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Krysti · 05-30-2008, 08:40 PM

*has been sucked into the story*

You're doing a really good job with this. I love it.

PAMS!!

Krysta · 06-01-2008, 05:58 PM

Thank you! Yay, we have page two!

Here's Chapter 9. And on a personal note, I'd like to point out that this was written before Order of The Phoenix and I had never even heard of Dementors...quite a coincidence as you shall discover.

Chapter 9: From The Shadows

On their way out of the common room, Harry and Ginny bumped into Fred coming the other way…literally. They all made a grab for the armful of boxes he carried and helped him stack them up again. He eyed them with the same suspicion as George had done. He opened his mouth to speak, but Ginny butted in first:

“No, we didn’t look in them!” and with that she grabbed Harry’s arm and pulled him out of the common room so hard that he nearly tripped over the frame of the painting.

“Oh, steady there. We don’t want you breaking your neck before classes even start.” Cried the fat lady beaming at them. They waved behind them at her as they hurried down the corridor away from the twins.

“Y’know, I’m really curious about what those two are up to, but part of me just kinda…” he trailed off.

“Really doesn’t want to know?” asked Ginny with a dry smile.

“Yeah.” He said returning the grin. They laughed and hurried on down the corridor towards the hospital wing.

Ron was sitting beside Hermione’s bed in a hard plastic chair, holding her hand. He looked up when they came in and smiled. Harry noticed how tired he looked. Worry had taken its toll on him. Ginny looked at Harry and something about the gentle smile told him that she maybe had the same suspicions that Harry had had earlier that day.

“Hey.” Said Ron quietly.

“Hey.” Harry replied also quietly. Ginny moved over to Ron’s side and looked at Hermione’s deathly pale face.

“Any change?” she asked. Ron shook his head slowly. Madame Pomfrey came into the room and sullenly went to the other side of Hermione’s bed. She placed her hand on the sleeping girl’s head and frowned. She took a small silver stick, touched the tip of it to Hermione’s neck. The stick glowed a blue-silver colour and Madame Pomfrey frowned again.

“What’s wrong? What is it?” asked Ron urgently. Madame Pomfrey looked at him as though she’d only just noticed he was there.

“Nothing my boy. She’s a lot better. Stable, sleeping deeply.” She continued to frown.

“But that’s good, surely.” Said Harry sounding as confused as Ron looked.

“Oh yes, dear, of course it is. Sorry. But all my years…I never…in all the strange things I’ve seen…” she trailed off.

“What?” Demanded Ron rising from his seat.

“It’s just that…in all honesty…she should be dead.” Harry and Ginny shot each other shocked and worried glances before moving right up close to Ron and Hermione’s bed.

“What are you talking about? That’s rubbish. She’s going to be fine, Dumbledore said so!” Ron sounded angry and distraught. Madame Pomfrey’s eyes widened.

“He did, did he? “ she looked thoughtful.

“Yes he did. We all heard him. He said she would be perfectly alright.” Fired Harry angrily and panicked, with Ginny nodding furiously beside him.

Madame Pomfrey’s face softened.

“Well, he knows best, I suppose. She does seem to be stable after all. But I’ve never seen the victim of a nightwraith live to tell the tale. Even those in a coma eventually slip away.” She said looking sadly at Hermione and they looked at each other in bewilderment and shock, Harry more so. What were they talking about? What was a ‘nightwraith’? Ron’s eyes were damp when he began to stutter:

“A-a-a-a nightwraith?” The matron nodded slowly and solemnly. “But…but why? Why Hermione?” Madame Pomfrey shook her head sadly. She had no answer.

“What’s going on? What happened to her? What’s a nightwraith?” Ginny looked at him. He could see there were tears in her eyes also and she gently shook her head, her lips moving but not forming words. Harry was frantic by now.
“Someone tell me what the hell is going on!” he shouted at them. Ginny burst into tears and buried her face in the sheets over Hermione’s legs. Harry went to comfort her, placing a hand on her back, and he could feel her sobs through her ribcage. Ron was gripping Hermione’s hand in both of his, holding her fingers to his lips. Harry could see he was unable to speak. He rocked back and forth in his chair, his eyes closed trying to fight sobs welling up in his chest. Harry felt a lump in his throat. He didn’t know what had happened to Hermione, or what would happen, but he knew from his friends’ reaction that it was something so terrible they couldn’t even speak to explain it to him.
He slowly moved to the other side of the bed. The only sound was Ginny’s quiet sobs and Hermione’s steady breathing. He looked at her pale face and the lump in his throat lurched upwards, forcing him to release a moan. He gently touched her cheek the lump now almost gagging him, and he couldn’t breathe. She looked peaceful. No pain. No pain at all. But no life either. Nothing.

In the common room Harry sat alone by the fire staring into the flames and they danced lithely around each other. Ron had stayed with Hermione, refusing to leave her side. Ginny had disappeared to her room still crying and Harry was left by himself.
The other Gryffindors were somewhat sparse as it was after dinner and some were enjoying the long daylight hours outside. It didn’t get dark until 9 o’clock these days, although summer was supposedly on its way out. He enjoyed the solitude. Dinner had been silent and neither he nor Ginny had eaten much. How could they? Their friend was lying unconscious in a hospital bed, and it was quite possible she may never awaken.

But Dumbledore had said she was fine. He’s said so. Harry didn’t understand. And what was a nightwraith? Why were they so terrible? And why was there a cat in the fire, watching him?

He snapped to attention immediately. He almost expected to see Crookshanks sitting in front of it, maybe a trick of the light making it look like he had actually been in the fire. But Crookshanks had been upstairs for the last two days. Lavender and Parvati had said they’d been feeding him, but the loyal feline refused to leave the confines of Hermione’s bed.
He stared into the fire. Nothing. It had been there, he was sure of it. Doubt swept through him. Maybe his daydreaming had played tricks on his subconscious. The fire was just a fire.

He was awake now, anyway. And with an angry, scared and frantic feeling in his stomach he got up from the sofa and marched quickly out of the common room.

Instead of trying out lots of candy-names in attempt to find the password to Dumbledore’s chamber, he merely banged the wall as loud as he could. A few moments later the secret doorway opened for him and he quickly ascended the stairs to the door at the top. He was about to knock on this one, when it opened, apparently by itself and Dumbledore’s voice came floating out of it.

“Come in Harry, take a seat. I was expecting you.” Harry froze for a second or two before cautiously, but purposely walking into the room. He took a seat in one of the armchairs he and Ron had sat in earlier that day and Dumbledore watched him from his place behind the desk.

“I expected you sooner. I think I owe you an explanation.” Professor Dumbledore had taken the words out of his mouth. Harry pursed his lips and nodded. Harry didn’t even need to ask the questions in his mind. Dumbledore started talking, and Harry just sat back and listened.

“Your friend, Harry, will be fine. As Madame Pomfrey has surely told you, she has suffered a truly terrible attack. I did not tell you this last night, as I needed to be sure what we were dealing with, but Madame Pomfrey’s suspicions were accurate, I’m afraid. However, I have every confidence that Miss Granger shall pull through this. In fact, I promise you that she shall.”

Harry relaxed, but more questions formed in his mind. Again, Dumbledore began to answer them before Harry could ask.
“As for what attacked her, and why, I only have a half-answer. Some things, I’m afraid, lie way beyond even my jurisdiction. The creature that attacked her was indeed a nightwraith. No one is really entirely certain what they are. Even the dark wizards and witches that call upon them do not fully understand. Some say they are lost souls corrupted and angry, some say they are servants of a darker evil. Me? I think they’re probably a bit of both. A nightwraith attacks people in their sleep, gets inside their subconscious.
They steal a person’s soul, tearing it from their bodies, leaving them empty shells. Madame Pomfrey I believe has already informed you of…the results. ” The professor fell silent and Harry looked at his hands which were clasped tightly in his lap.
“Now, your friend Harry seems to have defied all of that. Once a nightwraith gets inside you, it doesn’t let go. It clings, fights and tears at the subconscious until it can separate the soul from the body. However, when I visited Miss Granger last night, I could sense that her soul was intact, and this is how I knew she would be fine. Once her body and mind have recovered, she will wake and be as she ever was.”

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. In the Muggle world, prolonged states of unconsciousness often caused damage to the brain. Dumbledore smiled at him through his spectacles.
“The thing that was concerning me last night, was where on earth did the nightwraith go?” Harry suddenly felt a prickly sensation on the back on his neck. That hadn’t occurred to him. Was it still hanging around? If so, would it attack Hermione again? Or someone else? Dumbledore continued, confirming his fears.
“The problem is, when a nightwraith is called, it is for a particular reason. Usually a particular victim as a target, and they cannot return to their realm until their task in complete.” Harry shuddered. He had begun to feel relieved, but now he felt terrified. Who had released the nightwraith in the first place? And why had it attacked Hermione? Why her? That’s what Ron had asked. He understood their terror now, and shock when hearing that a nightwraith had attacked Hermione. Why would someone want to kill her, and take her soul?

He could understand someone wanting to kill him, namely Voldemort, but not Hermione. He heard Ginny’s words in his head: “the world doesn’t ALWAYS revolve around you!” but he couldn’t think of any other explanation. He swallowed yet another lump in his throat.

“So what now?” he asked hoarsely. Dumbledore smiled sadly.

“Now…you go back to your friends, and you wait by Miss Granger’s side for her to wake up. And then you will look after her. She’ll need her friends around her.” Questions whirled around Harry’s head.

“But how? How did she survive? Why didn’t it…? Why is she still alive?” Dumbledore smiled again.

“Sometimes, Harry, it is better not to question the miracle…but to just let it happen.”

When Harry entered the hospital wing is was dark. Ron had fallen asleep in his chair, his head resting on Hermione’s chest. He smiled, though weakly. He understood, and felt the pain and fear in Ron’s heart now. Ron was terrified that like so many before her, Hermione would never wake from her unconscious state. He understood Ginny’s tears. But he knew something they didn’t now. He knew that within Hermione’s sleeping body, her soul lay safe and unharmed. He knew she would awaken soon. But he knew that the good news came with the bad. The dark creature, which had lost the battle, might still be lurking in the shadows waiting to launch a second attack.
He moved close to her sleeping form and gently kissed her forehead. With that he left as silently as he had come.

He was falling. Urgent, echoing voices surrounded him in a thick velvet blanket smothering him. Falling, deeper, deeper, splash. Cold, viscous water surrounded him, pulling him down, down into their murky depths. Pressure on his head voices louder, urgent, demanding.

“Open your eyes, see.”

“I can’t”

“Open them.”

“No.”

“See her.”

“I’m afraid.”

His own, weak voice argued with the one voice that was so stronger than the others, he couldn’t breathe. Pressure. So heavy. Overbearing.

“See, Harry.”

“No.”

“She needs you Harry.”

“It’s dark.”

“It’s always dark. Open your eyes.”

“No.”

“They need you. See.”

“No.”

“Open you eyes!”

With the final harsh order, Harry opened his eyes. Blackness. All around him nothing but blackness.

A faint light far away was becoming brighter. He was in a dim corridor, the torchlights illuminating the walls in regular intervals. Something moved, something dark. Or was it a shadow? A force surrounded Harry, a familiar force that pushed him to move along the corridor. It must have been a shadow.

“I am the light from which a shadow is cast, that is your soul.”

The voice was mellow, familiar, soothing as it surrounded him, echoing throughout his body. A shadow moved again, slinking smoothly down the corridor towards him. The Blank Panther passed him in the corridor; the force surrounding him made him turn and follow. He went willingly.
The walls were old made of huge stone bricks. The great cat lead him through twists and turns. They were climbing. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did. Up stairs and around bends they went until the panther suddenly stopped inside a great chamber. Harry felt strange. The force surrounding him disappeared and a new chill spread through him. The chill of magic. It was oozing from the walls, floor and ceiling, from the huge table and 12 chairs around it, from the long tapestries on the walls. It hung in the hair like a faint buzz. It was stronger behind him: from the great slab of rock against the wall. He moved closer. It was neither a table, nor an alter. It hummed with magic as he touched it, sending vibrations through his consciousness. There was strange writing on it. He couldn’t read it. It was strange symbols and markings that looked familiar, but he couldn’t place them.

“Open your eyes.”

“They are open.”

“See.”

“See what?”

“Open your eyes, they need you.”

“Who does?”

“They need you.”

“Who?!”

“Open your eyes!!”

Again, with the final order he found himself once more in darkness. A shadow moved past him. The panther. But, wait. He knew where he was. This was Hogwarts.
He made to follow the panther, along the dark, silent corridors towards the Hospital wing, to Hermione. At the bottom of the stairs to the ward the Panther turned to look at him. He looked into its brilliant yellow eyes and felt himself transfixed. The panther turned and slunk up the stairs and through the door at the top. The door into the room in which Hermione lay sleeping. Harry couldn’t move.

“No!” he shouted, but no sound came from his lungs.

“No, not Hermione! Leave her alone!” he tried screaming again, but nothing came from his mouth.

“You’re asleep.”

“Leave her alone.”

“She’s ok.”

“Stay away from her!”

“She is safe.”

“Wake up, Harry, come and see her.”

“Leave her alone!”

“Wake up, Harry.”

“Hermione!”

“She’s waking, come and see her. Wake up!”

He was thrown from his sleep, quite literally. He landed on the hard stone floor with a bump. Catching his breath he grabbed for his glasses, missing them by a good foot, then scrambled across to the bedside table, finally finding them and placing them on his nose.

Ron wasn’t in his bed, and Harry assumed he must still be with Hermione. No, what if he was hurt too? He grabbed his robe and tore out of the dorm in bare feet, trying to pull on his robe as he ran down the stairs and out of the common room, the fat lady calling after him that he should be in bed.
He ran down the corridors, leaping from a staircase and landing with a thump as it began to change positions on him. He tripped over his feet so many times he bruised his toes. As he turned into the corridor into the hospital wing, a voice boomed after him.

“What are you doing out of bed? Oh it’s you.” A bitter voice called after him. He ignored Filch, pushing past him. Filch cried out after him. “I’m getting a professor!” Harry barely knew he was there. A minute later he burst into the hospital wing out of breath, his wand in his hand ready for battle. He stood gaping in surprise at the sight before him. Utter tranquillity. Ron was silently stroking Hermione’s face whilst she slept peacefully. The vision made Harry feel weak, but warm. He caught his breath.

“Ron?” Ron turned in a start at the sound of his friend’s voice. “Is she…alright?” he asked breathlessly. Harry saw Ron frown in the moonlight. He nodded, and motioned for Harry to move closer, which he did, moving to the opposite side of the bed to Ron, sitting in an identical chair to his.

“I was asleep. I only just woke up. She seems more peaceful somehow. More alive.” Harry looked at her face. He could see what Ron meant. Even in the pale moonlight, there seemed to be a tad more colour in her cheeks. “I was dreaming.” Ron said thoughtfully, and Harry looked up sharply. “There was something in here, and it touched her. Everything was so quiet. So gentle.” Ron’s voice was distant. Harry was worried. He knew enough about dreams now to know that they weren’t necessarily meaningless. Had something been in here? There had been in his dream. But it hadn’t been a dream. He knew it hadn’t.

“I think there was something in here. I had a dream too.” Ron looked thoughtful.

“She’s ok. It might have been Dumbledore checking on her.”

“Maybe.” Said, Harry though he knew that it hadn’t been. What did the Black Panther mean? Was it symbolic? It was familiar. He returned his attention to the sleeping girl in the bed. She did look peaceful, although unlike this afternoon when he had seen nothing in her face, there was a replenished glow.
“She needs someone to hold her hand” Dumbledore had said. He reached over to her pale hand and covered it with his own. It seemed so small engulfed by his larger hand, and he gave it a gentle squeeze. He frowned. It felt strange. He looked more closely and he could see her hand was formed in a tight fist as if gripping something. He turned it over in his hands and sure enough he could see something wrapped tightly in her fist.

“Ron, what’s this?” But Ron wasn’t paying attention. Harry looked up to see Ron staring intently at Hermione’s face.

“Her hand.” He whispered. Harry frowned again.

“What?” but before he even got the word out he knew what Ron meant. Within the warmth of his own hands, he felt her pale little members stir slightly. Harry gasped.

“You feel it? You feel it too?” asked Ron pleadingly. Harry nodded urgently. The both watched her face expectantly, and sure enough, much to their deepest, deepest joy and relief, her eyes fluttered and a tiny whimper escaped her lips. Ron was in tears, despite himself, and Harry was the same.

“Hermione? Hermione can you hear us?” cried Ron, with joy. Another tiny moan came from the almost conscious girl beside them.

“Oh thank god.”

“Knew you could do it, Hermione. Knew you could.” They both gripped her hands as she slowly began to wake up. They were startled to death when a voice boomed out behind them.

“What are you two doing in here, you should be in your dorms.” Snape was towering over them from the doorway, looking menacing as ever. Neither of them could give a damn about him or anybody. Hermione was ok, and they didn’t care what Snape did to them.

“She’s awake. Professor, she’s awake.” Wept Ron, not caring that Snape was seeing him cry.

“Professor, can you please get Madame Pomfrey?” begged Harry, pleadingly. He expected a fierce reply from Snape, but instead Snape’s face seemed to soften, even relax. Harry thought it was the closest Snape’s face could ever get to looking relieved. Snape turned quickly and disappeared the way he came. Harry and Ron returned their attention to Hermione who had opened her eyes and was staring at them both intensely.

“Hi.” She said, and they laughed with happiness and relief. “Oh, I had the most frightful dream!”

Twenty minutes later Hermione was sitting upright with pillows piled behind her for support. Madam Pomfrey was checking her over and happily, although a little surprised, announced her perfectly healthy. Dumbledore had joined them and Snape stood with the headmaster whispering to him. Harry watched as the pair had a hurried and enthusiastic conversation, casting their eyes over the three students every now and then as if to animate a point they were making. Finally they broke apart. To their surprise it was Snape that spoke.

“Miss Granger, I am relieved you are well. I have never…I have seen this happen before. You are a very lucky young lady.” Hermione looked gob-smacked. To everyone’s (except Dumbledore) surprise she was lively, chirpy and wide-awake jabbering away to anyone who would listen despite Madame Pomfrey’s insistence that she kept quiet.

“Oh!” she suddenly cried out.

“What’s wrong my, dear?” asked Professor Dumbledore.

“How did this get here?” she asked holding something up that glinted and shone in the moonlight. Harry started at it in complete and utter astonishment. It was his Mother’s pendant.

They all stared at it in wonder.

“But how?” asked Harry gaping at it. So that had been what was so tightly held in her hand.

“We’ve been looking for that everywhere!” cried out Ron, who quickly shot a look at Snape. To Harry’s surprise they didn’t receive a nasty comment or even a dirty look from him. Instead Snape was staring intently at the pendant, his eyes wide and hard to read. He looked both mesmerised and terrified. He seemed to falter whenever it shone flecks of light on him. He took a step closer to Hermione and breathed deeper.

“Where did you get that, boy?” he breathed. He didn’t sound angry. He didn’t sound menacing in any way. He sounded in awe.

“I-I-it was my Mother’s.” he stammered. Snape’s eyes widened in an emotion Harry couldn’t read.

“Lily? But she…she never…I never knew.” Snape was close to stammering himself.

“Severus. I think I can handle these children now. Thank you for looking after them.” Announced Dumbledore suddenly. Snape faltered again, and looked halfway towards Professor Dumbledore.

“Very good.” He said slowly then turned to leave. Half way to the door he stopped and looked back. “I’m glad you are well, Miss Granger.”

“Thank you Professor.” She answered gently. With that he swept out of the room with Harry and Ron staring after him.

“Well, I believe all is well for now. Maybe we should leave Hermione to rest now, eh?”

Suggested Dumbledore.

“Oh no, Professor!” cried Hermione. “I want to know what’s been going on and what’s wrong with me! They can’t go yet!” Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at the two boys who looked pleadingly at him.

“Well, keep it calm, ok. I have business to attend to, I shall leave you in their capable hands then Miss Granger.” With that he smiled and left the room. They waited for him to leave earshot and then Hermione turned to her friends.

“Right, I want to know everything.” They looked at each other. They didn’t know where to begin, and so they started from the beginning. Between them the told her about how she had woken them up screaming and had been taken to hospital. Harry told her of Dumbledore’s confidence in her survival, and how Madame Pomfrey hadn’t seemed so sure.
They told her about the nightwraith, causing her to gasp in terror, and how Dumbledore had told Harry that it might still be hanging around, at which Ron’s face went a sickly grey. Harry told her about Dumbledore’s words to him about Snape: that love and hate were closely related and how one could lead to another. She listened with interest, agreeing with Harry that he was trying to tell them something.

They talked nearly all night. They told her how Hagrid had let it slip that the new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher was a witch, and how they had fought with Crabbe and Goyle over the missing pendant, ending up in the headmaster’s office, and a loss of 50 points for their trouble. Hermione had scalded them over this, but had felt bad because the pendant had turned up in her hand.

“But how did I get it?” she asked. Harry shrugged.

“Must have been Dumbledore.” Said Ron, and received confused looks. “Well he didn’t seem too worried when we told him it was missing, did he?” Harry had to admit he hadn’t. Then Harry remembered something Dumbledore had said.

“He said Hermione needed someone to hold her hand, remember Ron? I think he put the pendant in her hand and he was trying to give us a hint. He wanted us to find it.” Hermione looked thoughtful again.

“So he took it from the table in the common room, without anyone seeing him? Everyone was awake that night, you said. Someone would have seen him, and told you.” Harry frowned. She was right…again.

“But he knew it was there in your hand. He must have done it.”

“Ok.” Began Hermione “Say he did put the pendant in my hand…but why?” The all looked at each other and then at the pendant, which she held aloft. Ron shrugged.

“There’s something about it. Neville’s sure he’s seen it before, and did you see Snape’s reaction when he saw it? And when he found out it was your Mother’s…” Ron trailed off. Harry was confused.

“There’s got to be something special about it. Snape knew what it was, Dumbledore definitely knew.” Said Harry. Ron and Hermione nodded.

“You should keep it safe, Harry.” Said Hermione holding it out to him, but he shook his head.

“No, Hermione, you keep it. Dumbledore gave it to you for a reason. I think you should hold on to it for a while.” Ron nodded and took it from Hermione’s hand. He un-did the clasp and Hermione leaned forward for him to place it around her neck. He did up the clasp and smiled as it swung down across her breastbone, glinting in the moonlight.

“See, looks like it belongs there.” Ron smiled at her and she grinned back. Harry glanced at his new watch the Weasleys had given him and saw to his surprise that it was approaching 4 o’clock and the first hint of bluer light was just visible through the window.

“Good job its Saturday tomorrow.” He said, stifling a yawn.

“Well, I guess I should at least some sleep.” Said Ron. Harry realised that Ron hadn’t been to bed at all for the last 48 hours. He’d stayed with Hermione both nights. Hermione smiled and the both kissed each of her cheeks before leaving. Harry noticed Ron’s kiss lingered a good second longer than his had, and he smiled briefly. Hermione settled back down to sleep and Harry and Ron quietly slipped out of the ward. They were both relaxed. Harry was even able to push the idea of the nightwraith loose somewhere out of his mind. So when he suddenly stopped dead next to an open corridor window, gripping Ron’s arm tightly, Ron let out a cry of surprise.

