadn't bothered him that much before. It was probably an inferiority complex of some kind because Harry was so much ahead of them academically, and academics were supposed to be the 'Ravenclaw' thing. Yeah, that seemed the most likely explanation.

He audibly groaned, making the people around him giggle at his misery. They were all eating breakfast in the Great Hall, and it was the day before the deadline to pick the partners. To say that Harry was worried would be an understatement.

Tracy seemed to enjoy his misery, "Still haven't found a partner Harry?"

"Piss off, Davis," he grumbled.

"Oh, he's calling you by your last name now. He must be very pissed," Blaise mocked.

Daphne rolled her eyes, "It's not like it's the end of the world. The worst thing that could happen is Babbling saddling you with a random person who didn't have a partner."

"That sounds nice in the front, but imagine ending up with someone like Ron Weasley or Seamus Finnigan. I would either have killed them or have committed suicide by the time our first meeting started. That much stupidity could be contagious, you know."

Blaise snorted, "This would have been a nice burn if it wasn't for the fact that both Weasley and Finnigan actually have partners. I think they got together with two Hufflepuffs, Zachariah Smith and Ernie Macmillan, but I'm not sure."

"At least they took more morons with them. Good riddance," he said before stiffening, "Oh, Merlin, I'm a worse prospect than Weasley and Smith. I think I'm going to be sick. I need to know who I could be saddled with. Do you know who still doesn't have a partner?"

Tracy scoffed, "It's not like people have a sign over their head saying if they have a partner or not. However, I do know that in Slytherin, aside from you, Crabbe and Goyle still don't have partners, but that was unexpected. Ravenclaw is taken, I think. I don't really care about Gryffindors, but I know that Longbottom doesn't have a partner. He's been having a rough time in his house, I think. But with the rivalry, you won't really have a willing partner there. I think that your best bet is a Puff, but I'm not really following them."

Funnily enough, out of all those choices, Harry would have been the least comfortable with Neville. It wasn't out of hatred or irritation, just caution. He agreed to be friendly with him on the train, but this year, the boy kept giving him longing looks whenever he thought Harry wasn't looking. It wasn't really harmful, and he would take it over the corridor fights, but it was just weird.

If they're picked together, the Longbottom scion was probably going to try to turn their project into some kind of bonding moment, something that Harry really didn't want. He didn't really hate the boy who lived, but he had to admit that the boy was unstable. He had played his hand in this, and he felt guilty about it, and that also probably made him a horrible person, but he just couldn't handle spending more than a few minutes at a time with Neville. He had spoken a handful of times with the boy since their conversation on the Hogwarts Express, and he had come to discover an undeniable truth.

The truth was that he didn't really like the other boy's personality. Neville was brash, had very little tact, and didn't think before speaking, he was proud, even if he had very few accomplishments – although slaying the Basilisk was a little impressive.

But the worst thing, the thing that made Harry want to tear his hair out, was the fact that he was just extremely selfish and narcissistic. Harry never noticed it since he barely paid any attention to the Longbottom scion, but the boy never cared about anything that didn't directly affect him. He saw the world as people who loved him and people who wanted him dead. Anyone who didn't get along with him was a Death Eater in the making. He was slowly growing out of that phase, but it was still irritating, and his constant neediness didn't help.

All their conversations so far were mostly just Neville complaining about everything in his life and that made Harry repress the urge to punch him out of annoyance.

So, yes, even if he got saddled with Crabbe or Goyle – which was unlikely since they were in the same house – he could just do the project himself. This was far better than being forced to spend even more time with Neville. He agreed to start over and be slightly friendly, not being the boy's therapist – or mind healer.

Harry groaned, "I can't believe that I'm in the same pile as Crabbe and Goyle of all people. I mean, they can be nice and all, but come on, they're not that bright when it comes to academia. I don't even know the names of the students in Hufflepuff. You lot are so lucky that you already knew everyone else before Hogwarts."

Daphne gave him an odd expression, "Where did you get that idea from?"

"You've all formed the groups too fast for it to be the first time you spoke to each other."

"Yes, but I definitely didn't meet Patil before Hogwarts. It's called socializing. You would have known about it if you tried to have a conversation with anyone else outside of us," Blaise snarked.

"But I've never seen you speak with them…."

Tracy gave him an amused look, "You spent the last year obsessed with your little chess game with Riddle. We do have lives of our own, you know?"

Harry grimaced. Yes, this wasn't his best moment. He didn't even consider what his friends were doing while he was fighting against Riddle for a whole school year. He did have a tendency to get tunnel vision whenever he had a project in front of him.

Daphne snickered, "Was the brilliant mind of Harry Potter beaten at last by the mighty challenge that is socializing?"

