AnotherDemon

Everything hurt. His back felt like it was burned, his side felt like it was on literal fire, his pulse was pounding against the inside of his skull- everything hurt. The worst of it all, though, was the nausea. He wasn’t sure what had woken him or how he was even awake in the first place. Beyond the pain and the nausea, he was exhausted. It dragged at him, keeping him in a weird limbo between unconscious and alert to the point that he was certain he dreamt at times. There was no way he and Kaveh were out in the desert with him feeling like this but he had this vague impression of Kaveh against his burning side taking his weight, talking like always, - not that he could remember what Kaveh had even said - and the grit of sand in his shoes. There wasn’t enough sand near home for him to have it in his shoes so it had to be the desert; but there had also been so little light and the terrain didn’t give like sand normally did so it definitely had to be a dream. The nausea got

Sirius muttered some curse into the lid of his hot chocolate before taking a drink. Severus understood his frustration. Even reiterating the events from Halloween made it even clearer how poorly things were being handled. Sirius bit out, “And nothing happened afterwards? Nothing for the parents?” A pause as if it dawned on him. “Nothing for the kids?” “The few nightmares that were reported were discussed and only two students were prescribed Dreamless Sleep.” Severus sighed. “But, no. Nothing more was done.” “Fuckin’ hell.” Silence settled between them, filled by the sounds of the world around them. Godric’s Hollow was anything but a sleepy little town late that Saturday morning. Severus could hear kids playing somewhere on the street behind them and quite a number of cars had passed since he and Sirius had settled against the fence. There had even been others who had walked through the graveyard and most bid respect to one of the many gravestones. If any had been inclined to

Kaveh was still hovering, not that Alhaitham was surprised. It had only been a day since he had returned to work so some hovering was to be expected; no, the thing that was odd was the nature of it. Usually by the time Alhaitham returned to work, Kaveh was less attentive, less present in a sense, and oftentimes antsy to get back to work in a greater capacity. Kaveh wasn’t behaving like that. Alhaitham watched him, book lying open and temporarily forgotten on the table, as Kaveh quietly worked on some illustration. From what glimpses Alhaitham had managed around Kaveh’s normal behavior of hiding it before Alhaitham could really see it, it didn’t look like Kaveh’s normal work. It had looked a bit too abstract, less focused, or perhaps too complex for a simple sheet of paper to hold, like Kaveh was trying to capture how the stars hung in three dimensional space in a two dimensional image. But despite Kaveh’s appearance of working diligently away on his latest piece, Alhaitham knew

Harry stared at Severus, school robe halfway on with his hand caught in the other sleeve. “What?” he asked, the word coming out more like a squawk than an actual word. It returned inertia to his body and he haphazardly shoved his arm into the sleeve. “Why? What are the other kids receiving?” “Detentions,” Severus offered crisply, though the softened edges of the man’s expression was enough for Harry to know it wasn’t simply being brushed aside. “A few will only serve a day or two. Mr. Malfoy will be serving two weeks.” “But I’m supposed to suffer through mine until Winter Break!” Severus sighed as he knelt. “I know it seems unfair right now but this truly has your best interest in mind.” Harry initially backed away from Severus’s reaching hand but seeked it out as the man talked. Severus’s hand carded through his hair, grounding and reassuring in equal parts. “Hogwarts lacks a lot of what you are used to back home and this will guarantee you spend some time not studying. While I

“There, look. See him?” “Where?” “The one wearing the glasses?” “Did you see his face?” “Did you see his scar?” For not the first time, Harry felt endless gratitude towards Sirius, Severus, and Remus for doing all they could to keep him out of the public eye. With no such protection now, Harry found whispers tailing him even in his own common room and it weighed heavily on him. It was understandable people were going to be eager to see and meet him but at least the Hufflepuffs were trying to be normal about it. It helped that he had some buffer with Hannah, Susan, Cedric, and even surprisingly Roger keeping most of the overly eager at bay but the rest of the student body wouldn’t be as satisfied with just seeing him. The Great Hall wasn’t nearly as full as the night prior when all of the student body was present for the Start of Term Feast but it certainly wasn’t anywhere near empty. Sure enough, as soon as he approached the open doors, eyes and words were quickly focused on