“What is it?” he asked angrily. Harry held out a shaky finger towards the grounds visible through the window and Ron looked where he was pointing. His eyes widened. A black figure was slinking across the dewy grass towards the dark forest: the figure of a large Black Panther.

Krysta · 06-10-2008, 10:30 AM

Chapter 10: The Girl Who Lived (part 1)

They had never seen her eat so much. Harry, Ron, Ginny and a giggling Fred and George stared open-mouthed as she shovelled a pile of maple-syrup pancakes into her mouth, followed by a plate of sausages and bacon, three glasses of orange juice and a bowl of cornflakes.

She had argued profusely with Madame Pomfrey that morning who had tried to insist that she stayed in bed for the day. But Hermione walked tall and strong into the Great Hall at 8:15 much to the astonishment and delight of her friends. Whispers followed her all the way to her seat and when she sat down, heads turned and the whispering turned to a low murmur that spread through out the enormous room. She ignored them and immediately began helping herself to food, accompanied by claps on the back from the closest Gryffindor students. There was even a level of buzz from the teacher’s table that morning as they all glanced in her direction and whispered amongst themselves. Snape was the only one not whispering. He simply watched their section of the Gryffindor table with interest. Not the usual vehemence and contempt, but with a strange expression of contemplation. He caught Harry’s eye and held the gaze until Harry looked away, uncomfortable with the man’s strange, almost nice, behaviour of late. Seeing the pendant, now around Hermione’s neck, had shaken him up, that much was evident. But why? It meant something to him, something terrible or tragic. He had been completely overwhelmed last night.

Harry’s attention was pulled away by a giggling Ginny who was doing well for breakfast herself. She’d managed to put away the same number of pancakes as Hermione and even managed some cereal. He turned to see what she was laughing at to see Hermione with a plastered face, and Ron trying to help her clean it with a napkin. The twins were in fits and the sight of the usually pristine Hermione covered in traces of her breakfast was so funny he joined in the laughter and all thoughts of Snape were pushed from his mind. They were all laughing now, including Hermione, and laughing so hard that some of the whispering students around them turned to watch in surprise. I felt good to laugh. Harry could feel the tension that had built up over the last couple of days begin to ebb away.

Hermione was famous. And not just in Gryffindor, indeed, not just in Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Oh no. When the Owl Post arrived that morning, they were in for a surprise. A large brown owl dropped a heavy edition of the Daily Prophet into Ron’s plate and they stared at it in surprise, because as they unrolled it and spread it out on the table so they could all read, Hermione gaped in shock, and Ron said a simple, characteristic:

“Cool.” The headline shouted out at them in large-bold letter:

Extra! Exrtra! Girl Survives Nightwraith Attack

They stared at in wonder, Hermione leaning closer to read the article.

Hermione Granger, 5th year student at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry made history last night by surviving a violent attack by a legendary Nightwraith. This is only the 5th known attack by one of these deadly, and dark creatures reported in Great Britain in the last 500 years and no record of survival has ever been made.

Miss Granger is a close friend of the also legendary Harry Potter and of the youngest son of Arthur Weasley of the Ministry of Magic.

The reason for the attack on Miss Granger is yet unknown and the Headmaster Of Hogwarts, Professor Albus Dumbledore was unavailable for comment this morning.

However her links with the famous Mister Potter have prompted us down here at The Prophet to nickname her, quite appropriately, “The Girl Who Lived.”

Hermione snorted at that last comment, but the others were laughing at it, especially Harry. Ron however looked a little put out. Harry didn’t know why, he had been mentioned in the report after all. The level of whispering in the Great Hall had risen so dramatically, it was difficult to hear each other speak.

“That’s so silly.” Hermione retorted, throwing the parchment across the table, where it was caught by Ginny who continued to read the rest of the three-page article.

“Not really, Hermione. No one has ever survived an attack like that before.” Fred explained.

“It’s really quite a big deal. Nightwraiths are feared the world over.” Added George. Hermione folded her arms across her chest and looked defiant.

“But calling me that, it’s pathetic.” She scoffed.

“Ah, c’mon, you’re loving every second.” Said Ron, with a mild grin. She rounded on him.

“That’s not true, Ron! And if you knew me, you’d know that having my name in the paper just because I got lucky, is not my idea of fun.” She barked at him, and Harry noticed the hurt in his face and the way his shoulders hunched over at her words.

“I’d hardly say it was luck.” Called Angelina, who had been listening from three places up the table. “I’ve read about those creatures. They’re of the darkest magic, and very powerful. Something extremely powerful saved you the other night.” She smiled at Hermione who was beginning to realise just how big a deal this was, and looked uncertainly at her friends.

“What else does the article say?” Ron asked Ginny, who looked up and shrugged.

“Not much. Talks about what an excellent student Hermione is, but how she survived is still a mystery… bla bla bla.” Ginny rolled up the parchment and tucked it into her robes.

“Good job Rita Skeeter didn’t get hold of this story.” Said Harry and Hermione snorted again.

“Well, she has to be a good girl if she knows what’s good for her.” Said Hermione with a sly grin.

“Hang on a minute. You haven’t still got her in that jar, have you?” asked Ron suspiciously and Harry sniggered. Hermione had shut Rita Skeeter the tabloid journalist in a glass jar to teach her a lesson. Hermione had discovered that she had been spying on people illegally to get a good story and that she was an illegal animagus in the form of a beetle. Hermione had trapped her in her beetle form and threatened to reveal her secret if she didn’t agree to only write the truth for at least a year.

“Of course not. She’s just…taking a little break from writing for a while.” She grinned back slyly at them, and they giggled.

Back in the common room, they crowded into the sofas around the fire once more and talked. Between them they told Fred and George about the events of the last two days and filled Ginny in on bits she’d missed. Harry thought about telling them about his dreams. Seeing the Black Panther in the grounds had jogged his memory: the village on the ceiling. Sirius, and a Black Panther. He hadn’t told Ron yet. He hadn’t told him about the dream he’d had last night either: the one that had led him to Hermione’s side in the first place. The dark, stone corridors and the room that had hummed with magic: the great stone slab with strange, unfamiliar writing. He didn’t want to tell them here, not with Fred and George listening. He’d wait until he could get Ron and Hermione alone.

Around 2 o’clock the three of them left the common room to visit Hagrid. It had been Hermione’s idea. She hadn’t spoken to him since the day they arrived, and even then she’d been rather anti-social.

Eyes and whispering followed them all the way through the castle and across the grounds to Hagrid’s hut. The news of Hermione’s miraculous recovery seemed to have reached every corner of the school and even the first years were staring in awe of her.

Hagrid swept her into his arms and cried all over her the moment he opened the door. She was practically gasping for air by the time he put her down. She stumbled to a chair and sat down looking dazed. Soon the four of them were holding cups of tea and pretending to nibble Hagrid’s rock cakes. Hagrid listened intently to their stories of the last day. He scalded them over the business with Crabbe and Goyle but Harry couldn’t help but notice the sly glint in his eye showing he actually found it quite funny. When Hagrid was up to speed and pouring out more tea for them all, Harry cleared his throat and began to speak.

“Listen there’s some stuff I’ve been meaning to tell you guys.”

They all turned to listen. Harry launched into the full story. The village on the ceiling, the red sphere in the Arinella, the dream he had last night and the panther he’d seen crossing the school grounds.

“I saw it too.” Added Ron, when Hagrid raised a questioning eyebrow.

“So…does it mean anything to anyone?” Hermione shook a confused head and Hagrid shrugged.

“I’d love to know what that room was, the one in your dream. I wonder what the writing was, could you draw any for us?” asked Hermione. Harry shook his head and Hermione looked disappointed.

“You said they were symbols?” asked Hermione and Harry nodded.

“Yeah, but I didn’t recognise them.”

“Well, were they sort of eastern like Chinese or Japanese, or more like hieroglyphics?” Harry shrugged.

“I really don’t know. I don’t think they were Eastern. It would have looked familiar. And I don’t think it was Egyptian either.” He said thinking back to an old primary school project about the ‘Valley Of The Kings’.

“Try to describe it.” Hermione prodded. He thought hard.

“They were like sticks. Arranged in patterns.” He finally concluded. Hermione seemed to be thinking because she squinted, which was a particular trait when her brain was hard at work.

“Well, it sounds like it could have been runic. How you described the room doesn’t fit though. Runes haven’t been used for centuries, the Vikings used them, and the room you described sounded from the last thousand years.” Harry frowned and Ron raised his eyebrows.

“What about this panther then? We know that’s real, even if it did appear in Harry’s dream.” Said Ron and Harry looked at Hagrid.

“You know anything about a Black Panther, Hagrid?”

“Me? Oh I don’t know much about anythin’.” he answered awkwardly and the others watched him suspiciously. “Oh, blimey is that the time? I got lesson plans ter be doing.” He babbled, changing the subject. He scrabbled a load of sticks into a pile and threw them into a basket.

“What have we got in store for us this year?” asked Hermione, a little scared of what the answer might be. Hagrid chortled to himself.

“Well, you’re jus’ gonna have te wait an’ see.” He grinned and they looked at each other with nervous apprehension. The got up to leave Hagrid to his apparent work, but Harry stopped partway through the door.

“Hagrid, you were around when my parents were at school. I know the story about the practical joke played on Professor Snape. But my Father had nothing to do with it. Why does Snape hate him so much?” he asked watching Hagrid’s face for a reaction. Hagrid’s eyes narrowed and then softened.

“Well, ‘arry. I suppose jealousy played its part. Snape was a very proud man. He hated to be bettered. Hated to come second to anything or anyone. And when it comes to love…” he paused in thought “…I guess love just makes us do crazy things.” He said quietly. Harry was only half surprised by the answer.

“That’s what Professor Dumbledore told me.” He said slowly. Hagrid’s face softened again and he smiled briefly.

“Wise man is Dumbledore. A wise man, indeed.”

“Why won’t he tell us what’s going on?” said Ron crossly. Harry looked angry too.

“It’s extremely frustrating.” Agreed Hermione, scowling. They were in the library. Hermione had several large and old books out and was making Harry look through them to see if he recognised any of the old scriptures as the writing in his dream. One by one, Harry shook his head, but Hermione was on a mission and kept disappearing to return with yet another ancient book. He was just shaking his head again when she disappeared off again, coming back with an old and very thick book bound in burgundy leather that despite its age was still tough and soft.

“Try this one.” She said excitedly dropping the huge book down on the table with a deafening thump that echoed around the library. Madam Pince gave them a warning look and Hermione mouthed an apologetic ‘sorry’ to her. The grouchy little woman scowled and went about her business. Harry grinned at Ron who sniggered silently and he carefully opened the huge leather-bound book. The pages were of ancient, thick and yellowed parchment, which had gone almost rigid with age. Harry was extremely careful when turning the pages for fear of snapping one. He ignored the publisher’s page. If he had taken any notice, he’d have seen that it was entirely handwritten and that there wasn’t actually a publisher so much as a list of contributories. He turned straight to the title Page: Crimporius de Argunia: Accrina Sortium das Runes
Harry looked Blankly at Hermione who rolled her eyes in dismay.

“It’s an ancient book about Runic scripture.” She told him in exasperation.

“Oh, yeah obviously.” He said looking at Ron who was rolling his eyes. Harry flipped a few pages over to find paragraphs and paragraphs of ancient writing in a language that wasn’t English, French, Italian, Latin or any other he recognised.

“It’s Aguilian, if you’re wondering.” Hermione announced in her authoritive manner. Harry and Ron looked at in complete ignorance and she made a ‘tutting’ noise to signify her disgust at their lack of knowledge on the subject.

“Well you read it then.” Said Harry in annoyance at being made to feel stupid again. Hermione flushed and looked annoyed herself.

“I can’t.” she said in a low voice. Ron’s face lit up in a mighty grin.

“You can’t read it Hermione?” he asked with a smirk on his face.

“Well where was I supposed to learn it? They don’t exactly teach it in primary school you know!” she retorted again, receiving another scowl from Madam Pince.

“What’s Primary school?” asked Ron.

“Muggle School for under 11’s.” Harry told him, a slight grin on his face.

“Ok, so what do we do?” Ron said trying to stop grinning. Hermione was looking particularly cheesed off. Only a few hours ago she had been lying in a hospital bed barely clinging on to life, and it hurt that it hadn’t taken them long to start teasing her again. Ron seemed to have caught on to this and put his arm around her.

“Sorry Herm, old girl. We’re just so glad to have you back. We’d be lost without you around. Especially when it comes to something like this. We wouldn’t know where to start.” He smiled at her gently and eventually she smiled back.

“Yeah, we’re just jealous, that’s all.” Added Harry, catching on.

“Ok…I’ll, erm, go see if the got one in English.” They waited for her to go out of earshot before speaking.

“Wouldn’t it have made sense to look for an English one in the first place?” asked Harry. Ron grinned. A couple of minutes later she returned carrying a much smaller black leather bound book with silver writing on the spine and front cover:

The Complete Runic Works and Scripture: A language defined and understood.

Harry was much happier with this one. The pages were fresh and easy to turn, and the writing was clear and easy to read. The runic alphabet and symbols were displayed at the beginning of the very first chapter, and as soon as Harry saw it, he pointed to the page in earnest.

“That’s it.” He said confidently. “That’s the writing on the stone.” Hermione beamed in triumph and Ron looked closely at the marking in the book.

“Looks like just a bunch of lines to me.” He said.

“Well, Ron, you’re right. That’s exactly what they are.” Grinned Hermione. Ron raised his eyes in surprise. Hermione saying he was right about something academic was a rarity.

“Cool. So what letter corresponds to which group of lines?” he asked trying to sound all interested.

“Well it doesn’t work that way. Each symbol has a special meaning or represents something in life. For example this one refers to the Human race as a whole, or an individual person.” She told them pointing to the first symbol. The thing with Runes, is that each one can have a number of meanings or definitions, and how it’s translated has to be taken into account with the other runes its placed with. See here…” she flipped through the pages. “…The book explains what each symbol means and how it can be interpreted in different ways. And if you turn these 21 symbols upside down, they have more meanings still. If you turn the symbol for Joy, meaning fruitful and without sorrow, upside down it changes it’s meaning to a hard time and slow growth.”

“No wonder they stopped using them, it’s far too complicated. “ said Ron staring at the symbols on the pages before them.

“You can tell a fuller story with fewer characters.” Hermione added and Harry looked at the pages with interest. “The question is, what was it you saw in your dream?” Harry shrugged apologetically.

“I really couldn’t tell you. It was a dream, y’know.” Hermione looked disappointed but nodded in understanding.

Harry was just turning back to the runic symbols to see whether he recognised any of them when an excited voice called out from behind him.

“Harry! I’ve been looking for you everywhere…well since this afternoon anyway, you’ll never guess what!” They all turned in surprise to see Sharon Casey approaching them, her hair flying all over the place. She took a seat next to Harry immediately and a bemused Ron moved some books out of the way for her. Hermione however looked a little Peeved to say the least.

“Hi, Sharon. How are you finding Hogwarts?” she beamed at him and he grinned back. It was so good to see her again, and she looked so much bigger than he remembered her. She’d only been 6 when he last saw her, and scared of everything that moved, thanks to her bully of a brother. Now she was a confident and outgoing eleven year old, with a pretty little round face.

“Oh I haven’t seen much of it, I’m afraid. I’ve been taking tests!” The all gaped at her.

“What? Why? You’re a first year and classes haven’t even started yet!” cried Hermione and received yet another piercing look from Madam Pince.

“Hey you’re Hermione Granger!” cried Sharon in delight a huge excited smile spreading across her already pink cheeks. “This is so cool!” By now Madam Pince had had enough and came striding over to their table.

“Right, you lot, OUT!” they knew better than to argue so they gathered their things, left the books on the sorting trolley and escorted a still excited Sharon out of the library.

Krysta · 06-10-2008, 10:31 AM

Chapter 10: Part 2

The afternoon was still pleasant and warm so they went outside and lounged on the grass by the lake.

“So what was it like? Surviving a Nightwraith! Wow!” Sharon was still excited and Hermione looked a little uncomfortable, but Harry couldn‘t help but get the feeling that Hermione was indeed enjoying this.

“Well I don’t really remember much…” began Hermione, but was cut off by Sharon.

“Wow, really? Of course you were asleep having your soul wrenched from you, so I guess it can’t be easy to remember.” She giggled and looked at Hermione in awe. “You must be a really great witch then. Of course I’ve seen your record and stuff, you’re like the best witch in your year!” she cried. Hermione was blushing now and Ron looked a little miserable. Harry watched him with concern. What could be bothering him?

“Well, you know, I work hard.” Hermione said, trying to be modest.

“Of course you do, you’re committed!” Sharon told her, beaming. Harry smiled to him self with relief when Hermione returned the smile with sincerity, and he could tell that the reservations she had had about Sharon were past. Ron however was looking more miserable by the second.

“Sharon, how do you know about Nightwraiths? Did one of the other students tell you?” asked Harry, realising that the whole world of magic didn’t seem to be totally foreign to Sharon, and he began wondering exactly what she’d been doing for the last two years.

“Oh no, my aunt told me about them years ago!” she replied as if it had been a silly question. Harry stared at her in surprise.

“Sharon, exactly how long have you known that you’re a witch?” he asked suspiciously.

“All my life of course.” She answered laughing. Harry was gob-smacked. “You should see your face, Harry.” She said, laughing again.

“But we were friends for years!” he exclaimed.

“I know! I was so frustrating, not being to tell you who you were, you being so famous an’ all. And I couldn’t tell anyone that I knew you or where you were or anything. My Aunt ordered it the moment she discovered I knew you. She looks after me.” She told them all. “My Mother died when me and Stephen were born. My Dad looked after us when we were kids, but I spent most of the time with my Aunt in Romania. She knows Dumbledore you know, which is why I was taking these tests.” She told them all.

“My brother works in Romania.” Said Ron, but was drowned out by Hermione.

“Oh yes, tell us about these tests.” Said an intrigued Hermione. Ron looked over across the lake and remained quiet. There was obviously something really wrong with him, but he couldn’t for the life of him think what it was.

“Ooh, it’s so cool! I’m a second year now!” cried Sharon, so excited she was bobbing up and down in her cross-legged sitting position. They all, including Ron, stared at her.

“What are you talking about?” asked Harry, utterly confused.

“I’ve just taken some first year exams and passed them, and I’ve been moved up into the second year.” She laughed at all their astounded faces.

“B-b-b-b…” was all Harry managed, and the girl giggled again.

“You see, because I finished primary school two years early and couldn’t go straight to Hogwarts, I went back to Romania with my aunt. Like I said, she knows Dumbledore and they did a deal. He said that if my aunt taught me at home for two years, then I could try out the first year exams and move up into the second year, instead of starting the first.” They all watched with awe. “My aunt wanted me to go into the 3rd year, but Professor Dumbledore said no, that I should stay with kids more my own age. So here I am.”

She finished and looked around for a response. She got none. They were all doing a very good impression of having been ‘petrified’. Finally Hermione managed to speak.

“I can’t believe the Ministry allowed that. A witch to be trained out of school.” She said.

“Oh it’s not that uncommon. My Aunt was like me, apparently. She was even smarter! She started in the 2nd year too. My Grandmother taught her from home. And as for the Ministry, it’s really Dumbledore’s decision.” She explained to them.

“Wow. Your aunt must be an amazing witch.” Commented Harry.

“Oh she is. She’s incredible. She doesn’t even need a wand!” answered the girl, a distinct tone of pride in her voice.

“Dumbledore’s like that.” Announced Hermione.

“Cool. He’s just the most incredible wizard in the world, though!” said Sharon and they all had to nod in agreement to that, even Ron. He had remained silent throughout the entire conversation. Hermione and Sharon had started chatting away about life at Hogwarts, and Hermione was telling her about the second year and what sort of thing she’d be doing. Harry was delighted to see that Hermione had taken very much to Sharon. He was worried that the proud girl might be a bit jealous of the genius Sharon. Sharon was just reassuring Hermione that she must still be a wonderful witch to have achieved what she had in the past 5 years.

“Books alone cannot make you a gifted spell-caster – it was something that was inside you. Someone could study everyday and practise over and over and not manage to turn a teapot into a quaffle, just because they don’t have the gift. But you, Hermione…” the conversation went more or less like that, Harry left them to it. He was more worried about Ron. In a low voice he asked him what was up. Ron shrugged and turned away.

“C’mon, mate, what’s up?” he asked again. Ron let out a deep but quiet sigh.

“I just feel like I’m…so…ordinary.” He finally answered, keeping his voice low enough for the girls not to hear. Harry’s eyes widened in surprise. “I mean, your little friend there is brain of Britain, Hermione’s the “Girl who lived”…” he said making inverted comma signs with his fingers “…and you, well, you’re Harry Potter.” He concluded and looked at the ground, sorry for himself. “And me? I just average old Ron Weasley, the famous person’s sidekick.” He muttered. Harry didn’t know what to say. Ron was so wrong, but he didn’t know how to tell him. Ron was no less special than Harry. He’d gone through nearly all the same things Harry had, got pretty much the same test scores and the only real difference was that people knew Harry’s name. But Harry didn’t know how to tell him that. Luckily, he didn’t have to.

“Did you say you’re Ron Weasley?” asked a wide-eyed Sharon.

“Er, yeah.” He answered, a little surprised. Sharon gasped.

“Cool!” she exclaimed and the others looked at her in surprise, especially Ron. “You’re like my hero!” she cried and everyone stared at her. Ron was utterly speechless.

“Ay?” was all he could manage.

“You’re the chess guy! You’re so cool! You’re like the best chess player in the world! You must be to have beaten one of Professor McGonagall’s spells. My aunt told me all about it. Gosh, you must be so brave. I heard you sacrificed yourself to win the game! Is that true?” asked an eager Sharon, her eyes dancing with excitement.

“Well er…” began a nervous and taken-aback Ron. Hermione spoke up for him.

“You bet he did! He was so brave. It was the only way Harry and I could get through to the next chamber and search for the Sorcerer’s stone. He was so brave.” Ron had gone so red now and Harry noticed he and Hermione had caught each other’s eye. He was smiling gently at him. His face relaxed and the tension went out of him. “Oh yeah, definitely something going on.” Harry thought to himself, smiling slightly. Ron had cheered up considerably, and they spent the hour around dusk telling Sharon all about everything that had happened over the last two months and she listened with avid interest. She nodded and gasped when she heard about the Knight Bus and the strange letters, and fascinated with the pendant, which Hermione showed her, as it was still around her neck. She was transfixed by it. Hermione took it off to show her, and Sharon held it up gazing at it intently as it glistened in the evening sun. It was the quietest she’d been all afternoon.

They told her all about Malfoy, what he was like and how he’d disappeared. She’d seemed thoughtful about that, but didn’t make any comment. Then the bit she was most excited about, the terrible events of two nights ago when the Nightwraith had attacked Hermione. Ron, yet again seemed slightly on edge, and watched Hermione very closely all through the retelling of the story as though scared she might still collapse right there in front of him. Harry had been telling the story and when he came to the part about the dreams and the panther a strange look came on Sharon’s face that Harry couldn’t read. And when he told her that he and Ron had seen the panther in these very grounds they now sat in, she looked positively shocked.

“Don’t worry. Dumbledore isn’t going to let a nasty great big cat hurt anyone inside Hogwarts.” Hermione assured her, and Sharon smiled weakly. Harry finished the story with how she had awoken and how everyone was now calling her “The Girl Who Lived.”, and they all laughed a little.