They all shared a laugh at that. Although Harry had to admit that she did have a point. Socializing definitely wasn't his strong suit, in this life and his previous one. He never really developed the social skills that came with developing deep relationships with people. Even his friendships with Daphne, Blaise and Tracy were just so alien when he thought about it. He didn't even know when they started becoming friends. They sort of hung around until their friendship blossomed. He really needed to find a way to refine his pitiful social skills. It was unfortunate that there were no useful books on the matter. Not that any would help him now.

With a flick of his wand, his eyes widened, "Oh, crap! I'm going to run late for divination!"

"Here's an idea: Why don't you divine your own partner then, mate?" Blaise said.

"Very funny Blaise," he answered with a deadpan voice, "I have to go. I'll see you all later."

Harry didn't have time to listen to their responses. He got up, preparing to leave, only to be stopped by a familiar girl. He knew her from afar since she was somewhat relevant politically, but he never really interacted with her.

Objectively speaking, Susan Bones was a pretty attractive girl, with dark red hair worn in a long plait down her back and blue eyes. She was from an influential old family and was considered quite the catch from the mutterings he heard in the dormitory.

Harry had no opinion of the girl since they barely interacted with one another. Yet, she sought him out for some reason, "Potter, can I speak with you for a second."

He simply shrugged, "Sure, but make it fast. I'm late for class."

The Hufflepuff nodded eagerly, "Great. I just wanted to ask if you had a partner selected for your Runes project yet."

"No, I don't. I'm actually looking for someone."

She brightened, "What a coincidence! So am I. Do you want to partner up? I left it to the last second and Babbling would either saddle me with Crabbe, Goyle, or you. I chose to take the initiative."

He grinned, "Sure. I guess we're partners now."

For some reason, the girl's face reddened slightly before she quickly mumbled, "Thank you! Bye!" and she ran away to the Hufflepuff table.

He spoke to himself, "Huh, that was easier than I thought it would be."

The last Potter turned to say goodbye to his friends, only to see Daphne and Tracy glaring at him. Giving them a confused look, he asked, "What?"

"You're a genius, Harry. You've proven that over the last few years. But sometimes, you can be such an idiot," Blaise remarked.

"I don't have time for this; I'm late for Trelawney's class. We'll talk about this later."

Harry ran all the way to the divination class and arrived just seconds before the Professor closed the trap door. He sat down while breathing heavily. He was just so tired.

The last Potter sat down in the chair and got slightly dizzy. He really hated that cursed incense that Trelawney had. He could hear the professor prattling on about magical sensing, and he couldn't bother to pay attention.

Slowly, his mind started to drift away, further and further, until he was back in the forest. It was strangely familiar, and it took a few seconds to realize it. Ah, yes, it was the forest from his dream. He ignored the weird trees, deciding to directly go to where the fire was supposed to be.

It didn't take him long until he was back in Hogsmeade. It was the same as before. The air was filled with cries as people fled from the encroaching inferno. Quaint cottages stood engulfed in roaring flames, their wooden beams crackling and shattering as they surrendered to the fiery onslaught. Thick plumes of smoke ascended into the night sky, mingling with the silvery radiance of the full moon in a sick contrast of light and darkness. The shops were in ruins, the inns were razed to the ground.

But Harry didn't try to think too much about it. He closed his eyes, and everything stilled. Slowly, he started to remove the distractions. The screams disappeared first, then the sound of destruction. The screaming victims disappeared, leaving him with only the frightening figure that was responsible for all the mayhem.

He looked different this time like his very presence was hollowed out. It just looked weird, wrong compared to the rest of the vision, like someone had painted over it somehow. He didn't like it. This vision was his, and his alone.

He tried to pierce this veil hiding the perpetrator, only to find nothing. He could feel it in his gut that it was a bad idea, but he kept trying anyway. He tried again and again, and the pressure kept getting higher and higher until a sound stopped him.

It was some crowing. He turned and saw a Raven, cawing at him warningly somehow. He instinctively knew to listen to it. Then there was something else. Some kind of demented laughter coming closer and closer. He couldn't see where it was coming from. It was coming for him, he could tell.

He ran towards the forest once more then stiffened when he saw the victims he had silenced previously, not screaming. They were laughing, they were all just laughing. It wasn't even a happy laugh, just wrong, very, very wrong. No, they were laughing out of madness.

Harry ran towards the trees, only to see faces carved in their barks laughing again.

He heard the raven crow once more, and the laughter lowered slightly but it didn't stop. It looked at him deep in the eyes and he saw a symbol flash in his mind. It felt strangely recognizable, though he couldn't quite place its origin. It seemed like a puzzle piece from a distant memory, an intricate design that tugged at the fringes of his consciousness. Its intricate, winding lines and esoteric patterns held a mysterious allure, even as he struggled to recall where he had encountered it before.

Oh, he remembered where he saw it.

And just like that he was pulled out of the vision, and he took a deep breath in the real world, "Samhain. Why is it always Samhain?"

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.