A Touch of Evil

Chapter Four
Essence of Darkness
That smell that overwhelming intoxicating smell, an aroma so enticing it sent shivers down his spine. He knew that smell and it frightened him as he remembered the source. Harry shivered a bit more under the thin ragged blanket his relatives had given to him.
He had never suffered dreams that seemed this real before, every sight, sound, and even smell came through clear as day. He didn’t even know what drew him so deeply into the dreams. One minute he would be sleeping peacefully then he would be thrown into another sensory intoxicating dream.
They were never very clear on the where and whom, but that smell, oh the smell he could lose himself in its embrace. It was heavy and musky definitely not a feminine smell. It was bold and powerful with a hint of danger. He had smelled it a few times before but never as strongly as that horrible night in the Chamber of Secrets and coming off of Snape’s robes that morning in the infirmary.
It was a smell he associated with Voldemort and all that he stood for. Why did it give him that small thrill running down his spine every time he had one of the dreams? He didn’t even know what the dreams were supposed to mean. He was starting to get a bit of an idea but his mind shied away from the thought.
Giving up on the idea of normal sleep he threw off the threadbare sheet and got out of bed. Rummaging around for a bit he came up with an old t-shirt and cut-off shorts that used to belong to Dudley.
Growing up the way he had he had learned how to sew at an early age. Aunt Petunia had taught him with the intention he would do all of the mending the family required. She didn’t realize that she had actually done one good thing for her nephew. He was able to use the skills to alter Dudley’s old clothes into a size that fit him. Of course he ended up with enough extra fabric to make at least two new shirts for himself every time he altered one of Dudley’s.
Opening the door to the room the Dursley’s had given him when fearing they were being watched, even that didn’t stop the ‘punishments’ any (it’s amazing what a closed door can hide), he moved quietly down the hallway into the bathroom.
He couldn’t risk a shower and waking up his relatives so he settled for using a rough cloth and tap water to wash his face, neck, arms, and legs. He used an old comb with most of the teeth missing to at least attempt to comb his hair. It had grown some over the summer and he noticed it was slightly easier to manage and decided to grow his hair out rather than getting it cut.
Getting out of the bathroom he returned to his bedroom to try and get some of his summer work done. It was by pure luck he had thought to wrap all of his books up in his invisibility cloak he was then able to sneak the bundle and his wand into his room with Hedwig’s cage. He had to use muggle paper and pens but he realized that was better then turning nothing in.
Finishing up the last few paragraphs of his Charms essay he looked over the rest of his work. He had another month before returning to Hogwarts and he only had Snape’s essay left to do. The early morning awakenings had done some good for his schooling at least.
He was almost brave enough to owl the headmaster to see if he could get his third year books but decided against it. He didn’t want to trouble the headmaster, and if the blatant ignoring of his existence was anything to go by he no longer had friends to talk to. This time he couldn’t explain away the lack of letters with crazy house elves. He had received small notices from Hogwarts about school things so he was still getting his mail just nothing from his old friends.
By this time his Uncle was up and forcing him to make the breakfast starting off Harry’s day of chores, chores, and just to be different more chores. If a slap was directed at him now and then it wasn’t any worse then he deserved right? Because of his inability to save her Ginny was dead didn’t he deserved to be punished for it? The fact that the Dursley’s hadn’t been told of the events and the treatment was no different then all the other times Harry had made excuses for them didn’t cross his mind.
Harry was able to get his work done that day, he wasn’t hurting too badly, so he wasn’t expecting to be punished that night. So with obvious relief he climbed the stairs to fall exhausted onto the bed only to have him hit something, hard, with his head.
Sitting up properly he looked at what he had hit his head on. He was surprised to see a medium sized stack of books and a small note lying at the head of his bed. There wasn’t talon or feather of an owl in sight, except for Hedwig of course who was locked in her cage.
Being careful Harry didn’t touch the note but read it from a distance.
Potter,
Be cautious you are being watched by more than one person. Many people in your life are not what they seem to be. Use that mind Potter, I know you can’t be all of James there has to be some of Lily in you too.
I think these may be useful to you in the coming year. I suggest you read them carefully and make the decision you feel is right and not what you think people want to hear.
The One Who Watches
P.S. I know what you’re thinking and I am not here to harm you. If I wanted you dead you would already be gone.
Harry read the post script and relaxed a bit. They did have a point if this person knew enough about him to know the books he needed than he was probably close enough to have already harmed him if they wanted to.
Picking up the note to examine the books closer he noticed something. The paper carried a trace of the same essence that plagued his dreams. For some odd reason this didn’t frighten him but he remembered the warning to be cautious. It was good advice no matter who was giving it.