“But honestly, I don’t know what the big deal is.” Announced Hermione, and Ron looked sharply at her. Harry thought he looked angry, but that couldn’t be right, surely. “I mean, ok, I was unconscious and all, but I was fine. I’m just glad I woke up before lessons started!” she finished, as if that would be far more terrible than not waking up at all. To Harry’s and everyone else’s surprise, Ron suddenly got hastily to his feet. He looked livid.

“You don’t get it do you? You just don’t get it. How can you be so selfish!” he cried angrily at Hermione who just stared at him completely shocked. “We thought you were dying! I held you in my arms and I thought you were dying! I thought that it was the end, that I’d never see you again. But you don’t think do you? Not about us, not what we were going through. It’s always the same, you and your…your bloody academic record!” with that he turned on his heel and stormed across the field towards the castle, not one looking back. Harry thought about following him, but didn’t know what he’d say if he caught up with him. He turned to Hermione who was looking at the daisy-covered grass nervously, fighting back a lump in her throat. Sharon looked bewildered. Harry couldn’t speak, though he knew what he wanted to say. Sharon said it for him.

“Boy! He really likes you!”

Ron wasn’t at dinner when they went in at 7 o’clock, and he didn’t come down during the meal. Hermione and Harry sat silently, Hermione miserably eating her way through her meal, Harry hardly eating at all. It wasn’t that he wasn’t hungry, or even that he was upset and couldn’t eat. He was just so lost in thought that he didn’t get around to eating.

Ginny watched them both curiously while Fred and George were too busy whispering with Lee Jordan to notice.

Harry didn’t really know what to do and Hermione obviously didn’t want to talk about it. She kept her head down and avoided eye contact throughout the meal and Harry left her to it. She was in a difficult position. He wanted to ask her how she felt. He wanted to tell her what Ron had been like when she had been unconscious. Waiting up all hours, hardly leaving her side, frantic with worry and unable to eat. But he felt as though if he did, he would somehow be betraying a kind of trust to Ron. It was a man thing. You just didn’t talk about those things. They were private. Harry had noticed for himself that he could only talk about those kinds of thing with Hermione, and more recently, Ginny. They were things you could say to a girl, but not with another bloke, because Harry had come to notice that as well as good talkers girls could be good listeners too. Harry could talk to Ron about almost anything: his secrets, about Voldemort, about Sirius, almost anything private. But things like this? No. He could never really talk to Ron about his feelings for Cho, and what worried him more recently: his new growing feelings for Ginny. He’d tried to ignore them and pretend they weren’t there, or that maybe one some deeper level, some kind of guilty feelings about the way he ignored her for so long before noticing she’d grown up. But last night when she’d been holding the Arinella, the tiny red sphere battering against the sides of the crystal at her, he had realised it. His best friend’s little sister or not, he was falling for her. Slowly, though he had to admit, it was there all the same, and he didn’t know what to do about it. He couldn’t tell Ron. He had his own problems with love and besides, Ginny wasn’t just some girl, she was his little sister. That made a difference. He was stuck. Completely stuck. He let his mind go else where and realised that the situation between Hermione and Ron was a far more pressing subject in the here and now.

His thoughts were cut short when people started leaving the Great Hall and he was one of the only few left. He hadn’t even noticed Hermione leave the table so when she tapped him on the shoulder he jumped and turned to see Sharon had joined her.

“We’re going to the library.” Hermione announced.

“We wondered if that Pendant of your Mothers might be famous or something. Everyone but us seems to recognise it, so it might be in a book or something.” Added Sharon a little more brightly than Hermione. Hermione was still avoiding eye contact, and Harry felt a little hurt. It wasn’t like he had yelled at her.

“You coming with us?” asked Hermione, flicking her hair over her shoulder in a defiant manner. Harry shook his head.

“I’m gonna…go check something else out.” He said, not wanting to say that he was going to go and find Ron.

Ten minutes later Harry gave the password and entered the common room. It was practically seething with life. He had almost forgotten that classes started tomorrow, and everyone had gathered to chat and discuss their timetables. Timetables! Harry had forgotten to get his. He was just beginning to panic when a voice spoke behind him.

“I thought perhaps you guys would have forgotten to pick these up, what with everything that’s happened.” Harry turned to see Neville holding out two sheets of white paper, a faint smile on his face. Harry took the timetables from him.

“Oh, thanks Neville, you’re a life-saver!” Harry was extremely relieved. He really hadn’t fancied facing McGonagall right now.

“No problem.” Harry was about to turn and leave. “Er, Harry?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m, er, glad Hermione’s ok. She…she was always kind to me.” Harry smiled and Neville returned it.

“By the way, have you seen Ron?” Harry asked. Neville looked thoughtful.

“Well he isn’t in the dorm.”

“You looking for our darling brother?” came a new voice, Harry turned to see Fred and George sitting at a desk with Angelina and Alicia. The girls waved with a friendly smile and he waved back.

“I saw Ron heading outdoors. God knows why, it’ll be dark soon.” Said Alicia, brightly. Harry thanked her and left the common room.

In the huge lobby, he crossed from the corridor and approached the huge oak doors, lost in thought.

“Where are you going?” It was Filch, grouchy as ever with Mrs. Norris circling his feet.

Harry wasn’t in the mood for this, and besides, he was a 5th year and it was none of Filch’s business where he was going.

“Outside. What’s it to you?” he answered gruffly. Filch looked shocked for a second before the anger set in.

“You watch your lip, lad. You think you’re untouchable, that’s your problem. Going outside, you say? If I were Dumbledore I’d be putting curfews up for everyone, even the famous Mr. Potter. Dangerous times, lad, and one of these days, he’ll catch up with you. Mark my words, ‘e’ will.” Harry snorted, and tuned to leave. “Think you’re invincible do you? There were more than you that thought so, and they’s dead, lad.” Harry had had enough and the anger was getting out of control.

“If I wanted advice, I’d ask someone who knows what they’re talking about, not some grubby Squib, like you.” He hissed back and marched out of the door. Filch must have been shocked into silence, because no bellows of fury and pounding feet followed him, just an eerie silence. Harry sped up and hurried around the corner in case he got over the state of shock and decided to follow.

The great Hogwarts grounds stretched out towards the forest to his right, the great lake behind him on the other side of the castle. Hagrid’s hut was just visible at the edge of the forest, the smoke as ever puffing out of the tiny chimney. Harry could just see a faint light glowing within the cabin, which in the summer dusk looked warm and cosy. The sky had painted itself in hazy strips of peach and purple clouds against the fading blue sky. Far away across the across the lake, the horizon sky was already a deep indigo dotted with two or three faint stars. The huge lawn glowed a dull gold, which contrasted with the early evening shadows giving the place an eerie atmosphere much like a partial eclipse gives the day. Birds had stopped singing and as one flew high in the air above his head, Harry looked up to watch it soar across the ever-changing sky. It was a bird of prey, a small one, not the like the Eagles they occasionally saw flying through the highlands. The bird swooped lower then hovered perfectly in one place it’s wings fluttering at tremendous speed. He watched it in wonder as it hung in mid-air then suddenly swooped in an instant to the ground. Almost as quickly as it had dove, it climbed back into the sky again soaring high. It flew above the castle circling one of the towers. And then to Harry utmost astonishment, it flew straight through a window and into the castle. He stood gaping at it feeling as though he must be seeing things.

His attention was quickly drawn away when he realised he was actually out here for a particular reason. But where should he even start to look? Where would Ron go? To see Hagrid? Harry thought maybe Ron wouldn’t go to see Hagrid, not by himself. Maybe he’d gone to the lake, but Harry didn’t fancy going back the way he’d come, for fear of meeting Filch again. He was determined to find him though. He glanced towards the forest and shivered. Despite the warm gold glow on everything else, the forest was dark and full of shadow. What lurked in there? He shivered again just at the thought of the creatures he knew resided within those trees. Yet something was drawing him in. He felt his feet moving, but it didn’t really register. Harry was slowly walking towards the forest. It was drawing him. Calling. A wave swept through his mind, heavy and foggy, drifting through him.

“’arry! What yer doin’?” the voice startled him. He looked around to see Hagrid with Fang at his side, both watching him curiously. Harry frowned.

“Looking for Ron. Have you seen him?” Hagrid looked sharply at him.

“No, I ain’t seen ‘im…but I doubt you’ll be findin’ ‘im in there.” Harry frowned and looked in the direction Hagrid pointed. Harry was shocked to find that he had strayed a good 10 meters right into the forest. He hadn’t even noticed, hadn’t even planned to come this way. He looked down at the ferns and ground crawlers growing around his feet in surprise.

“I…I…what am I doing here?” Hagrid raised an eyebrow beneath the dark bushy hair.

“Well, if you don’t know, your guess is as good as mine.”

“Right. I…erm…what?”

“You alright, ‘arry?” asked Hagrid with concern and suspicion.

“I…er…don’t know. I didn’t even mean to come this way…I was going in the other direction.”

“Well…you got an awful funny way o’ goin’ about it. You want a cup a tea?” Hagrid offered.

“No, I better go and find Ron. Thanks Hagrid.”

They said their goodbyes and Harry made his way back across the grass to the castle paths. He was just wondered what on earth had happened when he rounded the corner. The view from here was always beautiful, but in the warm glow of the evening sun it was truly lovely. The grass-covered hill sloped down and away from Hogwarts, rabbits grazing happily in family groups and one or two rooks pecked at the ground for insects. As one flew off, cawing as it went he watched it fly over the goal posts at the far end of the huge Quidditch pitch. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw that the huge black bird was not alone in this venture. Two black figures swooped and dived around the pitch like they were birds themselves. He squinted and could just tell that they both had red hair. The twins, maybe having a little practise session? But they had been in the common room just 15 minutes earlier. He continued walking getting gradually closer and closer to the pitch. Eventually, and to his mild surprise, he discovered that the two figures flying so gracefully and skilfully about the pitch were Ron and Ginny. He could hear their laughter and their shouts as they jested each other. As he drew closer still one of the figures, Ginny pointed in his direction and waved frantically, then yelled with annoyance when Ron snatched the Quaffle from her. Both laughing they glided to a halt a few feet from the ground and hovered and Harry crossed the pitch to them.

“Hi.” Called Ginny, a little out of breath but grinning.

“Hi.” He grinned back and was relieved when Ron returned the grin. He’d obviously calmed down a lot.

“Well, I’m done practising for tonight.” Announced Ginny bringing her broom to the ground and offering to Harry. She winked and he caught her meaning. He smiled and took the offered broom.

“See you later.” She called and jogged off across the field. Harry watched her go his gaze lingering a little longer than necessary until he remembered Ron was there and quickly looked away again. He felt the broom in his hand. It was a Hogwarts broom and much heavier than his beloved Firebolt. He mounted it anyway and slightly shakily flew up to meet Ron.

“Hi.” Said Ron, a slight smile spread across his face as he watched Harry adjusting to the broom. “Not a patch on the Firebolt, huh?” Harry grinned in response.

“A bad flyer always blames the broom.” Said Harry as the broom teetered again, sending Ron into chuckles, which Harry joined in. As Harry eventually found a comfortable balance he regarded Ron carefully. Was it safe to delve into the situation? He decided to anyway.

“So…” he began, then realised he had no idea what to say or how t6o start this. There was a pause.

“So…” repeated Ron. Another pause.

“You ok?” asked Harry carefully. Ron shrugged. He paused before answering in a low, sad voice.

“Not really, no.” Harry looked at him in surprise. He hadn’t expected that answer. It was obvious there was something wrong of course, Ron was his friend after all, but he hadn’t expected Ron to own up just like that.

“You…wanna talk?” he asked cautiously. Again a silence and a shrug.

“I just don’t know what to do about it.” He finally said. Harry looked at him again, but Ron was looking away across the hills.

“Do about what?” asked Harry, suspecting he knew, but wanting to be sure. There was a longer pause, followed by a deep sigh from Ron. Harry thought he was probably building up the courage to say something. After what seemed like an age, he spoke.

“About the way I feel for her.”

Harry stared at Ron wide-eyed. Again, he hadn’t expected Ron to just come out with it like that without any prodding at all. He realised in that moment that Ron hadn’t just grown up on the outside, but that he had become mature as a person. He was in awe of him in that moment. Envied him almost. Harry didn’t know what to say. Ron had got right to the root of the problem.

“How exactly do you feel?” he asked quietly. He thought he’d have to wait for the answer again but again, Ron surprised him.

“Oh probably a bit like how you feel for my sister.” Harry stared at Ron in shock, and swallowed back a nervous lump in his throat. Ron laughed.

“It’s ok. I don’t mind. I know you’d never deliberately hurt her. Besides…she’s a big girl now.” Harry felt a little more relieved. He had been petrified of what Ron’s reaction would be if he found out about Harry’s growing feelings for Ginny.

“What about Hermione?” he asked slowly. Almost immediately Ron answered in a certain though sad voice.

“I’m in love with her, Harry.”

It was Harry’s turn for silence. He didn’t know what to say. Ron continued talking instead, and Harry let him.

“When she…that night…” he looked at Harry for confirmation and Harry nodded solemnly. “I thought she was dying. I thought…that was it. That she would never be around anymore. No more nagging us when we’re heading into trouble, no more quotes from ‘Hogwarts: A History’, no more saving our lives with a simple spell we hadn’t bothered to learn ourselves, no more evil scowls when we wind her up…” he paused, then continued in a softer voice “No more of her making me feel better about myself, no more of her insane determination and her irrational impulsiveness. She never gives up, have you noticed?” Harry smiled. “And…the way she pouts when she’s nervous, chews her hair when she’s thinking hard. I knew I’d miss them so much I felt so sick. Physically sick. I felt like my gut was being wrenched from me.” He paused again, and Harry realised something. Some of the things Ron had described, Harry had never noticed. Had Ron always watched her that closely? He made a mental note to pay more attention to her. And to Ginny. He already felt like he’d missed so much.

“I thought maybe…maybe I had feelings for her last year. The whole thing with Krum…” he trailed off and Harry nodded. He knew exactly what Ron meant. “But I didn’t take it seriously. And then this summer…I dunno, something happened. I guess I woke up. Giving you the Arinella with her felt really good. Technically you know it was from her. She really wanted to get it, but just couldn’t afford it, so I said we’d get it together. She saw it as a favour from a friend…but it was more. I guess she never realised.” Harry frowned.

“You never know. You don’t know how she feels?” Harry asked. Ron sighed deeply.

“She doesn’t love me, Harry. Not in that way. I’ll always just be…Ron.”

They were both silent for a while. Harry hated to say it out loud, but he couldn’t help feeling that Ron could be right. Girls were difficult to read, but he really hadn’t seen any behaviour from Hermione that suggested she had feelings for Ron. And in that moment, above all the other feelings he had about everything that had happened over the last two months, all Harry felt was pity for his friend. He’d once heard it said that there was nothing worse than unrequited love. The expression on Ron’s face strongly suggested that this was probably true.

Later as they were making their way back to the castle, Ron pointed up into the sky and cried out.

“Hey! Isn’t that a Silver Kestrel?” Harry followed Ron’s gaze to see the bird of prey he’d observed earlier flying in through a Castle window. A Silver Kestrel? The same kind of creature Mr. Weasley had told them delivered all the mysterious letters. They both watched in wonder and interest as the graceful bird swooped across the Hogwarts grounds hovering briefly before flying away at speed across the forest.

But what had surprised them above all, was that the bird carried a scroll, gripped tightly in its talons.

Krysta · 06-18-2008, 07:43 AM

Chapter 11: Old Enemies, New Friends

“You did what?!”

Harry hadn’t really expected that reaction. He was sitting at a table in the common room with Sharon and Hermione. He’d just told them about his encounter with Filch, expecting a sign of support, and instead had Hermione yelling.

“Harry that’s really horrible. That’s nearly as bad as Draco calling me a filthy little Mudblood!” she exclaimed in a scalding voice.

“But he…” Harry began before being cut off.

“No, Harry that was out of order.” Harry pursed his lips in a scowl that anyone watching would have told him was actually very like Hermione herself. He fell silent and sulked, only half listening to what they were telling him.

“Well we can’t find it anywhere, can we?” began Hermione, looking at Sharon for confirmation. Sharon shook her head.

“We’ve tried all sorts: Amulets of the Mystique, Five Hundred Years worth of Tokens and Ornaments – I was surprised it wasn’t in those books actually.” She said and Hermione nodded in agreement. This was all foreign to Harry.

“Magical Jewels through history – interesting piece on the Sorcerer’s Stone in there, Harry.” He smiled faintly, not really caring. He was in a bad mood now.

“Stones and Precious Metals: A Witch’s Best Friend. Everything!” exclaimed Sharon a little frustrated.

“I can’t help feeling we’ve been on the wrong track. I mean, we don’t even know what the pendant does, so we don’t really know what we’re looking for.” Hermione moaned, in a vexed voice.

“We don’t even know what it’s made of or how old it is!” added Sharon and the both looked glumly at the table. Harry yawned, and Hermione looked at him in her usual suspicious way.

“Harry, what were you up to in the Forest earlier?” he snapped to attention and stared at her wide-eyed.

“How did you know?” he asked accusingly.

“We saw Hagrid in the library.” She answered fixing him with a hard stare.

“What was Hagrid doing in the library?”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“I’m not! It’s just he doesn’t usually turn up in there.”

“What does it matter, what were you doing in there, Harry? In times like this you go wandering of into that horrible dark place that’s crawling with…I don’t want to think about what it’s crawling with.” Hermione glared at him.

“Dragons.” Said Sharon.

“What?” Harry and Hermione asked together.

“It was a book about Dragons. I recognised the cover, my aunt has it.” She answered doodling on her notepad.

“Oh. Never mind about that.” Snapped Hermione then continued to stare at Harry.

“I don’t know, ok? I was just wondering where Ron was and the next thing I’m halfway into the forest.” He said, irritably.

“Weird.” Said Sharon hazily.

“Well something must have happened. You must have seen something. You don’t just wander into the forest for no reason.” Insisted Hermione. Harry shrugged.

“I didn’t even intend going that way, I was heading in the other direction to find Ron…” he trailed off when Hermione flinched at the second mention of Ron. ”…And my mind goes hazy after that. Like a thick fog, and the next thing I know, Hagrid’s calling out to me.” He finished and shrugged again. “The only other thing I remember was this…bird. A Silver Kestrel apparently according to…” he trailed off again, not wanting to say the name again “…well anyway it hovered over the grounds, flew around a bit then flew in through a tower window. Later on, when we were on our way back we saw it again. Only this time it was carrying a scroll.” He told them. Hermione looked mildly interested but Sharon looked astonished.

“Are you sure, Harry?” Harry nodded.

“Yes Ron saw it too.” He said before he realised Hermione had flinched again. The expression on her face was of discomfort and a little anger.

“Why are you surprised?” he asked Sharon, trying to pull Hermione’s attention away from the incident that afternoon. Sharon remained silent for a while.

“It’s just that…well…Silver Kestrels are completely wild. They can’t be tamed. And they certainly wouldn’t go around delivering letters for people.”

Harry and Hermione exchanged confused and surprised looks. Yet again, something very strange was going on.

Although quiet, Ron and Hermione were being civil. Hermione didn’t yell or make snide comments and Ron just kept quiet. They were sitting in the boy’s dorm, Hermione perched on the end of Harry’s bed, and Ron sprawled on his. Harry was kneeling on the floor searching through his trunk.

“I know it’s in here.” He said, his head upside down amongst his belongings. He could hear both of his friends giggling, almost definitely at him. “Ah hah!” he exclaimed, holding up a palm-sized rock. It was the one Remus Lupin had given him for his birthday. “All yours.” He said handing the rock to Hermione.

“It’s even more beautiful than the picture in the book.” She announced gazing at it. Ron and Harry exchanged a confused look. They looked a little closer. It was rock: Grey-blue with no distinct markings at all. It was…a rock. Ron raised an amused eyebrow and Harry grinned.

“You’re only saying that because you know what it can do. It’s a rock, Hermione. Pure and Simple.” Ron grinned and she gave him an irritated look. This was no simple rock at all. It apparently glowed when Vampires were near, and although Vampires weren’t exactly commonplace in the Highlands of Scotland, it was extremely rare. On her search for information on the mysterious pendant that had turned up in her hand when she had been unconscious, Hermione had come across an entire section about this so-called pure and simple rock. The chapter was actually, and ironically enough in the same, large and old book in which they had learnt about the great Alchemist Nicholas Flamel and his Sorcerer’s stone.

“Y’know the alchemy of these rocks is actually more complicated than the sorcerer’s stone.” Hermione told then, and they were surprised.

“Surely they’re not that rare!” exclaimed Ron.

“Well, in the 5th century there was a revolt against the makers of the sorcerer’s stone. Many stones were destroyed, and the art lost.” She explained.

“What?! Why?”

“Immortality scared people. Just like magic scares Muggles, I guess.” She said thoughtfully and philosophically.

“People fear what they can’t comprehend.” Said Harry quietly.

“Well I guess the kind of people that seek immortality are the kind of people you don’t want around forever.” Said Ron and Hermione nodded.

“Exactly.” They looked at Harry. They were all thinking the same thing. They were thinking about the last person that had tried to get hold of one of the stones. They were quiet for a while.

“Well, anyway, according to the book, the makers of these stones…” she held up the rock in her hand “…date back to the time of the Ancient Egyptian, and that’s just what’s on record. No one alive today actually knows how they’re made, and analysis of the stone produced very confusing results. No one can figure them out.” She said, with a frown.

“How is that possible? They must at least be able to tell what’s in the rock, even if they can’t get a reading for the structure.” Said Harry, much to everyone’s amazement. They stared at him, and he shrugged sheepishly.

“I liked my science teacher, ok?” they grinned and Ron winked at Hermione. She hesitated then grinned back.

“Well, you’re right.” Said Hermione, still grinning. “Technically, even Muggles should be able to analyse the stone, but for some reason, the tests come up all scrambled. Every test done on the stones has produced different results, even tests on the same sample.” The boys looked astonished.

“That’s magic for you.” Said Ron folding his hands behind his bed and leaning back against the pillow.

“Quite.” Harry handed the rock to Ron who turned it over in his hands, bouncing it in his palm.

“So what else did the book tell you?” he asked her.

“Hang on, I‘ll go and get the book.” She said, getting up.

“You took it out of the library?” asked Harry in slight disbelief.

“Well that book has proven useful before now…besides, I wanted to read a passage from it to you.” She said with a mild huff of indignation and disappeared through the door. Harry and Ron grinned after her, waiting for her to leave earshot before speaking.

“Well, at least she’s her old self again.” Said Ron, smiling. Harry could tell he was relieved. Ron had been dreading his first encounter with Hermione since the incident earlier on. Hermione had been in a foul mood earlier but seemed to have calmed down considerably. Harry suspected hitting the books had cleared her head, and maybe she’d even realised that Ron’s outburst had been due to how much he cared.

“You two seem ok.” Harry said slowly. Cautiously, Ron nodded.

“I hope so.” He said quietly. Harry began rummaging under the bed and pulled out the Arinella case. Carefully he removed the crystal jar and handed it to Ron.

“Look closely in that. Notice anything different?” Ron turned it carefully over in his hands, peering into the silvery depths of the wispy fluid inside.

“Blimey, what is it?” he asked in awe as the red sphere came into view. It danced gently with the other silver spheres, clinging close to the sides of its confinement, almost as though staring back at Ron who gazed at it raptly.