The shout was probably just as loud as every time before but tucked within the hat caused a weird muffling that barely dampened the sound; he flinched. His Sorting was finally over and done with. He quickly pulled the hat off as he slipped from the stool and placed the hat on it. His legs felt strange, wobbly and weak in a way he didn’t like, but it barely registered under the enormous relief he felt as he hurried over to Hannah and Susan. It barely registered just like the odd way the hall was full of noise barely registered. The hat had listened. For a heart stopping moment, he had thought it wouldn’t but the hat - sounding very amused with either itself or the situation - had placed him in Hufflepuff like he’d wanted but hadn’t been able to voice. The whole thing was exhausting and left a weird buzzing beneath his skin. Even his hands were shaking. No, wait; they weren’t shaking but it certainly felt like they should be. Before he could do anything with the sensation, though, he

Chapter 2: Ilravis's Deceit The soil was hard beneath his thin shoes as if the rain that had drowned the world the day before hadn’t happened. Even the flash flood that had been brought on by the previous day’s torrential downpour had only left a veneer of clay mud clinging to the remnants of buildings and marked where the waterline had reached on the trees. The mud squelched beneath each step and clung incessantly to anything it touched. Those unfortunate enough to fall in it wore the mud like a second skin. It clung to his legs high on his thighs and plastered his pants awkwardly to his skin. Either the plaster-like clay itself was cold or it was making his pants increasingly damp and he hated it. Laughter rang out from what remained of a building to his left and habitually he glanced over. If there had been a second floor, it had been obliterated right along with the rest of the town. Most of the walls were under half of their original height, the shortest points being on the

“What are those?” Harry looked up from the snacks, a colored pencil caught between his teeth. He hadn’t even realized he had stuck it there until the rather familiar voice had cut through his thoughts. He grabbed it with the hand holding five other colored pencils and asked, “What are what?” “Those.” The speaker - where had he seen someone with platinum blonde hair before? - pointed at the small bundle of colored pencils in Harry’s left hand. “Colored pencils,” he stated simply as he turned his attention back to the food trolley and picked up another packaged Liquorice wand. Three ought to be enough along with the small box of Liquorice Comfits. “Colored what? Are those a muggle thing?” Harry looked at the strangely familiar kid again in surprise. “Colored pencils,” he repeated. He was fairly certain he had seen colored pencils in a wixen supplies shop before though they may have been called something else. But when he didn’t answer the latter question quickly enough, the

Chapter 1: Niko’s Visions Halftrot Inn was never truly still no matter what time it was. Granted, three o’clock in the morning was far quieter than three in the afternoon but there was always someone at the front desk doing something and at least two other staff members working somewhere on the property. Niko loved those early morning hours. Not because of the quiet - oh Gods, no; she lived for the noise and bustle of the day and the secrets and information that slipped through it - but because of the occasional body that wasn’t supposed to be up at those hours. It wasn’t very often someone bustled in from outside too early in the morning to be considered normal - or unconcerning - and it was even less common for someone to leave, but it happened. It always happened. The clock had just chimed the quarter hour past four when the front door opened. She stilled her hand, pen lifted from the page to not blot the ledger. Two individuals entered before the door was shut with some care

The mid morning crowd of King’s Cross Station swallowed them as they entered the massive building, a familiarity that came from traveling often. Harry expected the same comfort that always came from that familiarity but the apprehension remained heavy in his chest. He hated it. There was no need to worry; he was well aware that there was no point in worrying. Everyone had reassured him multiple times that Sirius taking Harry as himself would be fine, that anything that could go wrong could be handled. But for Sirius to be at Harry’s side with no hint of disguise or as the all too familiar large black dog was setting off every warning bell Harry had and he couldn’t quiet them. Sirius ruffled his hair, the trolley listing slightly to the right despite the weight of Harry’s trunk. “You’ll have a great time at Hogwarts, Harry. Don’t you worry.” He offered Sirius a soft smile, one he knew Sirius would see as appreciation. Harry couldn’t correct him. It would only lead to the same