Looking at the titles he was intrigued. He recognized most of them as the standard third year texts called for at Hogwarts, but there was three he didn’t recognize.
Darkness or Light: a break down of the forms of magic by Tamara Nott
Introduction to the Dark Arts by Cynthia Darkmoon
The ways of Mind Magics: a guide to guarding your secrets by Thomas Flint
Deciding to ignore his tiredness for now he reached for a book. Losing his nerve over the Dark Arts books he settled for the one on mind magics. He finished about a quarter of it before succumbing to sleep.
He was woken up by a nightmare a few hours later. He picked the book up again and read some more until his relatives woke up.
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The rest of his time before Hogwarts flew by in the same manor. He was able to read all of the books he was sent, finish his potions essay, and read the books a second time.
Those books contained some interesting and frankly frightening information. He didn’t know what to think. Apparently things weren’t as dark or light as he had been taught. People weren’t angels or demons. He wasn’t sure if he believed what he read but they made a good argument.
Those books were actually the first time he had been exposed to anything that exactly explained the relationship of dark and light one way or another. He had been taught to blindly follow the light, forgetting to have light you must have darkness.
He wouldn’t give up on Dumbledore, the man was too important to him. Although the mind magic book outlined what it was like to be under a truth serum or coercion spell and things did seem to parallel the symptoms when he was near the headmaster. He decided to see how this year went and decide from there.
He wouldn’t even consider anything he read in those books except for one thing. The note he had found with them had actually compared him to his mother. While he did have a form of hero worship for his father he also had a burning need to know his mother to be compared to her was something he used to only dream of.
He had received a few more notes from the same mysterious person. They all said basically the same thing, stay on your guard, and things are not what they seem. One of them had even mentioned he shouldn’t let himself be controlled by anyone. He didn’t understand that one. Who was controlling him? As far as he knew he was thinking for himself.
They also carried the same scent and his books had confirmed his suspicions, unfortunately all it did was create more worries. The use of dark magic left a detectable scent on a person who uses it regularly. It was basically the essence of darkness.
The part where it worried Harry was that the only ones capable of smelling this were the ones with an affinity for dark spells. In other words only if you already carried at least some of the essence. He was able to pass it off as transfer from Voldemort’s backfired spell but gut instinct told him that was wrong he just refused to believe it.
Finally it was time to return to the castle and even though he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have any friends this year, he was still happy to get away from the Dursleys.
He spent the train ride back to Hogwarts alone in a compartment. He took the opportunity to reread his summer essay’s just in case they were quizzed, he was sure they would be in Snape’s class. He hadn’t been prepared for that the year before but this year would be different. He wanted to prove to Dumbledore he wouldn’t fail him again.
When he donned his robes he was glad to see that his school uniform covered most of the bruises. He didn’t want to answer any questions and he deserved every one of them. Plus, Madame Pomfrey was a nice woman but Harry really didn’t want to see her as often as he seemed to be in the infirmary.
Getting to the Great Hall he found a seat alone at the end of the Gryffindor table. No one attempted to talk to him and he didn’t force his presence on anyone else. He waited patiently while the other lions grumbled about the wait.
This years sorting took some time. Harry had noticed his class was one of the smallest at Hogwarts. He wondered if it had anything to do with the first rise of Voldemort, probably, he thought to himself.
Soon enough the tables were groaning under food and Harry was filling his plate. He was probably the only one in the hall, minus a few of the health conscious girls, to have a balanced meal on his plate. At the Dursley’s he usually got the leftovers and even then they hated greens of any kind, his body was starved for those nutrients.
He knew it usually took him time to get used to eating right again after a summer at the Dursleys. So he ate slowly and was able to finish half his food before he was full. He would have stopped sooner but he hated the though of wasted food. He looked regretfully at the rest on his plate but knew it would be even more wasteful if he ate too much and made himself sick.
By the time desserts arrived Harry was able to eat a small bowl of vanilla ice cream anything else was just too sweet for now.
When they were dismissed he took the familiar path up to the dorm only to discover his truck at the far end of the room from Ron’s, a distinct difference from previous years. It wouldn’t have been too bad if the other boys hadn’t charmed their beds farther away from his.
He figured Ron must have told them how he had killed his sister. So Harry didn’t voice any complaints over the new arrangements he just got ready for bed quietly. Not wanting to ignite sore tempers. There was a frosty atmosphere in the air that evening that just wouldn’t go away.
He didn’t even realize he had been watched the entire night. Of course the steady gaze came from a person gifted in watching someone without their notice.