“It appeared the night Hermione was attacked. Ginny found it. Wait a minute…” Harry seemed startled.

“What?” asked Ron.

“Before…it was mental. Dashing around the Arinella like a wild thing, colliding with anything in its path.” Harry told him. They both stared into the Arinella with interest. The red sphere seemed to have lost interest in Ron and was dancing aimlessly through the silver mist.

“Weird.” Said Ron, pointlessly as they continued to stare. Then suddenly, and without warning, the blood-red sphere darted at the side of the jar with such force, Ron felt the Arinella jerk slightly in his grasp.

“What the bl…blimey.” He corrected himself to stop himself cursing. “It’s gone nutso.” He cried. Harry stared in shock as the previously serene sphere dashed around the jar insanely, thrashing the sides of the crystal powerfully. Ron increased the strength of his grip. They were so busy staring at the bizarre occurrence they didn’t hear Hermione come in with the book.

“What’s going on, what’s wrong?” she called, as the sphere launched itself at the sides of the Arinella with such force that Ron nearly dropped it. Harry grabbed it too, to help steady it. Hermione stared in amazement at the spectacle before her.

“Let’s put it back, I can barely hold it.” Said Harry, and Ron helped him put it back in the case. Harry locked it shut and shoved it back under the bed. The three of them stared at each other with a mixture of alarm and confusement.

“That’s what it was like when Ginny and I found it the other night.” Hermione raised an eyebrow. “The red sphere appeared the night you were attacked. My guess is they’re connected.” Explained Harry.

“But the Arinella collects dreams. That…thing…seemed to be alive. It was reacting to something.”

“Chemicals react, they’re not alive.” Said Ron and Hermione took in his words, thinking them over.

“True.” She said thoughtfully.

“It was calm when we first got it out, then it went ape.” Said Harry.

“And you say it was acting violently the other night too?” she asked.

“Yeah, just before me and Ginny came to visit you.” He answered. Ron sniggered and Harry and Hermione stared at him in surprise.

“What’s so funny?” asked Hermione a little aggravated.

“Oh nothing, I was just thinking…maybe it just doesn’t like women.” He said and he and Harry both burst into laughter. Hermione scowled, but couldn’t make it last and her face bloomed into a grin.

It was a wonderful way to start the term. After everything that had happened, going to class felt strange, but they would have chosen any lesson over this to start the new Semester. Professor Trelawney was on top form. Doom and gloom were on the forecast and she was the weather satellite. Even Lavender and Parvati – her favourite students - were headed for a disastrous year, and so when Professor Trelawney passed straight over him and on to telling Neville he was in for a shock involving the past, Harry was rather worried. He stared wide-eyed at the Professor, with a rather nervous expression on his face. She had practically ignored him.

“I can’t stand it. I don’t feel safe unless she’s predicting my death.” He said quietly to Ron who sniggered. He was only half joking. For the last three years Professor Trelawney had dramatically and tragically told Harry that he was headed for a horrible and terrible death. Every year she had been proved wrong. So Murphy’s Law pretty much stated that if she thought he was going to be all right, something horrible was going to happen. Ron sniggered again.

“Well, buddy, looks like this is it. You’re a goner.” Harry laughed with him, but couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive.

“Maybe he prediction is that something so horrible is going to happen, she hasn’t got the guts to tell you.” Ron suggested.

“Her only joy is telling people they’re going to suffer…she’s probably waiting until the entire class is listening.” Harry whispered back and they both sniggered, just a little too loudly so that Professor Trelawney spun around to look at them through her scary glasses, which made her look bug-eyed. They tried to stop their sniggering, but the sight of her huge-looking eyes and a small whisper of “gold-fish bowl” from Dean sent them into more fits of giggles. She glided over to them, hovering almost a foot from the ground and glared down at them.

“You two would not be so jovial if you had seen what I have.” She said in a hissing, dramatic voice. ‘Here we go’ thought Harry. He waited for the lecture about how horribly he was going to die, but instead she turned and glided over to her armchair. Ron stared at him in surprise.

“Well, at least she said something…you might live through the year after all.” They both sniggered again, though a little more quietly.

“Welcome back to another year, class…though some are lucky to be here at all.” Her humungous eyes flitted in their direction and Ron rolled his eyes. “This year we shall broach a new method of fortune telling. The Runes have been used for thousands of years as a way of communication and for the telling of the future.” She informed them and Harry and Ron exchanged a startled and interested look. At last a divination technique that interested them.

“Hermione will be annoyed she missed this.” Whispered Harry. Ron grinned.

“Nah, give her a book about them and she’ll be foretelling our futures over the dinner table tonight.” They both grinned.

“What a load of rubbish!” she exclaimed at the top of her voice making a few heads turn.

“Well that’s just what she told…” began Ron, but was cut off.

“It’s rubbish. Runes are just a form of communication. Only phonies like use them for fortune telling.” She insisted. Ron rolled his eyes.

“We agree with you, Hermione, we’re just telling you what she said.” Explained Harry, calmly. Hermione seemed to calm down a little.

“Honestly, though, I don’t know why you didn’t quit that class years ago.” She said, her eyes still burning.

“Because if we did, we’d be a class short.” Said Ron chewing a piece of bread he’d dunked in his soup. It was tomato and he had splashes on his chin that matched his hair.

“Hmmm.” Mumbled Hermione, grumpily. “So, Harry, how are you dying this year?” she asked, a slight glint of amusement in her eyes.

“Oh he’s not!” said Ron, spattling more soup down his chin. Hermione looked at him in surprise. “She didn’t say a word to him until she heard us laughing, and then she was really vague. I think she only said it to shut us up.” He finished, as Ginny chuckled and handed him a napkin to wipe his face.

“She’s probably given up. Sick of being proved wrong all the time.” Ginny suggested and Hermione snorted and nodded her head in agreement.

The conversation ended there when there was a squeal from the Ravenclaw table followed by a chorus of high-pitched screams and yells as the Ravenclaw students jumped out of their seats and ran from the table in terror. The entire Hall turned to gape in astonishment trying to see what the fuss was about. To Harry’s horror, he saw that the only student left at the table was Sharon. She was standing paralysed on the spot in the middle of the table. Surrounding her, winding around and around her legs was the largest, most enormous, and yet somehow familiar snake Harry had ever seen. In a moment, the Hall seemed to freeze, and Harry felt like he existed outside of time itself. Everything was happening in slow motion. Snape moved quickly to the head of the Slytherin table and glared at his students. Harry followed his gaze and saw smirking Goyle, Crabbe and Stephen Casey. Could they have been behind this? A whimper from Sharon drew his attention back. The snake was circling her, imprisoning her in its coils. He looked up to the head table in despair. Dumbledore was standing tall, fixing Harry with a meaningful stare, and Harry knew.
Amongst the madness and the mayhem, panicked teachers and students, Harry remained calm. He walked slowly to the Ravenclaw table and spoke in a voice only one other being in the room could understand.

“Let her go.”

The serpent blinked slowly at him, but did not move.

“Release her.” The mighty snake’s eyes narrowed, but the monstrous length of body began to slowly unwind from the terrified girl’s legs. It hissed back at Harry who stared at it in astonishment. Other students were giving Harry nervous glances now. All they could hear from him and the snake was a series of hissing sounds that meant nothing at all to them. With another hiss, the enormous creature slid from the table and slithered with graceful speed and power from the Hall.

The moment the snake had disappeared and the people in the Great Hall had collected their nerves, the silence started. No one spoke, not even a whisper. But all eyes were on him. The only movement was Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick carrying an almost hysterical Sharon from the table and out through the tiny back room to the right of the head table. Harry swore he could have heard a pin drop. It was terrifying. He felt like he’d been standing there forever, alone. He felt like he was standing at the centre of a circle with everyone else standing on the outside. His stomach flipped and twisted, rising up into his throat. He couldn’t move; couldn’t think of a way to leave.

He almost jumped when he felt a hand on his. It was Hermione. He felt another hand take his other free one and saw Ginny smiling at him. Ron fell in behind them, as did the twins, Lee, Angelina, and Alicia. Harry breathed again, as they all looked around at the rest of the room, daring them to say anything. Slowly and deliberately, they all walked proudly from the room. He could feel all eyes on them, as the small party walked together. Then, one by one the remaining Gryffindors left their places and boldly followed, like a slow funeral procession they filed out of the Hall and together followed the shadow-swept corridors to the secret location of the common room.

For the rest of the day, everyone, except Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, Ron and Hermione, avoided Harry. Even the noble Gryffindor students that had dared disapproval from their Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and more importantly, Ravenclaw friends to join their Seeker as he exited the Hall. Harry had never loved his housemates so much in that moment, when loyalty won over pride and fear.

But now the fear had taken over. They all knew that he was a parselmouth, of course, but knowing it, and accepting it were two very different things. After all, parselmouths were generally associated with particularly nasty wizards and witches. Those who knew him well knew that Harry only had the gift because Voldemort had accidentally passed it onto him when his death-curse had backfired 14 years ago. But to those who were ignorant of this, Harry’s gift was something to fear.

Whispers followed him everywhere. All through Transfiguration people avoided eye contact and seemed constantly apprehensive in his presence. It was distracting to the point that he turned a glass ornament into a living, breathing lizard, which only made things worse. To his surprise, Professor McGonagall was sympathetic and ignored the incident almost entirely.

Dinner was quiet though his friends tried to keep conversation going. He was still plagued by whispers, and though he tried hard to block them out, he could not. He was relieved when their attentions were drawn from him when Professor Dumbledore rose from his chair and brought silence to the room.

“Children…this morning’s events have all been in our minds, I know. However, thank you to Mr. Potter, the danger is passed.” He smiled briefly in Harry’s direction and Harry felt relief. “His gift has probably saved the life of an innocent young girl, and possibly others.” Harry swallowed. As grateful as he felt towards Dumbledore, he didn’t like remembering what had happened. He had reason to fear, especially after what the creature had told him. “The creature that attacked Miss Casey was extremely dangerous. I understand that it has taken refuge in the Forest, and so I stress that until it has been dealt with, The Forest and the grounds surrounding the perimeter are out of bounds. Travel around in groups: that is most important. And remember, snakes have a love of water, so stay away from the lake.” Dumbledore continued. Harry’s mind was spinning. Something was nagging at him. There was something very, very wrong. How on earth had the snake got into Hogwarts? He didn’t see how it was possible. Had someone brought it in? And what had it meant by its last words to him? They were what was worrying him. He felt Ron nudge him.

“You ok, mate?” Harry nodded unsurely, before whispering back.

“It’s just…how did it get in? What was it doing here?”

“I think we’ve all been wondering that.” whispered Hermione from the other side of the table.

“I hate grass snakes, let alone great big brutes like that.” Whispered Ginny who had also been listening.

“That’s ok, sis. Stick with Harry, and he can send them away.” Grinned George. Harry suddenly realised that their private conversation wasn’t so private, when he caught Ginny blushing slightly at George’s comment. He smiled at her and was grateful when she returned the smile.

Harry suddenly realised he’d been so caught up in everyone’s treatment of him during the day, he’d completely forgotten about Sharon. He quickly looked over to the Ravenclaw table and to his relief she was there. Looking a little pale, but she was there all the same.

She was hanging on Dumbledore’s every word with earnest. She turned and caught his eye. To his relief she smiled and waved to him. He smiled back, grateful that she at least was not afraid of his ‘gift’. Cho was sitting next to her, and Harry notice that the Ravenclaw seeker had her arm around Sharon’s shoulder in a motherly fashion. Without intending to, their eyes locked for a moment or two. Harry felt strange. Cho smiled briefly, though her eyes were hard to read. Harry felt uncomfortable even though he was sure he didn’t feel the way he had about her. But still, she was beautiful. His head felt heavy with confusion. He swallowed and forced himself to break eye contact, instead moving his attention to the head table again. His eyes were drawn to Professor Snape. Harry frowned. The man looked positively glum. Not moody or angry. He looked miserable. His head was bowed over his plate, turning sideways glances to Dumbledore as he reminded the school about the gathering for Cedric on Wednesday.

He looked at Ron to see if he’d noticed the interest he’d shown in Cho worried in case he thought he’d passed Ginny over for his old flame. But Ron wasn’t paying any attention. He had his own flame to gaze at. Hermione of course was oblivious, as she was rabbiting away to Ginny about Runes and the ‘rubbish’ Professor Trelawney had been filling people’s heads with. Ginny was clearly uninterested and was miserably picking at her food with a heavy sigh. He wondered what was bugging her, besides Hermione’s ranting of course.

Dumbledore had finished speaking and before he knew it, dinner was over. They left the Hall together, and were just turning to head off to the common room, when a familiar voice came to their ears.

“Harry! Wait a minute.” Harry swallowed hard when he saw Cho pushing her way through the crowd of Gryffindor students to reach him. Avoiding eye contact with his friends, Harry smiled as naturally as he could as she approached them.

“Hi.” He said as breezily as he could. Cho looked uncomfortably at Ron, Hermione and the others before speaking.

“Er, Harry, could I have a word?” she paused “In private.” He looked at Ron who looked surprised and mildly suspicious, and Hermione who looked entirely indifferent.

“Er, ok.” He said awkwardly. Cho smiled gratefully as the others turned and headed up the staircase.

“Can we walk outside? It’s quiet out there.” She asked, and he nodded.

She was right, it was quiet and peaceful outside in the grounds. The evening was similar to the previous one, although when he scanned the sky, no silver Kestrel flew above them. It seemed Dumbledore’s speech had scared everyone into staying inside, as the grounds were deserted and for a while, they walked in silence. The sun was slowly setting on their backs and Harry felt warm. Cho had once been taller than him, but now he stood a good three inches above her. He felt uncomfortable, not wanting to speak. Eventually, as they rounded to corner and the lake came into view, the sun sparkling on the surface, Cho spoke.

“It’s a couple of things really.” He remained silent, allowing her to continue. “Firstly, I’m worried about Sharon.” Harry looked up in surprise.

“I didn’t realise you were friends.” He said, looking at her questioningly. She smiled.

“Yeah well…I think we both needed a friend.” She said quietly. Harry studied her profile. Now they were at an angle to the sun, her features were in shadow. Her pale skin was even paler than usual, and a faint grey tinge had appeared around her dark eyes. Her dark, shiny hair had somehow lost its bounce and the spirit had gone out of her movements. He couldn’t help but wonder whether she would be much use as a seeker right now. She’d lost the sparkle he’d seen in her eyes she’d had the first time he’d really noticed her. The time she’d nearly knocked him off his broom. He felt a lump in his throat and looked quickly away from her, and out across the sparkling lake.

“It’s just…you see, she isn’t making many friends.” She paused “In fact she hasn’t made any. If she didn’t have you guys, she’d be alone.” Harry hadn’t realised.

“Well it’s only the first day back. It takes time.” He said, hopefully. Cho shook her head.

“They think she’s a freak or something.”

“But why? Just because she was moved up a year?” he couldn’t believe it was that. So she was clever, so what? She was a Ravenclaw, she was meant to be clever.

“I think…they’re afraid of her, Harry. She’s an extremely talented witch. She can perform spells even I have problems with. The others think she’s a show off and a freak.” She finished. Harry was finding it hard to take in. He really needed to talk to Sharon, as soon as possible. He waned to know exactly what had been happening for the last two years. What exactly had she been taught, and to what level?

“I’ll talk to her. Her aunt’s been teaching her, but I don’t know what.” He said, and Cho nodded.

“Yeah, the one in Romania, I know. She talks about her all the time. She seems really proud of her.” Said Cho and her face lit up in a smile briefly, and Harry smiled too. But he felt no flutter of butterflies in his stomach, no light-headedness. And in that instant he realised that he was truly over Cho. It had been a crush, and nothing more. He barely knew the girl after all. This was probably the most they’d ever talked since he’d first met her, and as they walked together in the evening sun, he found himself thinking of Ginny.

Krysta · 06-18-2008, 07:43 AM

Chapter 11: Part 2

That night and for most of the next day he found himself thinking over what Cho had gone on to say to him that evening. It had taken a lot of guts to ask what she did, and for him, it had taken courage to answer her.

After their short discussion about Sharon, they had walked a while in silence. They walked past the West tower and Harry thought of all the students inside there, what they might be doing, what they might all be thinking. It was a scary thought to comprehend. So many people, all living different lives, having different thoughts all at the same time, each one dealing with their own personal problems and hassles, dreaming their own personal dream. The thoughts carried him away and he became lost in the awe of humanity. So many souls, living, breathing, loving and hating; all at the same time.

Cho’s suddenly quiet voice pulled him from his thoughts.

“I have to know, Harry.” She had stopped right beneath the tower and was looking at him with such pleading he wanted to wrap his arms around her. He knew exactly what she meant, but hoped he was wrong. He stopped too, and faced her.

“No one will tell me anything. I’m going crazy. His parents act like I don’t exist. He never told them about me you see, his father’s so…pushy.” Harry remained silent. He remembered Mr. Diggory quite clearly. He was always pushing Cedric to be the best, and was so proud of his Son.
“I don’t know if it’s because of the whole Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw thing.” She added, and Harry looked questioning. “You know, like Slytherin and Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are kind of rivals.” She explained. “Though not as violently, I suppose.” She paused before continuing. “The Hufflepuffs practically ignore me and even my own friends have distanced a little. I think they don’t know what to say.” Harry felt so terrible. Had he done this to her? He blamed himself for Cedric’s death, and he was sure the change in Cho was a result of losing him. Before, he’d been so caught up in his feelings for her he hadn’t taken enough notice of her relationship. The truth was, he and Cho had been close, and he’d been so jealous he hadn’t wanted to accept it.

“I didn’t realise, Cho. I’m so sorry.” was all Harry could manage. She shook her head and he could see her eyes were damp.

“I know it wasn’t your fault, Harry. Despite what the Slytherins say, I know you’d never deliberately hurt anyone. You’ve always protected us, even though the others don’t realise it. I know.” She said and looked a little shyly at him, He was touched. So Cho did think about him now and then after all. “You’re one of the god ones. You’re a Gryffindor.” She added. Harry looked at the ground, and tried to hide the blush. “But Harry, you’re the only one that knows what really happened. I have to know. We became so close Cedric and I. I loved him, Harry and no one will tell me what happened.” Harry felt a lump forming in his throat. He took a deep breath.

“We went into the maze together. Along the way Mr. Crouch’s son, who was disguised as Professor Moody, took both Viktor and Fleur out of the running. We, Cedric and I helped each other. The maze forked and we went separate ways. At the end, we were both in sight of the cup, but just as we were racing for it, I saw one of those giant spiders about to tackle Cedric. He didn’t see it, so I shouted to him and we fought it together. I got injured and Cedric was free to get the cup. But he wouldn’t take it. He said I deserved it more, but I said no. He won it fair and square. But he wouldn’t take it. In the end I said…” he choked slightly at the memory, hating himself every second. He could barely bring himself to tell her. “…I suggested we both took it together and we’d share it. He agreed. But the cup…it was a portkey. It took us straight to Vol…You-Know-Who. It was a trap set for me. Only I was meant to go. It was my fault, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, Cho.” His own eyes were welling up and he could barely speak. As for Cho, huge tears were streaking down her white cheeks and she was shaking.

“He…he didn’t stand a chance. Voldemort didn’t want him, he had no use for him…so he killed him.” At Harry’s final words, Cho broke down in sobs and Harry kept whispering: “I’m sorry, sorry.” over and over until Cho shook her head and put her arms around him. He didn’t hesitate at all. They held each other for a while, comforting one another as friends who had lost someone. Harry felt a huge weight life off him, as relief sank in. He realised that something he’d been terrified of was that she would blame him.

They stayed there for what seemed like an age. When they broke apart Cho’s face looked clear. Her eyes, though puffy and red were bright and she smiled, just like she always used to.

“Thank you, Harry.”

He’d slept a little better that night, and no bad dreams haunted him. The next day he kept rolling the events over in his mind. He really did feel a lot better about the whole thing. Talking about it to someone who had been close, if not closest to Cedric, and being forgiven had cleared the heavy dark cloud of guilt from his mind.

Cho had smiled as she had passed him on the way to breakfast and he had returned the smile warmly. She had sat next to Sharon again, and almost immediately the two were engrossed in conversation.

In a reversal of temperaments, Harry was upbeat and Ron was high as a kite, but Hermione and Ginny were sombre and quiet.

“Oh gawd, I’ve just realised.” Said Ron through a mouth full of toast.

“What?” asked Harry asked Harry watching Ginny thoughtfully, who was avoiding eye contact with everyone around her.

“I hate to tell you this…but we got Potions this morning.” Ron told him, his mouth finally empty. Harry dropped his spoon and gulped. His high-flying little bubble of happiness had just burst.

The dungeon was unusually cold and dreary this morning. Harry thought maybe it was his own imagination fuelled by his hate for the subject and its teacher, but when the other students looked equally as miserable, he figured maybe it was particularly cold and dreary after all. Professor Snape wasn’t there when they arrived, which they thought unusual, and the Slytherin students were uncommonly quiet. Harry felt extremely uncomfortable and couldn’t help but feel that there was something wrong.

Ten minutes later Snape entered the room and moved swiftly but quietly to the front of the class. He didn’t speak a word to anyone, and didn’t even glare at a single student. Harry was waiting for the storm to break, but it never did.

“Welcome back class. Please open your books to chapter 23 (a). Read through it carefully. The ingredients are on your desks. When I say, you shall make the potion. Anyone needs help, I’ll be at the front here.”

That was it.

Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at each other as though they’d been slapped around the face. Slowly they found the chapter, and exchanging uncertain looks, began reading up on the potion.

Half an hour later, things were still quiet, and their potions bubbled away quite happily without a single snide remark or point deducted from Gryffindor. Harry was beginning to think he was trapped in a terrifying nightmare or alternative reality, when he felt the rush of moving air through his hair. Hermione gasped in shock and a murmur went through the room. A bird had flown through the window and had landed on Snape’s desk. Ron urgently nudged Harry, but he hadn’t needed to. It was the Silver Kestrel. Snape hurriedly tore the note from the bird’s vicious-looking talons and hastily unrolled it. The bird took to the air and hovered impatiently, as if waiting for something. Snape’s forehead creased into deep furrows and a dark frown crossed his face. In an instant, he’d grabbed his wand and dashed through the room.

“Finish your potions. Clean everything up and we’ll test them next lesson. Make sure you leave it clean” he ordered sharply as he hurried, frantically from the room, the kestrel swooping through the door behind him.

They were quiet in the library, and not just because of the warning glances from Madam Pince. Harry knew they were all thinking the same thing, and asking themselves the same questions.

That bird belonged to the person who had supposedly been protecting Harry, and in that case, why was it carrying clearly urgent messages to Professor Snape of all people?

Snape had seemed out of sorts to say the least. There had been no surprise test, no nasty comments, no moaning and no criticism of their work. He generally seemed quieter than normal, and Harry had already suspected something was going on. But now…he didn’t know what to think.

Harry wanted to talk to Sirius more than ever. If he could only ask him about his so-called protector, know for sure that everything was now ok. But there was still far too much going on for him to be calm, and this morning’s events only added to it. The subject of Snape had been bugging him for more than one reason recently. Both Dumbledore and Hagrid had hinted at the real reason Snape hated his Father: something to do with love? He was just mulling this over when he realised he was being watched. Hermione peered over the top of an upside down book at him. He smiled slightly at the idea of Hermione pretending to read something and she blushed.

