Harry Potter One Shots

(1) Like a Shadow

All rights belong to the author, Rabeeafatima

The leaves were loudly crunching beneath his feet as he walked in the moonless otherwise hushed, silent night. As usual Harry cannot sleep due to his night terrors so he made to wander around the castle, again as usual. But tonight he went out of the relative safety of the castle walls and towards the encompassing darkness of the forbidden forest.

'How strange that despite thousands of creatures habitating here, the forest is soundless as if no one lives here' Harry wondered why. Harry was one curious boy breaking curfew rules by a wide margin, it was almost 3 am, 4 hours past the curfew for 5th years and Harry cursed his luck for forgetting his invisibility cloak in haste and anxiousness to avoid waking his dorm mates who would rather tag along in case of Neville and Ron or rant at him for losing more house points in case of Seamus who was looking for excuses to fight Harry after the whole Triwizard tournament fiasco. And Harry frankly needed some peace and quite to arrange and order his thoughts thank you very much.

He was just back after a lengthy summer break with his relatives, the Dursleys, which was further prolonged by Professor Dumbledore's 'advice' to not visit Weasleys for the end of break like he did every summer and orders to stay the whole summer with his relatives. But Harry could understand the reasoning behind this as his safety was further threatened by resurrection of Voldemort and Deatheaters were at loose again. Professor Dumbledore together with Order had woven extra protections to strengthen wards at Dursleys as blood protection might become void due to Voldemort sharing his blood now.

Spending time with his relatives who taunted and belittled him at every turn made him depressed especially at the time when he was mourning for his friend, Cedric. His dreams were haunted by events of the graveyard, the hideous sight of Voldemort resurrecting from the cauldron, the peculiar green light of killing curse hitting Cedric, his widened eyes filled with terror. Dreams morphing the real events into even more horrible things and on top of that he was awoken by his Uncle slapping his face repeatedly with those beefy hands and shouting at the top of lungs about how much of a freak and abomination he was, about how he should have died with his parents or should have been drowned when they found him at their doorsteps. On top of that whole school was hounding him and calling him a liar and murderer of Cedric. Even many of the Gryffindors which caused something deep inside him to ache. Articles printed by Daily Prophet daily enforced this idea. Tears came at the back of his eyes and Harry quickly blinked them back. He doesn't like to cry, shedding tears for things changes absolutely nothing. He has learnt this a long time ago. He recalled crying whole nights in his cupboard when he was small, wishing someone would come and take him away from that pathetic hellhole, longing for parents, longing the day when his relatives would start loving him.

Harry was so lost in his thoughts he failed to notice the dark shadow passing quickly beside him. After a few more steps a large callused hand was pressed tightly on his mouth muffling any sounds of protests. Harry was so startled his mind blanked for a few moments. After getting his bearings back the immediate thoughts were 'oh shit!' and 'Deatheaters', in that particular order. Harry was aware of the strong firm chest he was pulled against and judging from the heartbeat beside his ear, the strong arms wrapped around his body holding him in place, he could safely wager a guess that his assailant was an adult male and a very tall person at that.

Although Harry was still the smallest boy in his year but no boy was this tall so that ruled out the possibility of Slytherins ambushing him. Harry's heart was beating a mile per second thudding painfully against his ribs and he was breaking out in cold sweat due to fright. 'I am dead; Voldemort would not take a chance to leave me after the encounter in graveyard.' Such a short time has passed and here he was again; being taken towards the evil creature who had murdered his parents in cold blood. Harry started protested vigorously and tried to wriggle his way out of those arms by kicking weakly but the arms holding him were so strong he couldn't even move his face upwards to look at his assailant's face.

"Shhhhhh!" The person whispered sharply in his ear. His breath chilled Harry to the core and he froze in fear. At that moment Harry cursed himself for multiple things; his rule breaking streak, his small stature and his Uncle Vernon who made him feel the same sense of helplessness he was feeling right now. The man was now half dragging half carrying him deeper into forest as easily as he was a 2 year old toddler and Harry almost wanted to cry. 'What does he want from me? Oh God if he was some student pranking me I am going to kill them, everyone be damned' but Harry knew in his heart that no student could be this tall or strong.

And he was doomed.....