The obsidian gaze was directed at Harry out of concealed curiosity. He hadn’t had the chance to observe the boy much since he had been given the task by Voldemort. Sure he had written to Harry, but a few notes couldn’t actually be called interacting with him.

He wondered if the boy had read the books he had left. He assumed it was a fools hope to do so but the boy had already managed to surprise him it was not good to underestimate either an enemy or an ally and he wasn’t sure which category Potter fell into yet.

He was getting close to the age when Legilimency wouldn’t hurt him anymore. By Christmas the boy shouldn’t be in much more danger from that form of intrusion. For some reason he found himself wondering if Potter would be strong enough to Occlude his mind without a teacher some wizards could do it but not many.

The book he had given Potter and explained what it felt like to have the spells used on you not how to do them yourself. They were a restricted art carefully controlled by the ministry. There were some hefty fines involved for anyone caught teaching the arts beside ministry sanctioned people.

The only reason they weren’t completely illegal was because some people are just born with the ability and you can’t very well arrest someone just because they have blue eyes and it would be the same sort of scenario.

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Classes resumed and Harry made good on his promise to prove himself to Dumbledore. He lived for the approving glances of the man.

He didn’t understand one thing. It seemed like everyday the headmaster did that potions class was ten times harder then normal. He had found out Snape was deliberately trying to stump them. He would leave out ingredients on the board, post the wrong timing, or wrong number of stirs.

Harry was lucky he never fell for it. His glasses were so old he had been having trouble reading the blackboards in his classes so he resorted to doing everything out of his books. This meant he didn’t even see the traps let alone fall into them.

When Snape noticed this he was a little disappointed. The entire point of tricking the students had been to give Potter the ability to question authority instead of following instructions blindly.

He decided he was going to have to be a bit more direct from now on and hope the boy could handle it. They were in a war and Potter had to be ready. Like or not he was now stuck firmly in the middle. He should at least be given the choice of which master to follow.

There was one thing Severus didn’t know and that was there was something distracting Harry from his potions. Severus still had the essence of darkness around him. It wasn’t nearly as strong as that night in the infirmary, but it was still present.

Harry didn’t understand why he grew so warm or why his skin became super sensitive around that smell. He didn’t want to know in reality. He was pretty sure he knew what was happening he just never thought things like that were supposed to happen to people like him. A savior was not supposed to be human. They were supposed to protect everyone no matter what. If any one was close to them they were taken away. He knew that and had known that since he had learned just how his parents died.

Harry was forgetting the most powerful force on earth wasn’t magic at all. If anyone has ever been around a teenager for any length of time no matter the gender, orientation, or any other factor. It is a time when hormones go out of control. The human sex drive is indeed a powerful force. Just because you are unaware of it doesn’t mean it doesn’t’ affect you.

Near the end of class Harry managed to pull his thoughts together long enough to finish his potion. He was just about to take a sample for grading when the cauldron next to him exploded. He had been working next to Neville and unfortunately it wasn’t all that much of a surprise he always fell for the traps on the board (along with most of the Gryffindors).

Harry saw all his effort wasted as Neville’s ruined potion contaminated his own potion. Sighing Harry took his sample anyway figuring Snape wouldn’t let him remake it.

Severus surprised him though by taking advantage of the situation. “Potter you will stay after for detention and rebrew this potion.” The potions master snapped.

“Yes professor Snape.” Harry replied trying not to let the relief run in his voice. He didn’t have anything to do tonight so the detention wouldn’t ruin anything and he might even be able to score a descent grade on the potion.

A/N hope you enjoyed this chapter if you have anything in mind you want to see happen in this story feel free to leave your suggestions and or questions