“You ok?” she whispered. He nodded uneasily.

“Just confused.” He replied. She nodded to show she understood.

“Listen, Harry…I know you don’t like Snape, and in all fairness, he doesn’t like you. But Professor Dumbledore trusts him. Snape isn’t nice…but I don’t think he’s evil. I truly don’t, Harry.” She stopped and he remained silent, deep in thought. He really, really hated to admit it, but she was right. Snape was a bitter man, but his objectives were the same as theirs. When it came down to it, they were on the same side. But the question of the silver kestrel still remained. He could understand the mysterious K.H. sending messages to Hogwarts, but surely they would go straight to Dumbledore, or maybe McGonagall. So why to Snape?

“There’s something else bothering you. I can tell.” She said quietly and Ron looked up from the Rune book he was studying and nodded in agreement. Harry took a deep breath, and began to explain his thoughts.

“You what Dumbledore said…about love and hate?” they both nodded slowly. “And Hagrid said something very similar.” They nodded again. Harry inhaled deeply once more.

“Well…it’s been bugging me. What happened between my Father and Snape to create such hatred in Snape?” he said, staring at the table. Ron and Hermione exchanged a knowing, but nervous look.

“Harry, we er…” Ron began and then trailed off. He looked helplessly at Hermione.

“Harry, we didn’t tell you this before, because…well it didn’t seem important.” Harry looked bewildered and Ron and Hermione exchanged another nervous glance.

“Remember the Arinella shop?” asked Hermione, and Harry nodded, full of suspicion now.

“Well, the old man who works there, his name’s Mr. Slumbardo. He used to be Professor Slumbardo.” Harry raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“He worked here? As a teacher, didn’t he.” Harry prompted and his two closest friends nodded in tandem.

“He taught a class on magical tradition and religion.” Harry looked surprised. He’d never heard of such a class.

“The subject was axed years ago when the new Council took power a few years after we were born. The ‘New Age’ as Mr. Slumbardo called it. They believed that a person should make up their own minds, and that the old religion no longer had a place in education.” Explained Ron.

“Which is why we don’t know anything about it, Harry. I didn’t even know there was a wizarding religion.” Said Hermione thoughtfully, as though she’d just uncovered an undiscovered tomb in Egypt.

“It’s not a religion in the strictest sense.” Said Ron. “My parents told us the old stories. I don’t really remember them, just that there’s this great-spirit called Yana who watches over us.”

“The whole thing sounds fascinating, actually.” Said Hermione, rummaging in her bag and pulling out a large, and ancient book in classic leather binding.

“Oh, I don’t believe it, she got a book out.” Said Ron rolling his eyes as Hermione grinned at him.

“It’s full of myths and legends and everything.” She said excitedly, and Harry and Ron exchanged a grin. “Oh it’s all a load of rubbish, but it makes great reading.” She said and Ron looked about to protest this when Harry put a hand warningly on Ron’s arm.

“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion.” He said quietly and Ron smiled sheepishly.

“Listen Hermione this is great, but weren’t you trying to tell me something?” asked Harry, slightly amused, but desperate to hear what they had to say. Hermione looked up a blank expression on her face.

“Oh yeah, sorry.” She grinned, then continued with the story, closing the book, and resting her elbows on the cover. “Well, he asked if you were who he thought you were, and we told him who you were. He was really happy. Not excited, almost like he was relieved. He knew exactly why we were there. He asked about the school and how everything was. And it was the weirdest thing, he asked: “Does Severus Snape still work there?” and we said yes, and then he shook his head and said: “sad business, terrible.” We asked him what he meant, but he wouldn’t tell us.”

“I think it’s to do with Snape being a Death Eater, because he said something about “Albus always knew when to forgive.” Or something like that.” Added Ron. Harry thought Ron could have been right about that.

“But what this got to do with my father?” he asked. Hermione took a breath herself before continuing.

“We…well Ron…told him that we didn’t really get on with Snape…”

“I said he was bitter and twisted and we hated him.” Corrected Ron.

“…And he smiled. He said: “Can’t say I’m surprised. After what happened. James was the best of men, but he ruined Severus’s chances at love. At least that’s how Severus saw it. But that was a long time ago.” And that was pretty much it. He didn’t say anything else, just gave me the instructions for the Arinella, took our money and went into the back of the shop.”

“What do you think he meant?” Ron and Hermione shrugged in answer, although Hermione had a nervous look in her eye. “What is it, Hermione?” Harry asked, suspiciously. Hermione looked uncomfortable.

“Well, to be honest, the matter intrigued me.” She began nervously. “I even asked Professor McGonagall if Snape was ever married or anything, but she said no.” Harry and Ron were exchanging apprehensive looks. “But I couldn’t let it go. And I got thinking. How could one man ruin another man’s chances of love?” she said, looking at the two boys for suggestions. They both shrugged. She swallowed before continuing.

“Ok, say Snape was in love with someone…” Harry shivered dramatically and Ron pretended to gag. She fixed them with a cold stare and they both calmed down, grinning at each other. “…and that someone didn’t love him back…because they were in love with someone else.” Hermione paused and waited for a reaction. Ron looked blank, but Harry looked like he’d seen a ghost. He knew what she was getting at. How could his Father have ruined Snape’s chances at love? Maybe if he had married the woman Snape was in love with? Harry swallowed hard. He felt sick.

It was just a little too much to take in. Snape had been in love with his Mother. No wonder He hated Harry, it made perfect sense, but it was horrid.
In Professor Flitwick’s class Harry managed to drop a textbook on Neville’s head when he lost concentration, and despite having become a expert on such things, his summoning spell went terribly wrong and he made an entire table launch itself across the room at himself, Ron and Hermione, much to the amusement of Dean and Seamus. By the end of the lesson everyone was keeping their distance.

That evening everyone was quiet though. Tomorrow was the gathering in memory of Cedric, and Harry was wondering how he would be able to show his face. He was certain many of the students still blamed him for what had happened. Knowing Cho held nothing against him and he hoped that once that got around, maybe some of the other students would follow suit. Cho was back on form. Since their conversation the previous evening she’d been through a miraculous change. She smiled everywhere she went, he eyes gleaming, as they always had. She took the time to smile or wink at Harry when she passed him and the bounce was back in both her hair and her step. Harry figured she’d found what the American students might call ‘closure’.

Ginny on the other hand remained subdued. At dinner her head remained down through out the meal, and she barely spoke a word. Afterwards he tried to talk to her, but by the time he reached the common room she disappeared. He saw her friend, Reena and called out to her. The little dark-skinned girl stopped dead and looked at him wide-eyed when she heard him. She looked around, as if ensuring that it had really been him that had called her name.

“Er…yeah?” she said nervously.

“Reena, have you seen Ginny?”

“Er…”

“It’s just, well she’s seemed really down recently. I wondered if something was wrong.” A sad expression fleeted across her face and was gone, leaving Harry wondering if he’d really seen it at all.

“I, er…think she’s in our dorm. I could check if you want.” She offered.

“Reena, is she alright?” he insisted, gently. Reena sighed deeply.

“No…not really.” She said, and before Harry could say another word, the girl had gone.

Perplexed and worried he trundled over to Fred and George who were sitting, heads together with Lee Jordan, whispering. They looked up apprehensively when he sat down at their table.

“Yes?” George asked suspiciously as Fred quickly shut a folder they were all sitting around, apparently studying.

“What’s wrong with Ginny?” he asked, straight and to the point. The twins exchanged an unreadable expression.

“In terms of what?” Fred asked carefully.

“Well, she’s been down recently, and I was wondering if you knew why.” The twins exchanged another unintelligible look.

“Why don’t you ask her?” George said, trying to sound passive. Harry could see they were trying to get rid of him.

“I’ve tried, but she’s doing a good job of making herself scarce at the moment.”

“Well I’m sure she’s got her reasons.” Said Fred with an ounce of agitation. Angry and frustrated, Harry got up quickly from the table and stormed away. As he began to ascend the stairs he heard the whispering begin. He stopped. He crouched down low and listened, straining his ears to hear what they were saying.

“…we should tell him. It involves him too.”

“We promised.”

“I know, but it can’t really harm…not really.”

“She feels really strongly, though. We can’t tell anyone, especially Harry.”

“Why?”

“You know why.” There was a pause, and Harry had to beg people trying to climb the stairs not to reveal his presence. The whispering continued.

“I don’t know why she’s down though.” Another pause.

“C’mon we got work to do.” The subject of their conversation changed, Harry stood up and began to slowly climb the stairs, deep in thought.

The morning was cold and the icy wind that came whistling through the open window brought with it the first sign that autumn was on its way. Harry dressed in his full uniform early in the morning. He’d woken early and couldn’t get back to sleep. He stood at the window looking out over the grey dawn with a slight nervousness stirring in his guts. Today was Cedric’s memorial, and was still nervous about everyone’s opinion of him. From here he could see across the Lake and if he leaned out of the window he could just see the edge of the Forest. He was testing this by leaning as far as he could when something came into view that almost caused him to fall out of the window entirely. A now familiar black shape was slinking through the bushes and shrubs at the edge of the Forest, and even as he watched it disappeared into the darkness of the trees. He was just thinking he should get Ron to tell him he’d seen the creature again when another dark shape came into view. This time he had to grip the lead-lined window frame to stop himself falling. From this distance it was hard to tell for sure who it was, but he was pretty certain he knew. He watched in shock as Professor Snape followed the Black Panther into the dark, shadow-filled Forest, disappearing into its depths.

Everyone was quiet, even the teachers this morning. Classes went without incident and at 11:40, students and staff began making their way outside to the grassy hill over-looking the lake. The Heads of Houses were standing together to one side of a small table covered in a silver cloth embedded with the Hufflepuff crest in shimmering colours. But Harry frowned. Where was Snape? Professor Sprout stood solemnly closest to the table behind which Dumbledore stood tall and proud, surveying the students over his half-moon spectacles as they all crowded close in silence. Harry noticed the lack of Slytherin students in the crowd compared to the Hufflepuffs. Every single one of them was present, even the first year Hufflepuffs who hadn’t known Cedric. They were like a vigil, moving together in the name of a dead King. Harry was in awe. The presence of Ravenclaw students surprised him. He estimated that at least eighty percent of them were present, each full of respect for their rival Seeker. Harry noticed the Hufflepuff Quidditch team standing together near the front of the crowd. Another stab of guilt went through him. They’d lost their Seeker. They’d lost their Captain.

He, Hermione and Ron stood huddled together a little way from the front. Harry didn’t want to be exposed. He wanted to be tucked away where no one would notice him. Ginny, Fred and George appeared behind them and Ginny smiled at him for the first time in two days. He returned the smile gratefully. Angelina and Alicia appeared next to them and the remains of the Gryffindor team stood together. Ron nudged him and nodded towards the front. Harry was surprised to see Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum standing besides Hagrid to the left of the table. Harry watched Ron’s face and noticed tightness as he looked at Viktor. But Hermione wasn’t taking any notice…of either of them. Cho was standing next to Fleur, who had an arm around her, Harry suspected just for support as Cho looked tall and strong, for which he was relieved.

The stillness of the atmosphere was chilling. The only sound was the wind in the tall trees of the forest and the calls of birds that circled the tower. No one spoke, no one whispered.

All was still.

“Thank you for coming, children.” Professor Dumbledore’s voice broke through the silence like a calming blanket surrounding them all. Every person was hanging on his every word.

“We are gathered to remember our friend. We lost Cedric when he was young. His future was a promising one. He was a fine young man and we were very proud of him. He was an excellent student and a talented Quidditch player, a good friend and influence on his piers. He shall be missed.”

Sobs had begun to come from some of the crowd. The Hufflepuff Quidditch team were clutching each other with grief and Professor Sprout had tears trickling down her chubby cheeks.

“This afternoon we cast our memories to the stars whence we came.” He stepped back and everyone watched as Cho moved forward. She carried a broomstick, which Harry recognised. It was Cedric’s. She held it aloft and spoke loudly to the crowd before her.

“Remember Cedric.” She removed her hand from the broom, and it hovered above all their heads. Everyone remained still, all remembering the boy who had touched so many lives. Harry could feel something happening, and the look on other faces showed he was not alone. A force was flowing through them and surrounding them. He felt like his mind was being probed and a breeze went trough his subconscious. He heard gasps around him and knew the same was happening to the others. Harry realised what was happening. The force was coming from within them all. It circled them growing like a living breathing organism, and then it rose. Higher and higher it climbed into the sky taking the broom with it. With lightning speed the broom flew from view into the heavens followed by a pinprick explosion of light barely visible in the light of day. It was breathtaking. After a few moments a quiet murmur went through the crowd, but Harry could not speak. He realised that the ceremony was over. He was surprised. He’d expected it to be longer. But this, what had happened today, over 1000 people with magic flowing in their veins had cast a piece of themselves into the stars in memory of a person they’d known and respected, was somehow far more powerful and worthy of a human soul than anything he could imagine.

People were beginning to turn to leave, and Harry was about to do the same when a voice called out above the murmurs.

“Please everyone. I’d like to say something in Cedric’s memory…before you go.” Everyone stopped and turned to see Cho still standing in front of the table, looking nervous, but determined. They all stopped and turned to face her. All were silent, waiting for her to speak. She swallowed deeply.

“Cedric died at the hands of Lord Voldemort.” She spoke loudly and clearly a shocked silence running through the crowd at her use of Voldemort’s name. She continued.

“Only one human has survived this evil, and he stands here today, remembering and honouring Cedric with us.” A slight murmur passed though the crowd and Harry felt eyes upon him.

“Harry Potter saved Cedric’s life twice in the maze, before they even reached the Triwizard Cup at its heart.” Another murmur spread through the people surrounding him, a murmur of surprise and shock. She waited for silence again before continuing.

“Harry had a clean shot at reaching the cup first, but he stopped to save Cedric’s life.” the murmurs started again, but she ignored it “They reached the Cup together, and they agreed to take it together.” Here she paused and Harry could see she was struggling. “Neither of them could have known what was to happen. And there was nothing either of them could have done to prevent it. What happened…” he paused to swallow an obvious lump in her throat “…happened because of an evil so great, and so powerful, an evil with no respect for human life. Harry risked his life to bring Cedric’s body home to us. He was barely alive himself.” She stopped, allowing this to sink in. The crowd before her were deathly still. “I loved Cedric…I still do. If I can see that Harry was not to blame for his death, surely you all can too.” She stopped and people began to look at each other, some people looked at the floor in shame - those who Harry recognised as being particularly hostile towards him. Hermione looked as many people in the face as she could, and Ron made himself as tall as possible. The Gryffindor team stood by him tall and proud. Cho caught his eye and she smiled.

“Instead of persecuting him, we should be happy that The Boy Who Lived is still here with us, and thank him for bringing our friend home.” There was another silence and Harry felt overwhelmed. Next to him Ginny was quietly sobbing and Hermione was gripping his arm so tightly he could feel the circulation dropping. Then above the din, above the silence of the crowd Harry heard a strange noise. Someone was clapping. Everyone was turning to see who it was. Expecting it to be Cho herself or maybe Dumbledore, Harry was shocked to see Viktor Krum, the international Quidditch star standing boldly at the front of the crowd of people applauding Cho. Next to him Fleur Delacour joined in, and his fellow Quidditch players joined her. One by one the crowd slowly joined in. Not all of them, but all the teachers, the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and all the Ravenclaw students applauded their housemate’s brave words. It had taken guts to do what she had done and to stand up to her piers for something she believed in, as Neville had once done. Professor Dumbledore stood beside her smiling, but not clapping. Professor Flitwick was cheering so much he floated up higher than Professor McGonagall who was clapping too much to notice.

Finally when the noise had diminished and the people fell silent again, a grinning Cho had one more thing to say.

“However, I just want to say, that Ravenclaw are gonna kick Gryffindor’s backside in the Quidditch tournament this year!” All the Ravenclaws burst into a tremendous roar of shouts, applause and cheers and everyone else, Harry included laughed like they hadn’t done in a very long time.

supercodi95 · 06-18-2008, 09:38 PM

New reader! love it!!

Krysta · 06-18-2008, 09:51 PM

:tackle:
Thank you! You don't know how much that means to me! I thought everyone had stopped reading it!

emjay · 06-18-2008, 11:59 PM

I'm only on chapter 4 right now, but I just had to stop and say how much I love this story! It is so well written and it has really pulled me in.

OK, off to read more . . .

Krysta · 06-19-2008, 07:36 AM

WOOHOO! I have TWO more readers! Happy, happy, Joy, Joy...

<Krysta does the Ren and Stimpy dance>

I'm really glad you're enjoying it!

emjay · 06-20-2008, 04:05 AM

I'm all caught up now . . .

This is sooo good!

I'm dying to know what happened to Draco

Can't wait for the next chapter!

Krysta · 06-20-2008, 08:16 AM

Ok, so the current poll results suggest I should keep posting, which is great coz I love this fic and I want to share it with you all. It has been suggested that I shorten the posts, which I shall try to take on board. Phew, it's gonna take forever to post the entire thing!

Anyway here's the next chapter.
xx

Chapter 12: The Friendly Ones (Part One)

Harry was a little worried about change. But apart from more people saying hello to him in the corridors, and less people avoiding him, things were pretty much back to whatever you could call normal in the life of Harry Potter.

Of course by normal, we’re talking people missing, mysterious creatures hanging around, and a load of strange dreams.

Snape never did turn up. When they got to their first Defence Against The Dark Arts lesson they found Professor Dumbledore waiting for them. Too shocked to ask a load of questions they happily sat down and waited for their headmaster to speak.

“Good afternoon…I regret to inform you that Professor Snape is unable to take your class today…” he paused for the sighs of relief and high-fives to diminish “…And instead I shall take it today. However, for next lesson some other arrangements shall have to be made, as I have other matters to attend to.” Harry was surprised. Snape wasn’t just gone for the day, then. Where had he gone? Did it have something to do with the panther or the kestrel? He looked at his friends. Hermione was chewing her hair thoughtfully unaware of what Harry had seen that morning. Ron on the other hand did know, and kept looking sideways at Harry, obviously thinking the same thing he was. Harry felt extreme relief, but also apprehension and curiosity had sunk in too. He couldn’t help thinking that only something extremely serious could pry Snape away from teaching Defence Against The Dark Arts, and the suspicious look on Hermione’s face suggested the same thought had occurred to her.

As it happened, the lesson was incredibly boring. Defence Against the Dark Arts in the past had always been riveting, full of weird creatures and spectacular demonstrations. Not today. They were told to open their books and make their own notes on the rise and fall of Farretta Gragia, a powerful witch who had released an army of dark creatures on the earth in the middle ages. Hermione buried herself in her books whilst Ron and Harry played with Harry’s new Auto-Quill. They were having a lot of fun putting it under Lavender and Parvati’s desk and waiting for the results, when they noticed a figure standing above them.

“Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter how are your notes going?”

Dumbledore stood next to their desk with a bemused expression on his face as he peered down at them over his glasses.

“Er…fine, fine thank you Professor.” Stuttered Ron whilst Harry was trying desperately not to laugh. Behind them, he could hear Dean and Seamus sniggering softly.

“Oh, good. Oh, it seems you’ve dropped some of them.” The headmaster stooped to pick up a piece of parchment whilst Parvati budged Lavender and stared down at him as he retrieved the quill from under her chair. The two gossiping girls watched in confused suspicion as Professor Dumbledore skimmed the writing. Ron stared in horror as the headmaster’s eyebrows raised and fell, and bemused smiles appeared and disappeared from his face. Harry couldn’t watch, he covered his face with his hands and ignored the “serves you right” expression Hermione was throwing their way.

“An interesting interpretation of Gragia’s lifetime. Though I don’t see what “Seamus’ cute little button nose” has to do with the subject.” He commented a wicked glint in his eye. Harry swallowed hard and Ron’s face was fixed in a horrified expression, as though the wind had changed and it was fixed like that. For a few second Lavender and Parvati just stared in disbelief and embarrassment at the two scoundrels who had eavesdropped on their conversation, and then the anger swelled in them.

“Harry Potter, you nasty, vicious little worm!” screamed Parvati, absolutely livid with him. He cowered from her shouts and stared down at the desk in shame. Hermione looked completely disgusted with the both of them and offered no assistance, instead returning to her book.

“What did we ever do to you? That was really low, Ron. That’s invading…invading someone’s privacy. You’re no better than that horrible, sneaky reporter from last year.” Sneered Lavender sounding extremely hurt, as well as angry and Ron gulped so hard, Harry could actually hear it. Harry felt sick, and the two girls looked it. His stomach sank into his knees and his head felt swollen with shame. He couldn’t look at anyone, not even Ron, and continued to stare at the desk.

“I’m sure you two are aware that Auto-Quills are forbidden in the classroom. Wherever did you get it?” asked the headmaster looking very disappointed at Harry. They both nodded, not able to look at their headmaster.

“My Godfather gave it to me for my birthday, sir.” He said looking imploringly at Dumbledore. Professor Dumbledore’s face softened a little and a slight smile crossed his lips.

“Ah. I should have guessed.” He began “However, is this the best use for it you can think of, Harry?” Harry felt worse than he had for a long time. He hated disappointing Dumbledore, and he felt sicklier by the second. “In light of past events, Mr. Potter, I find it strange that you have shown such a contrasting character to that which Miss Chang so graciously described this morning.” Harry’s heart sank and he closed his eyes, unable to look at anybody in the room though he could feel Lavender and Parvati’s eyes burning into him. “I think Miss Patil and Miss Brown deserve an apology, boys.” Harry swallowed again, before hoarsely and painfully getting some words out.

“I’m sorry…I really am.” It had no effect at all. They both glared at Ron instead.

“Sorry.” Mumbled Ron miserably. The girls scowled and turned to face the front of the room in disgust.

“I’d like to see both of you in my office after class. In the mean time, I’ll take care of this.” Said Dumbledore, taking the quill with a flicker of a smile, which made Harry feel mildly better. Dumbledore never stayed mad at people, especially Harry, but he still felt rotten all the same. What he had done was indeed very low, and he felt very much as Parvati had described him: like a worm.

Hermione wasn’t talking to them, and although Seamus and Dean gave them a slightly bemused grin after class, none of the other girls in the year were talking to them either. Lavender and Parvati were the hub of the gossip community in the 5th year after all and within 5 minutes of leaving the classroom, it felt like everyone knew. The male half of the year found the incident rather funny and even patted them on the back with a laugh, but the girls weren’t at all amused.

Avoiding as many girls as possible they made their way quickly to Dumbledore’s office. The statue opened by itself and they looked at each other apprehensively, Ron looking a little nervous. They climbed the staircase together and when they reached the door at the top, found it open.

“Take a seat, boys.” Came the familiar and somehow reassuring voice, and Harry had the feeling of dejá vu. They sat in the comfy chairs they had sat in before, and waited. They didn’t wait long. “Twice in here already, and in less than a week. This is a record isn’t it, boys?” asked Dumbledore smiling over his specs. Harry and Ron fidgeted uncomfortably.

“Why did you eavesdrop on your fellow students? I am most curious. Got a crush, have you?” he asked mischievously. This broke their miserable mood immediately.

“Certainly not!” cried Ron, then realised he was shouting at the headmaster. Professor Dumbledore chuckled to himself.

“No, I suspect not. I think both your attentions lie else where, am I right?” He said casually, as Ron and Harry exchanged confused and surprised looks. ‘How could Dumbledore know anything about that?’ - Was the question on Ron’s face. ‘Coz he’s Dumbledore.’ Harry’s shrug replied without words.

