Harley Potter and her world famous twin

The Change

Gideon couldn't help but notice the change in Harley. Harley's mood swings were so confusing. She would either be super happy , or be super angry. The problem is these changes lasted weeks.

When she returned, she was glum. Her eyes were rimmed red. There were shadows beneath them. Gideon felt that it would have been better if Harley was mad. She, Gideon, couldn't bare to see her in so much pain.

And then her wish came true. Harley did not seem to be in pain. Instead she looked blank. Not that different from the blank look she usually used to wear before these series of changes started to come to her, but a different kind of blank. To Gideon who knew enough about Harley to spot the difference between the two blank looks, this one felt creepy. Sinister.

Harley wandered around like a ghost. She didn't even look up when the Weasley twins pranked the Slytherins by making their robes Griffindor. It was like she lost something vital. Like you know, her soul.

As soon as the thought came to her , Gideon panicked. What if that was what happened? With the dementors around one can't be too sure. So she decided to ask her.

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Harley shook her head at the question. Attempting for a smile. It looked ridiculously fake.
"I'm alright, Gideon .Still have soul and all. Forgot to ask you, how was your Christmas? "

Harley was ignoring the elephant in the room. That is her mental health. Gideon wondered why the teachers didn't notice. Or no one for the fact .
Pansy had been awfully close to Harley of late, so why doesn't even she notice anything? This was more than mood swings. Something had gotten horribly wrong with her.

"That's not important. Don't try to change topics. "
"Oh well it was worth a try"
Harley laughs. Gideon felt like slapping her. Why pretend so much? Harley was in no way feeling light.

"Harley, you know you don't have to pretend in front of me. You don't have to joke around with me. We are friends "
"I thought friends joked around though"
"Not in such situations!! "

Ugh this girl! As much as Gideon cared about Harley, she was getting under her skin in the most annoying way. She took a deep breath.

"Harley , is it so hard to tell me? "
"I suppose it wouldn't be that hard. But I'm on a mind numbing potion. I feel pretty much nothing. So I don't know... I don't feel trust either "

Gideon's face must have showed her shock because Harley immediately started apologizing.
"That's not what I meant. I know I could trust you but... I feel nothing right now... I'll tell you everything okay? Just later"

"And when would that be? "
"Some time when I'm not high as the sky"

"Can't you just stop taking whatever potion you are on? Or are you addicted? "
"Not addicted, the stuff taste like mud and after taking it everything taste that way. It's not a completely good feeling. But I need to take it or I'd break down "

Gideon did not have the guts to ask more. She was afraid what Harley would say. Afterall Harley was the strongest, bravest person (fuck Griffindors) she knew. Something that had her this much of a mess, she didn't want to know.

But she had to know. So that she could help Harley. If not her who else will do that? They haven't even noticed her changes. Much less offer her support. Because she knew Harley needs it. It doesn't matter how strong she is. Every one needs someone to lean on, once in a while.

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Harley felt broken. And insane. She wanted to kill someone. For real. Except the culprit was not one person. It was many. A group. A chain so long, she couldn't even hope to find out all members .

She consulted the book of anything and everything for something besides homework for the time. It surprised her by giving her information without even writing a question.

She only had to touch it before the pages glowed. That was another first. She always wrote down questions before and the book would answer them.

There was pages upon pages of ways to rise dead. The methods were elaborate, the steps complicated. But Harley knew she could manage if she tried hard enough. She could bring back Roan.

Harley shook her head. No. She will not rise the dead. Bad enough that she dug up her grave. She would never disturb her again.
Still she examined the gruesome depictions of the dead rising. In the images both the wizard doing the spell and the corpse which was coming back to life, looked to be in horrible pain.

Harley did not care about pain but to hurt Roan once more... But she would be alive... She would feel better... She would be soo grateful to you...

Harley almost threw the book away. What the hell? That was not her thoughts. She stared at the book in her hand. It was sentinent. And it was trying to convince her to be a necromancer. WTF!

Harley concentrated hard on what she needed. Not information on necromancy but something to stop her mind from feeling so much .

She could almost feel the book's reluctance before it showed various complex spells and potions . It was not right. There had to be simpler options.

She remembered taking notes for a mind numbing potion from professor Snape's book. On second thought that will do perfectly well. She closed the book of everything and anything and placed it under her pillow.

Like Sirius said the book was dangerous. But .......it was very useful.....

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Harley had wanted to talk to Gideon once the potion wore off .The problem was that it was always late at night when it did. She considered asking him to stay with her in the common room until it wore off but that would be very selfish.

Every morning she took a double dose of the potion to last her through out the day. But every night it lost the potency, drowning her in her sorrow and guilt and occasionally homicidal tendencies.

To say that she didn't know what was happening to her was an understatement.