“Well, sir, Harry has this new auto-quill and we were just testing it.” Ron suddenly blurted out hurriedly.

“We’ve never tried it before, Professor. We were just curious. We knew we weren’t supposed to use it in class…” Harry began a bit ashamed “…but we didn’t use it to cheat on work or anything.” He protested mildly. Dumbledore looked serious for a moment.

“But you did use it to spy on your friends.” He said. They both felt bad already and looked at the floor. Professor Dumbledore opened a drawer in his desk and took out the Auto-Quill. He laid it on top of a plain piece of parchment and nudged it with his forefinger. To Harry’s delight and amazement the quill sprung to life as though it had been touched by a wand. Ron had a huge smile on his face and they both grinned at each other.

“That is so cool.” Said Ron, still smiling.

“Thank you, Mr. Weasley.” Said Dumbledore with a grin, and they all laughed as their conversation was jotted down on the parchment. Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a while.

“Harry, I know you well enough now. You’ve inherited your father’s sense of humour that is clear. He was quite a rascal at school…” He chuckled to himself and Harry grinned at Ron “…but like you he would never have done anything to deliberately hurt anyone. It’s quite typical that Sirius would give you this, he should have known you’d be up to no good with it…but then he was always just as bad as your father, if not worse.” He said jovially but meaningfully. Harry shifted uncomfortably as he remembered what Sirius had done to Snape one night when the moon had been full.

“I will not confiscate this, Harry.” Dumbledore told him, motioning to the still scribbling quill. Dumbledore seemed to become mildly irritated with it and tapped it with his finger it again. It dropped flat onto the desk and lay still. “I understand that it was a gift from Sirius and that it probably means a lot to you. I won’t deduct any points from Gryffindor either, you’ve already put them in the negative after your antics last weekend, and I suspect you’re unpopular enough as it is right now. However, what you did this afternoon cannot go unpunished. Therefore, two weeks detention.” Harry and Ron stared open mouthed in horror.

“Two weeks!” exclaimed Harry.

“Spying on fellow students is a serious matter, Harry, even if you didn’t have malicious intentions. Two weeks detention…besides, I think Hagrid could do with some help. I trust you can both swim?”

Ron had barely spoken a word inside Professor Dumbledore’s office, but now he was raving like a lunatic.

“Two weeks! Two bloody weeks! Just for that! I told you that bloke’s flipped!” Harry remained relatively quiet. He had two reasons; one, that he secretly believed they deserved it for what they had done, and two, he was just glad to have the quill back safe and sound. “And what’s he on about: can we swim? I mean, what on earth could we be doing that involves swimming? Knowing Hagrid it’s probably cleaning the giant squid’s tentacles or something equally fatal.”

This went on all the way back to the common room, and only here did Ron quieten down. They didn’t know how they had managed it, or whether it had been especially planned, but as they stepped through the portrait door, the two boys realised that the common room was almost entirely occupied by girls. The both stopped dead, then moving very carefully around the evil stares, fiery eyes and clenched fisted girls like they were navigating through a minefield they made their way to the stairwell and raced up to their dorm as quickly as they possibly could, slamming the door behind them as though shutting out a powerful and vengeful enemy. The voice from the other side of the room made them jump out of their skins.

“If I were a fox, you two’d be dead.” Said Dean, grinning at the two frightened rabbits by the door. He was stretched out on his four-poster, arms folded behind his head. Seamus was putting up a new poster of a blonde girl on the wall near his bed. Harry recognised her as a Muggle actress from a brand new TV show about vampires. He couldn’t remember her name, but he’d been paying less and less attention to muggle activities like television these days.

“You reckon Sarah would think I had a cute little button nose too?” Seamus asked gazing dreamily at the poster. Dean burst into laughter and even Ron and Harry managed a snigger.

“In your dreams, buddy.” Said Dean, still chuckling. Seamus adopted a mock shocked expression.

“Have you been reading my diary again, Dean?” at this comment, all four of them burst into loud guffaws as Harry and Ron dropped down onto their respective beds. Seamus’ mention of a diary reminded Harry of his own, the one that Ginny had given him for his birthday and he began rummaging in his trunk for it.

“Er, Seamus, me and Harry are y’know, sorry about earlier.” Began Ron, much to Harry’s surprise. Ron wasn’t the best apologiser at the best of time. Seamus waved the comment aside.

“Ah don’t worry about it, mate. Probably did me a favour. Me ‘n’ Lavender have kinda been on-and-off since the Yule Ball last year. She was just a bit embarrassed, it’ll blow over.” Seamus droned in his breezy Irish accent.

“Yeah, well right now ‘bout every girl in the school want our heads on a pole.” Said Harry, leafing through the blank pages of the beautifully made diary. It really was quite exquisite. The leather, apparently dragon hide, was smooth and warm, even in the cool breeze from the open window. It was bound by magic, so that only Harry could open it with an Alohomora spell, which would not work for anyone else. The pages could only be written on, or read by Harry himself, which Harry considered a very thoughtful idea on Ginny’s behalf. She had told him that her father had cast the enchantments, but Ron had since then told him that Mr. Weasley had only told Ginny how to do the spells and that she had actually cast them herself. This was something else that he had failed to notice in the world around him. Besides growing into a young woman without him even noticing, Ginny had also proven to be a talented witch. In her second and third years she had passed in the top 5 students in the year.

“Well I wouldn’t worry about that. You know women. They change their minds with each change of clothing. It’ll be forgotten by tomorrow, you’ll see.” Dean assured them.

They all turned as the door opened and Neville appeared in the door, with an armful of books and a folder. He just made it to the bed before dropping them all.

“Hi, Neville, what you been up to?” asked Seamus, nosey as usual.

“Trying to do that stupid rune thing for our divination homework. But it just doesn’t make sense to me. Those stupid little symbols don’t even represent words or letters, it’s too confusing.”

“Tell me about it.” Said Dean pulling out a folder from under his bed. “Apparently this squiggle is entitled: Constraint, and has over six different meanings. I mean how are you supposed to translate an entire sentence of this sh…rubbish if you can’t even decide what particular meaning the symbol represents.”

“Exactly.” Wailed Neville flopping on his bed next to the disarray of books and pieces of scruffy parchment.

“How far did you get?” asked Harry, grinning at the shattered state of Neville.

“Finished.” He mumbled, his face buried in the sheets.”

“Finished!” they all chorused out of sync.

“Yeah, Hermione and Sharon were down there. Helped me out a bit. Hermione’s in a really bad mood y’know. Didn’t stop moaning about what a load of rubbish it is.” Harry and Ron exchanged a knowing glance.

“Sounds about right. Did she, er, happen to mention us at all?” asked Ron, cautiously. Neville snorted into his bedclothes.

“I think when they were talking about the ‘nasty spying little roaches’ might have been something to do with you.” He said, whilst Dean and Seamus sniggered. Ron gulped and looked a little hurt whilst Harry rolled his eyes.

“Sharon’s alright, really.” Said Neville, changing the subject. Harry nodded. “You’ve known her for years then?” Neville continued, whilst Ron lay on his back yawning, and scratching his freckly nose.

“Yeah, since muggle school. She’s only eleven, but she’s so smart, and really nice. Very bubbly.” He said smiling and Neville nodded enthusiastically.

“Yeah, I noticed. She explains things really well. She told me not to think of runes as words or letters in a sentence, but as pictures telling a story. Like a tapestry.” Harry mulled this over in his head, and he could see that it made sense. “She said if each rune represented a part of life, and the different symbols kind of weave a story.”

“That makes way more sense than the drone of crap…rubbish Professor Trelawney came out with.” Commented Dean and even Ron nodded in agreement. Neville laid his notes out on the end of his bed while Dean and Seamus ooh’d and aah’d over them. Harry began to switch off from their conversation and drifted: far away into the now strangely familiar hazy green fog.

He was in the forest. Darkness surrounded him, a thousand eyes glinting in the shadows. At his feet, an enormous snake slithered through the tall undergrowth and thick foliage. Around him, Unicorns ran away in fear, wildlife scattering in all directions. The eyes watched.

“Harry!”

He snapped from the trance in shock to find Ron shaking him violently.

“Wha…what?” he burbled.

“You passed out. We thought you were asleep but when the dinner bell went you didn’t wake…and that never happens.” Jibed a grinning Seamus. Harry grinned then clutched his head. It thudded against his temples, then as quickly as it appeared, the pain disappeared.

“You ok?” asked Ron looking mildly concerned. Harry nodded as he got up from the bed and they ran all the way to the great hall.

The five boys slid into seats in a cluster, 3 on one side and 2 the other side of the table. Hermione and Ginny were sitting together with some of Ginny’s friends including Reena. Not one of the girls looked in their direction. He was used to Hermione being in a bad mood about something or other, but Ginny ignoring him upset Harry. What must she think of him? He didn’t feel so good again.

The school was alive this evening. There seemed to be an added buzz in the chatter and the voices sounded more excited than usual. A few key words sprang to Harry’s ears: Quidditch, practise, trials.

“Oh dung!” he said a little too loudly causing a few sniggers and giggles (even from the girls). He grinned sheepishly at them all and they went back to their chatter.

“What’s up?” asked Ron who was also grinning.

“Quidditch trials! They’re next Saturday! I forgot!”

“What?!” cried Ron and the sniggers and giggles stared up again. Ignoring them Ron continued, glaring at Harry. “How could you forget?”

“I…I dunno, so much has happened.”

“What’s the problem Harry? In case you’d forgotten, you’re already on the team.” Quipped Fred and Lee, George and Angelina chuckled.

“Yeah, best seeker in the school.” Added Alicia and the others all nodded.

“Here, here!” agreed Angelina, until she got evil looks from the other girls at the school. “Er…I mean…you nasty little sneak, Harry Potter!” she said with fake enthusiasm, causing the rest of the team, Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville to laugh. Harry grinned sheepishly.

“I’m sorry, Ron. We still got a week.”

“In case you’ve forgotten, we have two weeks of detention. When am I supposed to practise?” wailed Ron.

“Serves you right, you horrible little rat.” Hissed Lavender, who then returned to her little group of toffee-nosed young witches. Ron and Harry, although having nothing against Lavender and Parvati, their friends were not exactly their kind of people. There’s a group like this in every school. All girls, and all with a chip on their shoulder. They spend all their time decided who’s cool and who isn’t, and seem to live to disapprove of something. Harry and Ron ignored them and rolled their eyes.

“Ron, are you trying out this year?” they were both surprised to hear Ginny’s voice. They both turned to look at her although she avoided eye contact with Harry. She’s definitely annoyed with me. He thought to himself. He couldn’t blame her though. This really wasn’t what Harry needed right now. She was already being cold towards him for some unknown reason, and now he’d just made things worse.

“Er, yeah.” Ron said cautiously as Hermione gave Ginny disgusted looks for daring to talk to them. Ginny ignored them.

“What position?” she asked again. She seemed awfully interested, Harry thought. Ron shrugged.

“Not sure yet, chaser or keeper. Probably keeper though, coz I got more experience in that.” That was true, thought Harry. In the games at home, Ron always took the keeper position, and of what he’d seen, Harry thought he was pretty good. Not Oliver Wood good, but good all the same. Ginny nodded and seemed to relax and return to her conversation with Hermione. Harry was suspicious.

“Why?” he asked sharply. Ginny looked around again, a little shocked. She paused before answering.

“Just taking an interest.” She said defensively. Harry was just about to ask another question when George butted in.

“Hey did you all hear that Oliver’s trying out for the England team. He’s got a good chance apparently.” This got an excited buzz going around the table, and Harry couldn’t miss the thankful look Ginny threw her big brother, as George winked back to her.

Krysta · 06-20-2008, 08:19 AM

Here's part 2. I know my chapters are long, but take it easy. Take your time and enjoy it. It's not a race. I'll leave plenty of time for everyone to catch up before posting chapter 13. (I really should be writing novels...)

xx

In the end, they were both glad to be out of the castle. Sure, they had detention, but they were quite happy to leave the common room full of girls for the outdoors. There was a gentle hazy mask over the early evening. It was warm, but there was a heaviness to the atmosphere that seemed to make every movement an effort. They trudged across the slightly damp grass to Hagrid’s hut and rapped loudly on the door. They were surprised when they got no answer.

“Where is he? Don’t suppose he’s forgotten do you?” asked Ron almost hopefully, but the familiarly loud and jovial bellows from several feet away told them otherwise.

“There you two scoun’rels are!” they turned to see Hagrid with a huge grin on his face, carrying a huge net over his enormous shoulder. “C’mon or we’ll be losin’ the light.” He ordered, turning and striding off towards the lake.” They followed in double time to keep up with his slightly larger than average strides.

“Hagrid, what exactly are we doing? What on earth is that net for.” Asked Harry finding it hard to talk and run at the same time.

“You’ll see, you’ll see.” Hagrid was extremely excited about something and the boys couldn’t help but worry about that. They hadn’t seen him this excited since he’d taken a certain egg out of a cauldron over his fire and watched it hatch.

Both with apprehension they followed Hagrid all the way to the water’s edge where a small dinghy bobbed up and down on the gentle ripples.

“In yer get.” Exchanging a concerned look, they both clambered carefully into the boat and to their shock, Hagrid climbed in after them. They were sure the boat would either capsize or just simply sink under his bulk but somehow they remained afloat. Gripping the sides until their knuckles were white, the boys peered into the dark depths of the lake as Hagrid cast off. About 600ft (180m) from the bank, Hagrid moored the boat with a seemingly invisible anchor and turned to the boys. Harry was a little nervous. He remembered his encounters in the lake last year during the second task of the Triwizard Contest. He knew what was down there. He wasn’t worried about the Mer people. They were friendly enough if you left them alone. It was the Grindylows he was worried about. Hagrid handed them each a lump of stringy green-grey matter, which Harry recognised immediately: Gillyweed.

“Oh yuck, not again.” He moaned.

“I ain’t eating that, Hagrid. Harry says it’s horrible.”

“Well, ok, you can drown instead and get the bends.” Said Hagrid grinning. Sheepishly the both grimaced and managed to stuff the Gillyweed into their mouths. The both chewed, slowly, agonisingly trying not to gag on the slippery, rubbery-like substance in their mouths.

“So what are we meant to do, anyway?” asked Harry pulling a face as he swallowed the Gillyweed and waited for the effects to take place. Hagrid got all excited again and handed them each a huge coil of the netting he’d been carrying. Ron turned it over in his hands and gasped. It was silver. It shimmered in the evening sunshine. It was the finest, softest weave Harry had ever seen. It was smooth and silky to the touch and when they held it open slightly, Harry swore he could see right through it as though it weren’t there. But when he reached out to touch it, it was a solid blanket.

“What do we do with these? What are they?”

“Nets!” said Hagrid as though it was the most stupid question he’d ever heard.

“Yes, but they’re not like normal nets. They’re so gentle and soft. And made of silver!”

“Oh, it’s not silver, that’s just the spell on them. They’re meant to be soft like that, we don’t to hurt any of the poor things do we?” he said grinning. Harry and Ron looked at each other suspiciously. So this was about an animal of some kind.

“Ok, Hagrid, what’s going? What’s going in the lake?” Hagrid avoided Ron’s question.

“What? Oh you’ll find out, they’ll be here on Saturday, anyway. I know you’ve got 2 weeks detention so you can help me feed them next week, you’ll enjoy it.” He said cheerfully, as he rummaged in a wooden casket in the bottom of the boat, retrieving a handful of hooks and two hammers.

“Just so long as they don’t feed on us.” Whispered Ron, and Harry sniggered.

“Right, now this is going to take a while, so we’ve got to work fast. You’ll be putting the net in place, right across the lake cutting off this section nearest the castle.” Hagrid informed them using his arms to indicate the section of lake they’d just rowed across. It was a vast area of water, and they couldn’t help but wonder exactly how big this thing was that Hagrid was having delivered at the weekend.

“The problem is going to be the Grindylows.”

“You’re not kidding!” exclaimed Harry, thinking back to last year.

“I’ll stay up here and direct them all into the other half of the lake. The area of water we’re separating off must be free of Grindylows, that’s really important. That’s what the net’s for. They can’t get past it. Harry, you know how to deal with them, right?” Hagrid continued his instructions. Harry nodded.

“Relashio.” He said to Ron, who nodded and got his wand ready, as if expecting one of the nasty little water imps to suddenly leap out of the lake and attack him.

“Good, good.” Said Hagrid, handing them a pouch to tie around their waists, which they did. Each was full of the net-hooks and had a rubber-headed hammer tucked into a loop on the belt. Harry could feel the Gillyweed was having its desired effect as his neck itched and suddenly gills appeared in his skin. The astonished look on Ron’s face told him the same thing had happened with him. “Well looks like you two are ready.” Said Hagrid with a slight chuckle. “Pin the net down with the hooks no more than 10 feet apart. You can use your wands to make sure they’re locked in place. Simple locking spell should do it.” He announced, and Ron and Harry exchanged a curious glance. They both spoke together:

“Locking spell?” Hagrid rolled his eyes in exasperation, and the expression was so Hermione-like both Ron and Harry smirked.

“Honestly, do you two pay any attention at all in Charms? Fermus!” he told them and they nodded. Ron repeated the word over to himself a couple of times as though to drum it into his memory.

“Right down you go. We’re dead centre right now, so if you both work from here and work outwards…” the both nodded.

“I’ll go towards the road, you go towards the forest.” Ron suggested and Harry nodded.

“Brilliant. Now, there’s plenty more net where this came from. If you get tired just come up for a rest. Pull the netting nice and tightly, we don’t want any holes at the bottom.” Both boys nodded and slipped into the water. “Good luck.” Called Hagrid as they disappeared beneath the water’s surface and from view.

It was shockingly cold down deep. As the light from the setting sun above began to diminish in the murky depths of the lake, the temperature went with it. He was surprised. But when he had been down here before, it had been in the heat of early summer and in the middle of the day. The chill that had been in the air above water was nothing compared to the chill down here. He and Ron swam down together with powerful strokes using their legs to gain as much depth as possible in a short time. They both wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. As they reached the lake’s bed, the light had almost completely been filtered out. Ron retrieved his wand and said something into the water, which to Harry was just a cloud of bubbles. When Ron’s wand began to glow and light the water and ground around them, his spell became clear. Lumos. Harry followed suit and his glowing wand joined Ron’s in illuminating the area they gently floated in. Harry took out the hammer and a hook from the belt Hagrid had given him and together, he and Ron slowly unravelled the huge coil of netting they carried. Somehow they found what they estimated to be the centre on the netting and staked in firmly to the ground. Ron held out his wand.

“Fermus.” He commanded through another cloud of bubbles, and the hook glowed a mild red before returning to its original steel colour. Ron grinned triumphantly, his shock of red hair flowing upwards in waves looking decidedly like a crimson anemone. Harry grinned back, dreading to think what his mop looked like down here. He was amazed his glasses had stayed on, but just in case, he pointed his wand at them.

“Ferula!” he bubbled and a series of thin bandages attached themselves to the stems of his glasses, binding them behind his head. He grinned at Ron who clapped as quickly as the water would let him. Ron pointed behind him and held up his hammer and his end of the net. Harry nodded and gave him an ‘OK’ sign, taking his own end of the net and headed off in the opposite direction.

Ron wasn’t in sight anymore. Harry found it very disorientating down here, and resurfaced a couple of times just to get his bearings and ensure he was still going in the right direction. He was ok, unbelievably and only had to re-peg two of his hooks to get back on course when he had begun to drift a little. He discovered that the Alohomora charm unlocked the hooks quite easily and so he was able to get back on course with no problem.

He was surprised that he had only covered a small area of the lake. It was much wider that it was long out here. He had to cover the same distance with netting that they had covered earlier in the boat, and that was just his half. So far he estimated he had completed only a third of the distance to the bank he was headed for by the forest. Still there were two more nights to finish this before whatever it was Hagrid was having delivered arrived on Saturday.

He only came across four Grindylows and he was able to deter them easily with his wand, though they went away extremely aggravated and he was sure they were plotting something.

Harry hadn’t had much time to notice the surroundings last year. He was on a mission to rescue Ron from the Mer people at the time and wasn’t really interested in sightseeing. Now he gazed around him with wonder as he swam from post to post. He had always thought the lake to be just a lake. Ok, so there was a giant squid down here somewhere and a colony of Mer people not to mention the not-so-friendly Grindylows. But it was a brand new world down here. In the blue light of his wand shoals of incredible fish swam and danced in its glow. Some swam away in alarm upon encountering this strange human that had invaded their home. But others stayed and danced in Harry’s wand light. He watched them with interest wishing that he could speak ‘fish’ as well as ‘snake’ so he could know what they were thinking and saying to each other.

All too soon he had run out of netting and so he swam to the surface and made his way back to the boat.

“Hi Hagrid!” he called, glad to hear his voice properly again. Hagrid beamed down at him and reached a large hand out, which Harry took as Hagrid pulled him into the boat with one mighty tug. Harry was fifteen now and not a scrawny little kid, so he thought that quite impressive, even for Hagrid.

“That was quick, ‘arry. Go ok?” he asked in his broken West-Country accent. Harry nodded shaking some water from his ears. He undid his binding spell and took off his glasses, drying them on the towel Hagrid handed him. Putting them back on his nose he wrapped himself in a blanket and began to dry his hair with the towel. Taking the belt off he handed it back to Hagrid who dropped it back in the wooden casket.

“Used a good few hooks then, good, good, should be nice and secure. You did quite well on distance. You’ll be quicker tomorrow night, now you’re used to it.” Hagrid chatted away, and Harry began to wonder where Ron was. If someone had told him he’d be doing this every night for three days he’d have run a mile, but he was actually looking forward to tomorrow’s detention. He wanted to be down at the bottom of the lake with his new fishy friends. It was so peaceful down there. No silly gossipy girls to disapprove of everything you do.

Where was Ron? Harry had been in the boat for a good twenty minutes now and he was freezing. The sun was nearly set and the sky in the distance was indigo as night approached. The water that still clung to his skin and clothes was beginning to make him shiver as the warmth from the evening slowly drained away. Harry was beginning to worry. He consoled himself that maybe Ron’s section of netting was somehow much longer than Harry’s. That didn’t hold much water (no pun intended) though as Harry himself had resurfaced every 20 minutes or so to check his bearings. Ron hadn’t appeared once since Harry had returned to the boat.

“Hagrid, maybe I should go and look for him.” He said, the worry showing in his voice. After a long pause, Hagrid nodded and Harry began unwrap himself from the blankets he had cocooned himself in. Just as he was preparing to re-enter the water however a load splash met their ears as Ron re-surfaced and began frantically swimming for the boat. Harry felt relief set in and he sat down again.

“You had us worried there!” he shouted. He frowned. Something was wrong. There was something anxious in the way Ron was swimming and they watched, to their horror he suddenly disappeared under the surface.

“Ron!” screamed Harry. He didn’t hesitate. He grabbed his wand and dove into the water causing the boat to rock. He swam with urgency to where he had last seen Ron and dove deep following the bubbles of the wake Ron had left behind him. Harry couldn’t believe how deep the trail had gone. He was beginning to panic slightly now. What had happened? Had something attacked Ron? Harry couldn’t think of another explanation. He was so busy worrying that he swam into and collided with something: something that fought back in a panic. It was Ron. He tried to shout Ron’s name but only a cloud of bubbles left his mouth and all too quickly, Ron was plucked away again. This time, Harry could see what was happening though. 5 Grindylows had a hold on Ron’s legs and were pulling him deeper and deeper into the lake. Immediately, Harry had his wand at the ready, aiming it straight at the nearest Grindylow.

“Relashio!!!” he screamed as loudly as he could and a bolt of boiling hot bubbles shot through the water hitting the water imp squarely in the back. The creature screamed and swam away at top speed, shaking his fist angrily at Harry. The others, having sensed a disturbance, turned and accidentally released Ron who spun around thumping one of the Grindylows on the head. It squealed at him in annoyance and chased after Ron as he swam urgently away from his captors. Harry shot another stream of boiling bubbles at it and it screamed something unintelligible at them both before turning angrily and swimming away. The other three Grindylows, seeing their prisoner was no longer alone retreated after the others as fast as they could, shouting things behind them as the went. Harry grabbed Ron’s arm and they swam to the surface together.

Hagrid got the boat back to the bank so quickly they left foam in a trail behind them. He wouldn’t let one of them speak, instead wrapping Ron tightly in blankets. No one spoke. The two boys shivered in the night air. Night had come quickly, and Harry had been surprised by it. It was still late summer and the sun had set a good hour earlier than the previous evening. Harry puzzled over this while Hagrid half lead, half carried Ron across the grounds. He left them with strict instructions of tea, food and a hot bath. They smiled wearily and disappeared into the castle.

In the kitchens the House Elves busied around them being as helpful as they knew how. Almost immediately they were seated on comfy stools with mugs of sweet steaming tea in their hands. Harry was relieved to see some colour return to Ron’s face as he warmed his freezing fingers around his hot mug. Dobby was sitting on a stool with them wearing a yellow and red woolly hat with a lion knitted on the front. He noticed Harry smiling at it and proudly touched it.

“Your Miss gave it to me. So I can support Gryffindor in the Quidditch games.” Harry was surprised.

“Hermione?” he asked and even the shattered Ron took some notice. Dobby nodded excitedly.

“She said it was thank you for the food. But Dobby doesn’t need a nice hat for food. I’m just doing what I get paid to do.” He said with even more pride, which he tried to hide. Dobby was extremely pleased with himself, being the only living paid house elf.

“What food?” mumbled Ron who was chewing on a bacon sandwich gratefully.

“When she’s working at night. Up all hours she is, and Jimpy sees her one night and he tells me and I goes to see Miss, and she says she’s got some really important work to do. So me and Jimpy gets her some food and drink, because you know you can’t do research without food, I says.” Harry and Ron remained silent for a while.

“Dobby, did Hermione say what the research was for?” asked Harry slowly. Dobby answered immediately.

“Oh yes, it’s about that pretty necklace. Girls like pretty things don’t they?” Ron dropped his sandwich in shock, but Harry didn’t look so surprised. He turned to Ron.

“Ever since she woke up, she’s been obsessed with that pendant. She’s determined to find out what it is.” Ron shook his head.

“She always does this to herself. She’s going to make herself ill.” Harry nodded in agreement.

Harry looked around the room aimlessly. Dobby was acting quite elusively, rabbiting on about this and that, all of which had little or no meaning really. Dobby had never been any good at hiding something and so Harry was a little suspicious. Ron didn’t seem to have noticed, but he was too busy rubbing the red marks on his wrists and ankles to pay much attention. What had happened down there in the lake? Ron hadn’t wanted to talk about it, so Harry hadn’t pushed him. Right now Harry wondered what it was Dobby was deliberately trying to avoid talking about. He thought about asking him straight out because when put on the spot, the little house elf more often than not caved in and told them everything. He was about to ask him when he suddenly realised what was missing.

“Dobby, where’s Winky?” Dobby’s eyes grew wide and terrified and before either of the boys knew what was happening Dobby had burst into tears. He balled his eyes out, blabbering incoherent words at them until Harry couldn’t stand any more. He placed his hands firmly on Dobby’s shoulders.

“Dobby, stop crying. STOP IT!” he shouted and a few of the busy house elves turned and tutted before returning to their work. They obviously still didn’t approve of Dobby’s liberal behaviour.

“Oh it’s all Dobby’s fault, Harry Potter. I told them, and they took her away.” He began to ball again and Harry had to shake him to make him stop.

“Dobby, told who, what?”

“I told sir where she was, and now she’s gone.” He sniffed back more tears, accepting the mildly damp hanky Harry offered him. “Thank you Harry Potter.” He blew his nose and offered the hanky back to Harry who shook his head.

“You keep it, Dobby.” Harry couldn’t believe so much snot could come out of someone so small. Dobby looked delighted and folded it as neatly as possible and tucked it into an indigo and violet sock (the other was green and yellow).

“Dobby, tell us what happened.” Harry said more calmly. Dobby repositioned himself on the stool and took a deep breath.

“Master came to see Dobby, and he wanted to know where Winky was…and I told him!” he began to cry again in wails and screams. Ron rolled his eyes and looked extremely tired.

“Dobby, you mean Dumbledore came and asked where she was, and then he took her away?” Dobby looked surprised and stopped crying.

“No, Mr. Wheezy. Not Dobby’s employer. Not Professor Dumbydoor. Dobby’s old master: Mister Malfoy.” Harry and Ron stared at Dobby in disbelief. Ron’s blanket dropped to floor and he didn’t even notice. A billion thoughts ran through Harry’s mind but not one of them made any sense. Finally when his head came back down to earth, one question was rolling around and around inside. It was Ron who voiced it.

“What in Spirit’s name would Lucius Malfoy want with Winky?”

Krysta · 06-20-2008, 08:20 AM

And finally: Part 3

They were unable to get anything else out of Dobby, and Harry didn’t think he knew anything more. They had headed straight back to the common room from the kitchen laden with biscuits and cakes which the house elves had insisted they take with them, past the still disapproving selection of girls and up into the dormitory. Ron had headed straight for a hot shower whilst Harry slowly gathered his towel, gown and shower things. He sat on the edge of his bed for a few minutes thinking hard, but it was no use. He simply couldn’t think of a reason for Lucius Malfoy to kidnap a perfectly innocent House Elf.

Ron returned ten minutes later and Harry gave him a nod and headed off for the shower himself. The water felt good. His skin had really begun to feel frozen and his body temperature had dropped considerably. He spent 10 minutes just standing in the hot steady stream of water, trying to empty his mind of everything. He failed. Even after he’d managed to put Winky out of his head other things would pop in unexpectedly. Hermione for one. Why was she spending all night searching for information on the pendant? It didn’t make sense. She was obsessive, but not that obsessive. Some older ghosts came back to haunt him. Snape going missing, the mysterious letters and their sender, the kestrel…his mind was overloaded and he desperately wanted peace.
Peace came unexpectedly. He tried hard to push everything out of his mind, banishing them from his forethoughts, wrapping them in a tight film. In their place a hazy green fog took over.

He was in the forest again. The snake slithered through the undergrowth, the eyes watching his every move. They were everywhere: red, hungry eyes. Hungry they were, for they were empty. No emotion showed in their eerie glow as they followed him through the trees. Just eagerness, a longing for fulfilment, a longing to feed.

He shivered and a there was a stirring in the woods around him. Up ahead he could see a light. A warm glow illuminating what appeared to be an ancient building. He gasped as something ran past him. It was the panther, but something wasn’t quite right.

“You don’t belong here.” He said out loud and the great cat stopped and turned to face him.

“Neither do you.” The voice echoed around his head and he realised that he and the panther were apart from their surroundings.

“I’m not here.” He said as the huge snake slithered straight through the spot where the panther stood, as though the panther were transparent, a ghost.

“No. I am not a ghost. They are the ghosts. See Harry. Open your eyes. See what once was.” And as understanding set in he felt the forest slipping away. He was inside the building once more. Huge stone bricks either side of him he followed the panther down the corridor once more and into the great chamber. The cat ran straight to the alter-size slab and disappeared through it. He followed it only finding that he could not pass through as the beast had done. He gazed down at the runic symbols before him. Some of them looked familiar now.

“If I could remember them…” he thought to himself, his silent words echoing around the room.

Suddenly he felt coldness in the air. He no longer felt alone. He turned to see his new companion and fell back against the stone tablet in horror when he saw the face of the pale figure before him.

“This…is the end.” Lord Voldemort’s words rung around his over and over in echoes as he felt the world falling away from him and he sank deep into consciousness.

He awoke gasping for air as hot water pounded his skin relentlessly. In a panic he grasped for something, anything to lift himself to his feet. As the blood in his head and ears slowed and the thumping subsided, he began to recognise his surroundings. He fumbled for the shower and turned it off, still gasping for air.

What time was it? How long had he been unconscious? He wrapped his bathrobe around him and pulled his towel from the heated rail, grabbed his things and stumbled from the showers.

Ron was asleep when he got back to the dorm. He was lucky not to pass anyone on his way down the stairs from the shower room on the top floor of the tower. He could still hear voices and laughter from the common room below, so it could not be very late, plus Dean, Seamus and Neville were nowhere to be seen. He crossed to his bed thankfully sinking down into the soft covers wrapping them around his still damp body. He couldn’t believe it was so cold for this time of year. Shivering he pulled the blankets up closer around him and rocked gently back and forth. Gradually his heart rate slowed to normal and his breathing became less laboured. He took his new watch from his bedside cabinet, admiring the red-brown-gold dragon amber it was set in, realised it was barely 9 o’clock.

He yawned and realised how tired he was. Talking could wait until tomorrow, and tomorrow was going to be a long day. Slowly, he changed into his pyjamas and hid under the covers of his bed. Ten minutes later he was sound asleep.

He didn’t get a chance to talk to Ron until lunchtime the next day. He awoke unusually early the next morning and it was still dark. Ron was still fast asleep and Harry couldn’t really blame him. Unable to fall asleep again he clambered out of bed and went to the window. He was surprised at exactly how dark it was. It was 6:30 and the sun was barely poking its head over the distant hills. He shivered in the still cold air and wrapped another blanket around himself.
It was quiet outside. No kestrels flew across the castle and no black panthers and potions teachers were wandering around the grounds. He was relieved to feel as though things were normal for a change. He shuffled back to the bed and sat cross-legged with the pillows supporting his back. He took the diary Ginny had given him from his cabinet and tapped it with his wand.

“Alohomora” It clicked and it unlocked. He opened it to the front page. Selecting a nice quill from his drawer he began to write.

September 9th 1995

Dear Diary,

I’ve never written a diary before so I don’t know if I’m doing this right. If someone finds this and works out how to read it I’d just like to say that I am not insane, and that everything I write in here is the truth as I understand it to be.

He paused with the quill feather to his lips, thinking hard. Where the hell did he start?

Things have been so weird recently. Everything’s changing.

Even my friends are changing and I’ve missed it all. I think I’m a really selfish person. My best friend is practically a body builder and I never even noticed he’s hit six foot already! My other best friend Hermione is suddenly all, well, curvy and stuff and I can’t get used to it. I mean, she’s still Hermione, but…different.

Then there’s Ginny. This feels really weird, but I have to get this out somewhere. I can’t talk to Ron because he’s her brother, and he’d probably beat the crud out of me. She always was just, well, little Ginny. I hardly noticed her at all. I knew when she was in the first year she had a crush on me but I think I handled it badly. Again, I think I’m really selfish, and I’ve kind of become self-absorbed. She’s made me realise that. We argued recently and she said a few things to open my eyes.

It was really weird. One day she was just little Ginny, and the next…wow. Suddenly she’s all legs and curves and (if anyone reads this I’ll kill them) and I’m going crazy I think to feel this way about my best friend’s little sister. She’s amazing. She so exciting and funny and wonderful to be around. I thought I was in love with this girl called Cho, but I got to know her better recently and realised it was just a crush. I think we could be friends though. With Ginny it’s the other way around. I thought we were just friends but, this is hard to write even though I know no one is going to read it, I think I’m falling in love with her.

No, this can’t be right. I can’t be writing this. This is insane. I know I said I was sane, but I take it back. I’m completely nutso and I don’t want to write anymore, goodbye.

He stopped, quill poised over the page staring at what he’d just written in astonishment. Had he just written that? Surely not.

He didn’t hear the movement by the bed and before he knew what was happening, the diary had been snatched from his hands. He looked up startled to see Seamus staring at the page in puzzlement.

“Hey!” he yelled and woke Ron, who stared bleary eyed at them from across the room.

“This isn’t a diary is it, Potter?” he asked with a grin.

“It was a gift, now give it back.” he shouted, amazed at the anger in his voice. Would Seamus be able to read it? To his relief he threw the book back at Harry in disgust.

“This is no use to me, it’s empty.” He said in disappointment. “I could have sworn I saw you writing.” He said casually walking away to his bed. Harry caught the knowing look from Ron. Ron knew the diary’s secret. He grinned sheepishly at him and Ron grinned back and turned over.

They were both quiet at breakfast and yawned so much they received many sly comments and jokes from the twins about night time activities. They grinned and laughed the comments off, ignoring the filthy looks they were all getting from the girls at the table. The only girl not paying them any attention at all, strangely enough was Ginny. She seemed preoccupied somewhat and spent most of the meal making funny shapes in her food and studying them carefully.

“Hey, is this breakfast or art class?” shouted George making her jump.

“The shame of it. Fourteen years old and still playing with her food. What would Mum say?” said Fred, putting on a sad tone and George patted him on the back. Ginny looked disorientated, but soon returned to her study on the contents of her plate.

The rest of the morning was simple enough. They had double Charms, which was never hard to get through, especially with Neville and Seamus to amuse everyone with their antics. Lavender, Parvati and Hermione were still avoiding them. The prior two they weren’t really bothered about, but they thought Hermione would at least be talking to them by now. It wasn’t like they’d done something that terrible. It had only been a harmless joke after all. It was at lunchtime that they eventually got a chance to talk. It was actually quite mild outside, so they wrapped their lunch in paper napkins and went to sit outside. They sat by they lake looking out over the water they had been swimming in last night.

“I just froze.”

Harry looked at his friend in surprise, giving him a questioning look. Ron nodded out across the water.

“Out there. Last night. I just froze. I couldn’t remember the charm. Once they realised I was defenceless they seemed to appear out of nowhere.” He fell silent and Harry put down his sandwich. He didn’t know what to say. “I can’t even remember a simple spell, Harry. I’m useless.” Harry stared at his friend shocked and almost angry.

“That’s rubbish!” he shouted and Ron looked shocked himself. “Ron you forgot one spell when you were caught by surprise. It happens. To everyone.” Ron remained silent but seemed to be thinking. Eventually he nodded slowly.

“Thanks Harry. I knew it, but needed to hear it from someone else.” Harry nodded and that was the end of it.

“I’m worried about Hermione though.” Harry said and Ron nodded eagerly.

“Yeah. She’s not herself at the moment. Well, she is, but she’s a more extreme version of herself.” Harry nodded in agreement.

“I thought to start with it was just a, you know, girl thing, but it’s been going on for too long. This research she’s been doing in secret, not talking to us for two days. Hanging around with Patil and Brown for spirit’s sake, she doesn’t even like them.”

“I know.” Harry agreed again. “I think…we should do something for her. I’m not bothered about the other two, but Hermione I care about. I feel like we ought to do something to make it up to her.” Ron thought about this for a while and slowly nodded.

“But what?” Harry shrugged in answer. He didn’t know.

That night they set off after dinner for the lake. Ron had fully recovered from his ordeal the night before and it wasn’t long before they were both several hundred feet down, tacking the great silvery net to the lake’s bed.

Harry was having a wonderful time. He worked swiftly enjoying the company he was keeping. He loved how peaceful it was down here, watching his newfound friends swim around in their colourful shoals. They seemed almost as interested in him as he was in them and he took a few minutes to play with them, letting them swim around his body, chasing them and letting them chase him in his underwater heaven. When he ran out of netting he was hesitant to return to the surface but when he did he was shocked to discover he’d covered nearly twice the ground he had the previous night. He was barely 200 feet from the bank nearest the forest. He swam back to the boat to find a grinning Hagrid holding out a thin coil of netting to him.

“Told yer you’d be quicker tonight. I think we’ll be finished by 9 o’clock. Tomorrow we can just sit in the boat and get the last remaining Grindylows out of the area. Aren’t many left I imagine. Not after the payback Ron’s been giving them. Chased a good 20 or so onto the other side of the net I reckon.” Hagrid grinned and Harry laughed, swallowing a mouthful of water in the process, which promptly dripped out of the gills on his neck. It was a weird sensation, and not particularly pleasant.

“Has he been up here already?” asked Harry in surprise. Hagrid laughed loudly.

“At least 10 minutes before you stopped playing with the fish.” Harry stared open mouthed at Hagrid.

“How did you know?!” Hagrid grinned from ear to ear.

“I didn’t it was a guess, but you just confirmed it.” They both laughed.

An hour later the entire stretch of water was isolated and both Ron and Harry were back in the boat peering over the side with their wands pointed at the water. Every now and then one of them would point their wands at something below the surface and shout “Relashio!” laughing as an extremely annoyed Grindylow leapt out of the water with a squeal. Hagrid would then use his ‘umbrella’ to catch them and direct them over to the other side of the netting. Soon Hagrid declared the area Grindylow-free and they headed back to the bank of the lake.

“Hagrid, what are we going to do tomorrow night? We’ve finished a day early.” Asked Ron helping to moor the boat to a wooden post on the bank.

“Well, I suppose you can have the night off, but I want you here on Saturday morning for when they arrive. Can always do with an extra couple ‘o’ pairs ‘o’ hands.” Hagrid announced and the boys nodded in acknowledgement.

Friday came and went eventless and the boys were beginning to get quite excited. Neither of them knew what the creature or creatures were which they had been preparing for. It was all they talked about. Hermione still hadn’t talked to them and Ron was getting increasingly upset. Harry missed her company terribly. He’d had fun with Ron but they didn’t feel complete without her around. Neither of them understood why she was taking it so seriously. She hadn’t even asked what their detention had been or what they had been up to for the last two days. It was driving them mad because they longed to tell her all about it.

Ron was determined to find some way of making it up to her, but so far had drawn blanks when it came to ideas. Luckily for both of them the perfect opportunity was just around the corner.

Saturday morning was pleasantly sunny. At 8 o’clock they both got up, though Harry took some gentle encouragement – i.e. a cup full of freezing cold water on his face – to wake up, but at 8:20 they left the snoring Neville and sleeping Seamus and Dean behind and ran down the stairs and out of the common room full of excitement. They pushed past Filch who screamed after them causing Ron to call behind him:

“Sorry, we got a detention, can’t stop.” And laughing they hurried out of the castle and towards the lake. When they got there they were shocked to find that there were only two people there. One was Hagrid who was casting an enormous shadow in the morning sun, and the other a small young African woman in traditional dress. She nodded politely to them and they smile a return.

“I already like them Hagrid. They have lovely auras. So vibrant.” She beamed and Hagrid laughed.

“Well they’s the best ‘o’ chaps if you ask me. Boys this is Anyara.” They said their hellos and she smiled sweetly at them.

“I think they will be most happy here, Hagrid. Especially with these two tending to them, they always know the good ones when they meet them…and the bad ones.” She spoke with beautiful English in a charming African accent. She smiled at the boys again and they smiled back a little confused. What on earth were these mystical creatures anyway?

“Well, I think it’s about time.” Announced Hagrid and Anyara smiled handing Hagrid a small wand-type stick, which he took from her gently. The little woman moved a few steps away also carrying a similar stick. The boys jumped when the tiny little woman suddenly started chanting in a language neither of them understood. In fact Harry thought it was familiar, but he could not place it. It wasn’t like a language at all, more like a series of noises or calls like that of an animal. She was calling something. They both held up the sticks and she called a few more times. Harry felt a wind rushing through his hair and his head felt light. A look at Ron showed he was experiencing the same thing.
Harry gasped as on the wind a new noise could be heard. In awe, Ron pointed up into the sky over the lake. A twisting circle of wind was forming and from its eye came cries and calls much like those Anyara had made herself. But these Harry thought he recognised. And as the beautiful creatures dove out of the twisting cyclone and into the icy waters he couldn’t believe his eyes. Two-dozen shimmering blue-grey dolphins leapt and dived in and out of the water singing to each other as they danced on the ripples and waves of the lake.

Harry’s heart did a full twist in his chest. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He could barely speak.

“They’re beautiful.” He gasped and Ron was speechless beside him. They managed to tear their eyes away to look at Hagrid. Not too surprisingly his eyes were full of tears.

“I never thought I’d live to see the day. Oh they’re so beautiful.”

Next to them Anyara smiled and touched Hagrid’s arm.

“You know where I am if you need me.” And with that she vanished.

Ron and Harry remained practically speechless for several seconds after she had disapparated. They could hear the occasional sniffle from Hagrid and sudden enough to make him jump Ron grabbed his arm.

“Harry, this is it!” Ron cried and Harry stared at him totally oblivious. “Come on!” he shouted again and pulled Harry away from the water’s edge. Several of the dolphins stopped and watched them leave before returning to their games.

“Ron what on earth are you doing?” he shouted trying to free himself from Ron’s grasp. Ron gladly let him go, and increased his speed across the great lawn to the castle. Harry wanted to be back at the lake with the magical creatures but Ron was running off like a mad man. “Ron! Where are you going?” he called again. Ron didn’t even turn around to answer.

“She has to see this, Harry!” and suddenly Harry realised what was going on.

“They both burst into the common room to find it empty. They hovered for a millisecond before Ron tore off up the girl’s staircase.

“Ron you can’t go up there!” he shouted but Ron ignored him. He burst into the girl’s dorm a few seconds later to be greeted by screams. Luckily the girls in the room were dressed but they immediately started laying into them.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing Ron Weasley…Hey!” shouted Hermione as Ron grabbed her arm and began dragging her to the door.

“Let go of me Ron!” she screamed at him.

“You have to see this, you have to, and you won’t believe it.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you…Argh!” she was cut off when to everyone’s amazement Ron grabbed her and lifted her into his arms, carrying her from the room. Harry stared in astonishment. He didn’t know Ron was that strong, but he followed Ron out of the door and the other girls followed in bewilderment. An idea quickly flickered in Harry’s mind. Ron had already disappeared with a loudly protesting Hermione still in his arms but Harry instead knocked on another door. A little dark skinned girl opened it.

“Reena is she here, this is really important.” He demanded breathlessly. She just stared at him open-mouthed and suddenly Ginny appeared at the door.

“Harry! What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, you…you just gotta come with me…” he was desperately out of breath “listen I’m not going to pick you up and carry you out like Ron’s just done with Hermione so you’ll just have to come with me.” He managed to wheeze at her. She stared at him in confusion and shock.

“Ron just carried Hermione away?” he cut her off.

“Come on, you have to come with me now!” he grabbed her by the hand clasping her fingers in his and pulled her from the room. Luckily she didn’t protest and let him lead her from the common room.

Still hand in hand they stood at the water’s edge gazing out at the shimmering surface as it was broken in gentle splashes by the playful creatures residing within. Ron and Hermione were crouching at the water’s edge stroking and playing with a particularly friendly dolphin that bobbed up and down at their feet calling to them in its squeaky rumbled voice. They both laughed gently and Harry noticed the smiles they were giving each other. His heart felt at rest. His attention was drawn back to the girl at his side. Ginny couldn’t take her eyes off the wonderful creatures that seemed to dance just for her. She laughed quietly as they chased each other through the rippling water. He, though, couldn’t take his eyes off her. In that moment, he couldn’t remember ever feeling this happy. She squeezed his hand gently and looked at him.

Her smile said it all.

PS - obviously this was written before we discovered that boys can't go up the girls' staircase

supercodi95 · 06-20-2008, 11:03 AM

love it!! can't wait for more!!

emjay · 06-20-2008, 07:03 PM

yay! another brilliant chapter!

please post the next soon! (and I like them long, all that detail makes for great reading

)

Krysta · 06-20-2008, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by supercodi95

love it!! can't wait for more!!

Thank you! I'll post some more in a couple of days to give everyone a chance to catch up!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MsMorgan

yay! another brilliant chapter!

please post the next soon! (and I like them long, all that detail makes for great reading

)

I like them long too! You can really get drawn into it. I can't help writing that way.

TriwizardChamp12 · 06-21-2008, 04:19 AM

that was totally worth the time it took to read
love it

YAYAYA
dolphins
i love dolphines
and cool african ladys

Sabrina_Snape · 06-22-2008, 12:52 PM

I've finished!!!!! YAY!!!!!

I've finally caught up!!!!!!!

Awww I love dolphins! I think Harry should've tried to carry Ginny at least, but oh well.

You have to post more hun, you really really do!!!!

Jemma
xxx

Krysta · 06-22-2008, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TriwizardChamp12

that was totally worth the time it took to read
love it

YAYAYA
dolphins
i love dolphines
and cool african ladys

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sabrina_Snape

I've finished!!!!! YAY!!!!!

I've finally caught up!!!!!!!

Awww I love dolphins! I think Harry should've tried to carry Ginny at least, but oh well.

You have to post more hun, you really really do!!!!

Jemma
xxx

I love dophins too, that's why I put them in the story. Their true significance isn't really revealed until the sequel, though......oh yes, there's a sequel!

I'm currently writing some "Two Houses" at the moment. I'm sitting on my bed with the laptop with the cat curled up next to me. He's my muse.

The "Sk'Natherra" file is on my work computer so I shall post some more on Monday (tomorrow).

Glad you're all enjoying it!
xxxxxxxx

Krysta · 06-23-2008, 08:38 AM

Chapter 13: The Short Fall

He didn’t know how long they stood there. It was the laughing from Hermione and Ron that distracted them. Ginny released his hand and ran to the water’s edge to join them. He followed and dropped to his knees.

The dolphin was just spraying a fountain of water at them playfully and the others fells into laughter as the whole lot hit Harry in the face. He grinned along with them and the girls giggled away together. In the water the dolphin clapped its fins together and cackled away in its own language, and Harry just knew it was laughing along with them.

“They’re lovely. What are they doing here?” asked Hermione in delight.

“They’re our new project.” Answered a loud and excited vice from behind them. They’d forgotten Hagrid was even there.

“For Care Of Magical Creatures?” Really? We get to work with them?” cried a still excited Hermione who looked happier than either Harry or Ron had seen her in a long time.

“Yup.” Beamed Hagrid looking as excited as they did.

“What about us?” said a small mildly upset voice. They all turned to see Ginny who looked a little put out. They exchanged confused looks. “Well I’m in the fourth year. Do we get to work with them too?” Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged uncomfortable looks. They all felt a little guilty, since the fourth and fifth years never worked with the same creatures.

“Yes you do! It’s a special one off assignment. Chance of these beauties ever coming to Hogwarts again is highly unlikely, so Dumbledore had ordered years 2-7 are to have sessions with them: all doing different things obviously.” Ginny’s chin dropped in amazement and delight as Hermione squealed and hugged her. Harry and Ron were so happy with how things had worked out they sighed and even laughed a little, just because they felt like it.

“Thank you so much, you two are brilliant.” Cried Hermione again and Ginny nodded in pure happiness at the two boys. Harry grinned. He realised that Ron needed the credit for this.

“It was Ron’s idea.” He announced grinning from ear to ear. To Ron’s astonishment and obvious delight Hermione threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Harry looked in Ginny’s direction and caught the knowing wink she gave him. She’d noticed it too. There was something going on. They smiled in Hermione and Ron’s direction for a few seconds before Ginny’s attention was drawn back to the lake as three shining blue dolphins leapt from the water splashing back down again into the crisp, cool depths of the lake.

“What are the stars on their heads?” asked Lavender bending down to stroke a particularly friendly dolphin, which promptly squirted her with a jet of cold lake water. Everyone except Lavender and Parvati burst into laughter as her friend dabbed at Lavender’s face with a dry towel.

It was Tuesday morning and for once the sun was shining. Lesson’s had been arranged so that Care of Magical Creatures would fit into an empty period before lunch. Everyone was excited about it as the news of the new addition to the lake was around the school by lunch time Saturday and people had been hanging around the lakeside all weekend trying to get a glimpse of the amazing creatures within. Surprisingly enough, since Hermione and Ginny had finally been dragged away from the lakeside that morning the dolphins had been pretty recluse. They barely surfaced for air and paid no attention to the students that gathered at the water’s edge for a glimpse of them. Hermione suggested to the surprised Harry that maybe once they had got over the excitement of arriving in their new temporary home, they had calmed down and wanted to be left alone. This was a plausible explanation, but when Tuesday morning came the Gryffindor and even Slytherin 5th years made their way to the lake with anticipation and a little excitement in their stride.

What they found when they got there was a grinning Hagrid and some extremely active dolphins. Harry, Ron and Hermione were amazed and delighted to discover that the dolphins were just as active and friendly as they had been on Saturday morning. High pitched squeals and cries sounded in the air as they danced through the water, calling to each other.

Several students were now soaking wet, but Harry with much amusement, hadn’t missed that most of them were Slytherins. The moody, wet Slytherins were standing apart from the relatively dry Gryffindors, a mixture of expressions on their damp faces: anger, boredom, loathing and disinterest.

A disgruntled Lavender stepped back from the water’s edge and Hagrid, trying not to laugh was answering her question.

“Well. See these aren’t your average dolphins. These, obviously belong in the magical world we live in.”

“What are they called?” asked Hermione who was tickling the chin of a familiar looking dolphin…Harry recognised it as the one that had squirted him on Saturday and he took a step back casting a grin in its direction. To his surprise, the dolphin made its laughing sound again and bobbed and down in the water. He could have sworn it was looking straight at him.

“Well they don’t really have a name, but the people of their home call them Les Dauphins des Natherra.” He told them, his accent sounding strange as he tried to pronounce the words. Hermione giggled slightly.

“That sounds as though it should be French.” She grinned at him and he grinned back.

“Yeah, the people on the African island near to their home speak French rather than Swahili or another African language.” Hermione looked thoughtful, and her newfound friend nudged her hand for attention when she briefly stopped stroking its chin.

“So they’re from the Caribbean then?” she asked. Hagrid shrugged.

“I dunno ‘bout that. Probably.” He answered looking a little uncomfortable at not knowing the answer.

“Oh great. He’s supposed to be teaching us about the creatures and he doesn’t even know where they’re from!” piped up a soaking wet Slytherin student with black hair plastered to his head and an unpleasant grin on his face.

“I’ll have you know that their ‘ome is a well kept secret and no one knows where they’s from. So you watch yer lip.” Hagrid bellowed and the Slytherin student smirked in reply as his friends snorted with laughter.

“Ignore them, Hagrid.” Whispered Ron angrily, eyeing the Slytherin students with distaste. The Slytherins’ laugher was cut swiftly short however when a group of about 10 dolphins appeared above water together and shot 10 huge jets of freezing cold water all over the laughing students. As the laughter turned to cries of anger and hatred, two new sets of laughter took over. All 10 dolphins were clapping their fins together laughing whilst the Gryffindor’s joined in whooping and clapping along with the dolphins.

They never saw it coming. Before they new what had happened the black-haired Slytherin boy had snapped out his wand and before anything could be done to stop him, a red stream of magic left the wand’s tip and shot across the air, hitting the lead dolphin square on the head. The unsuspecting creature yelped loudly in pain and dived below the surface. For a second no one moved or said a word besides the Slytherins who were laughing and clapping their friend on the back. Before anyone could stop her Hermione threw herself at the boy with such force she knocked him down and sat astride his waist pummelling him hard in the stomach. Everyone stared in shock, even the Slytherins as furious tears poured down her red cheeks as she screamed and screamed at him. She was about to smack him fully in the face when a fist grabbed hers and the Slytherin students advanced on her. To her shock and relief she saw the hand belonged to Ron as he pulled her quickly out of the path of the Slytherins who were practically baying for her blood. Dragging her over to Hagrid who was fuming with anger, a new voice broke through the angry shouts and screams all students.

“THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH!” everyone stopped dead. Students from both houses turned in horror to see the owner of the venomous voice. Harry nearly cried out in shock when he saw the dark figure before them.

Professor Snape seemed to tower over the group like one of the black Knights from the giant Wizard’s Chessboard in the first year. Not a student moved or made a sound. Some of the Slytherin students looked a little smug. Their head of house always favoured them in a fight. What happened shocked all of them.

“Parker…my office…NOW!” he bellowed at the black-haired Slytherin who stared at his head-of-house in shock. The Gryffindor students watched Snape carefully, suspecting the worse was yet to come.

“Granger…” he paused as Ron stepped boldly forwards putting himself between Hermione and Snape. Harry stared in horror at Ron. What on earth was he doing? “…Violence is unacceptable, no matter what the provocation.” He spoke slowly watching Hermione with a strange expression that Harry couldn’t read. “Excuse the interruption, Rubeus. Please, continue with your lesson.” To everyone’s surprise Snape finished there and twirled around, heading back across the field whence he came.

The Lake had fallen silent. Not a dolphin stirred within the water and Hermione was practically in tears now that she was over the shock of what had happened. The Slytherins were still in shock over the reaction of Professor Snape and remained deadly still and quiet. Harry didn’t know what to think. Hagrid seemed to be the same as he just stared out over the water, his eyes full of concern.

“Oh this is bad.” he mumbled quietly to Harry and Harry felt a lump form in his throat as he too looked out over the still waters.

Suddenly enough to make some students jump, a dolphin appeared in the middle of the lake. A few students stepped back especially the Slytherins, but Hermione – almost as though under a spell – took several steps forward, walking slowly and evenly. The dolphin began calling out in its high-pitched squeaks and grunts. The students all looked at each other in confusion not knowing what to think, some looking to Hagrid for answers but he looked just as clueless as they did. Hermione, though, cocked her head to one side and it looked for all the world as though she were listening. After a few moments the dolphin fell silent and Hermione moved quickly. She fumbled with something behind her neck and to Harry’s surprise she pulled his Mother’s pendant from around her neck and without a word tossed it across the water where the dolphin leapt up, catching it neatly in its teeth before diving down below the water’s surface again. Whispers had begun to circulate the students now and a few strange looks were sent Hermione’s way. Oblivious to them, Hermione turned to Hagrid and spoke clearly.

“They won’t come back today. They aren’t angry with you. They can tell the good ones…and the bad ones.” Hagrid looked at her strangely and began to usher the other students away from the water and back across the field. He was relieved to find that they took little encouragement to leave and soon only Harry and Ron were left. They looked at each other strangely. “They know the good ones…and the bad ones.” That was what Anyara had told them, and Hermione hadn’t even been there when Anyara was there. Yet they had said the exact same thing. Hermione didn’t say another word, but just sat down at the water’s edge, crossing her legs staring out across the lake. After what seemed an age, she spoke.

“Harry, will you wait with me?” Harry was shocked and looked at Ron uneasily. Ron looked astonished and upset. Not upset, he looked hurt. With a shrug, and before Harry could stop him, he turned and headed back across the field towards the castle.

“What’s it like?”

She startled him. He had joined her on the grass by the edge of the water whilst they waited for news from their new friends. They had both sat cross-legged and silent until now. He looked at her, not knowing what to say, or what she was asking. She looked at him and the look in her eyes worried him. They looked lost and confused, not the Hermione he knew. “What’s it like to be Harry Potter?” she asked again before staring back across the lake. He paused for a while.

“Scary.” He finally answered. She nodded slowly. “Confusing sometimes. Sometimes…sometimes lonely.” They both stared out across the lake in silence.

“Lonely.” Hermione spoke the word carefully, mulling it over. “I don’t feel lonely…I feel…apprehensive.” She said quietly and he fixed her questioningly. She looked at him. “It’s like…I’m waiting for someone.” He frowned slightly. “I don’t want to be the girl that lived. But I get the feeling that it’s just how it has to be.” She said finally and he smiled.

“I know exactly what you mean.” He said and she looked at him desperately. He put his arm around her and she sighed, resting her head against his shoulder. They were silent for a while.

“Does he think I’m a freak?” she suddenly asked. He looked down at her head of hair and saw for the first time that in the sun, it was almost auburn. Something else he’d never noticed.

“Who?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“You know who.” She said, gently punching his arm. Harry sighed.

“Of course he doesn’t. He could never think that about you. He doesn’t think I’m a freak does he?” Hermione seemed to think this over for a while.

“I think he feels left out.” She finally said and he looked down at her again, a slight smile on his lips. Ron had admitted as much to him.

“Maybe. But I think he also knows how much we need him around.” Hermione seemed happy with that reply. He could almost feel her smiling though he couldn’t see her face.

“I do need him around.” She said gently and Harry smiled to himself again.

“He needs you around too.” He told her, also gently. She was silent for a while.

“I know.” She finally murmured, returning her attention to the lake.

They talked for what seemed like hours. When she asked he told her about his latest visions, of how Voldemort had begun appearing in them. Hermione was concerned and suggested the only way to find out if any of this meant anything was to go into the forest and search for the old building. This shocked him. Four years ago Hermione would never have considered such a venture, but as Ron had once said, they had a bad affect on her.
He thought about her suggestion and realised that she had a point. He knew from what the panther had told him in his last vision that what he was seeing was not the present, but what had once happened. Who knew how long ago? Harry only knew that it must have been during Voldemort’s lifetime. Therefore the chances of the building still being there were quite good. He already knew that Tom Riddle had been at Hogwarts at the same time as Hagrid, and so the building must have been there no more than 50 years ago despite the ancient writing on the slab within. Surely it must still be there now.

His attention was suddenly drawn back to the present when a splash was heard out in the lake and Hermione had practically leapt from his arms and to her feet.

The same dolphin had reappeared in the middle of the lake. It swam closer, ducking in and out of the water as it glided through the surface. Stopping a few feet from the bank it sat upright in the water and tossed something shiny through the air. Hermione neatly caught the necklace and Harry helped her with the clasp as she put it around her neck once more. The dolphin began speaking in its own high-pitched language once more, and Harry realised that Hermione was indeed listening, and as she nodded her head the dolphin turned and dived down through the water. He turned to her and she looked at him nervously.

“The other dolphin…she’s ok. She was wounded pretty badly, but she’s all right now. But they don’t want the Slytherins near them anymore.” Harry raised an eyebrow. “He said…he said they get bad vibes from them. Makes them uncomfortable.” Harry nodded. He could understand that. “I have to tell Dumbledore.” She announced and walked a few steps away, waiting for him follow.

They made their way across the grass in silence. It was nearly lunchtime and most students were in the Hall or finishing lessons. They didn’t speak. Harry for one didn‘t know what to say. Finally it was Hermione that spoke. They were nearly at the main doors into the huge Foyer Hall. Hermione suddenly grabbed Harry’s arm and startled, he stared at her in surprise.

“I’m scared Harry. Why can I understand them? You’re the only person who might understand. But at least you have an excuse. You have a reason for your…your gift.” She was referring of course to his talents as a Parselmouth. He looked at her sadly. He couldn’t answer her question.

“At least you’re talking to dolphins, Hermione. I’m talking to snakes!” he didn’t get the response he’d hoped for. Instead of laughing she flung herself into his arms and began to sob. Not little tears, she sobbed long and hard, her body shaking. After the initial shock wore off he gently wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, rocking her gently trying to hush her. Eventually he decided to let her cry it out. She probably needed it after all.

When finally her sobs began to diminish he wiped her cheeks free of tears and smiled.

“Come on, we have to go and see Dumbledore.” She smiled weakly and nodded. He took her hand for reassurance but it wasn’t until he had led her through the great oak doors into the castle that he saw the hurt and betrayed expression on the face of Ron Weasley as he watched them from the bottom of the main staircase.

Krysta · 06-23-2008, 08:40 AM

Chapter 13, Part 2

He didn’t get to talk to Ron until before dinner that night. He had disappeared up the stairs before either one of them could stop him. Hermione had stared in surprise but had shrugged it off, where as Harry who knew what it must have looked like for Ron seeing Hermione in his arms, somehow felt guilty. He knew nothing was going on between Hermione and himself, but somehow he got the feeling that it should have been Ron comforting her in his place.

Anxious to reach Dumbledore, Hermione had dragged Harry to his office before Harry could even think about going after Ron. When they got there, they found Dumbledore waiting for them with Professor Snape. Both Teachers nodded at the students and motioned for them to follow up the office.

Once up the stairs they were seated in the all too familiar comfy chairs. Hermione stared around the room with wonder. Harry suddenly realised she was relatively unfamiliar with Dumbledore’s office, and so when she gasped he took little notice. She shook his arm and nodded towards Fawkes’ perch Harry stared at the beautiful bird, who bowed his head in Harry’s direction. Harry smiled and returned the gesture. But Harry nearly fell out of the chair with shock when he saw what Fawkes was sharing his perch with. Sitting tall and proud beside the phoenix was the silver kestrel. Harry stared at it for a few moments almost expecting it to disappear before his very eyes. He was abruptly drawn back to the land of the living when Dumbledore spoke.

“This is becoming too much of a habit, Harry.” He smiled at Harry, who found it hard to return the gesture especially with Snape standing arms folded over the headmaster’s shoulder like a personal bodyguard. Harry had never felt so apprehensive. Something was going on and he felt like it was about time someone told him what it was. Somehow he managed to hold this back and let Dumbledore continue. Hermione couldn’t take her eyes off the kestrel, which stared back at her with equal interest. Harry felt extremely uncomfortable, like everyone knew what was going on except him. Snape wasn’t glaring at Harry with his usual contempt and instead seemed more interested in Hermione.

“Miss Granger, I believe you have a message for me…” smiled Dumbledore and she snapped around, her attention drawn from the silver-blue plumaged bird on the perch a few feet away from her. She eyed Snape a little nervously. Harry realised why, given the nature of the message.

“Er, yes…the injured dolphin is fully healed and wants you to know that she and her pod hold no grudge against you or the school for the…incident.” She finally told Dumbledore who smiled and nodded.

“Was there any other message?” he prompted. Hermione tried to avoid eye contact with Snape, who for once did not glare at either of them.

“Yes.” She began quietly but firmly. “They request, they ask that the Slytherin students no longer attend the lessons from now on…all of the years.” She finished and Harry waited for the explosion from Snape. When it never came he stared at the man in surprise, but Snape ignored him, still watching Hermione with interest.

“Severus, you can arrange that?” asked Dumbledore as though the request were a simple lunch order. When Snape nodded in a similar passive way, Harry and Hermione exchanged a confused and nervous look before Hermione returned her attention to the kestrel, which continued to watch her back with avid interest.

Ron wasn’t at Lunch when they finally made it into the Great Hall. Most people in fact had already left and only a third of the school were still at the tables chatting away about this and that. They both scanned the length of the Gryffindor table, Hermione scowling at Christine Heathland who had been made 5th year prefect. Her grades were second to only to Hermione, but despite this Hermione still held a grudge.

But Ron was nowhere to be seen. He smiled when he saw Ginny still sitting at the table, heads together with Reena deep in conversation. Harry grabbed Hermione’s arm and dragged her down the aisle to where she was sitting.

“Hi. How’s it going?” he asked cheerfully. Ginny looked up expressionless.

“Fine. Why?” she asked shortly and he paused a little taken aback. This was a slight change in countenance since Saturday.

“I er…” he stammered.

“Have you seen Ron?” butted in Hermione, seemingly oblivious to Ginny’s cold manner. Ginny gave Hermione a look of mild disgust, which shocked Harry even more. Hermione, yet again, seemed to miss it.

“He was here. He left.” Was all Ginny offered them, and with that she returned to her conversation with Reena.

“What’s eating her?” asked Harry as they made their way to the common room.

“Huh?” Hermione asked distractedly.

“Ginny. She seemed really off with us.” He said, noticing for the first time how tall Hermione had grown.

“I didn’t notice.” She answered with disinterest, flicking her hair back over her shoulder.

“I know you didn’t. Why is that? I thought girls are meant to be really observant when it comes to other people.” He said, waiting for some comment about him being a chauvinist pig.

“What are you talking about?” she asked again, as though he were a mumbling idiot.

“Are you saying you didn’t notice anything different about the way Ginny spoke to us?” he asked again.

“Oh she was probably just busy. You know how girls like to gossip.” She said passively as though she were a boy talking about girls instead of a girl herself. Harry grinned to himself. She’d never really spent much time with other girls in their time at Hogwarts and Ginny was the only girl that Harry could really call Hermione’s friend unless of course, you counted Sharon. The fact was Hermione had turned into a bit of a tomboy. Harry was beginning to wonder if he wasn’t the only one who hadn’t noticed that Hermione was growing up. Maybe Hermione hadn’t noticed either. Or maybe she’d grown up so much that the thought of silly, gossipy little girls infuriated her. Knowing Hermione it could be either. She had begun to dress differently after all, that he had noticed. Even her school skirt was much longer than those she used to wear, coming down below the knee and was the kind that followed the shape of the body rather than in an A-shape. He had once towered over her but she came comfortably to his shoulder now. Not as tall as Ginny, but she had certainly grown.

“What?” she suddenly asked making him snap out of his train of thought.

“Ay?”

“You were watching me.” She said tactlessly.

“Er, yeah. I just never noticed how much taller you are.” He said honestly and for some reason she found this hilariously funny and started laughing. She was still laughing when they entered the common room, which as it turned out was a bad thing. Ron was sitting on one of the red sofas, his face matching the colour of the fabric. Harry swallowed and just as Hermione waved at him and began to speak, he got up from his seat, turned and disappeared up the dorm staircase.

“What’s with him!” cried Hermione, suddenly out of laughter. “We should tell him about Snape and the dolphins and everything.” Harry shrugged, and again for some reason felt guilty.

Ron wasn’t in class that afternoon, and Harry was beginning to get worried. Not only was he desperate to explain to him that what he saw wasn’t what he obviously thought it was, but also he wanted to talk to him. The whole business with the kestrel had unnerved him. He desperately wanted to ask Dumbledore what it was doing there and how he was involved with the bird’s mysterious owner, but he simply hadn’t been given the opportunity.

Snape’s return had stated a buzz going around the school and that was praying on Harry’s mind too. Where the heck had he gone, and why was he acting so…so…nice. He simply couldn’t concentrate in Professor Flitwick’s class that afternoon. Giving the excuse that Ron was feeling ill, maybe he’d caught a cold in the lake, Professor Flitwick pretty much left Harry alone and Hermione seemed oblivious as ever. They should have had potions that morning but all classes had been slightly rearranged to fit in the new Care of Magical Creatures class. Snape had been there that morning, but when had he arrived? He was getting more and more wound up by the minute. Why was something strange always going on? Why couldn’t he just lead a nice simple, normal life like everyone else? Why was he always dragged into these things?

“The world doesn’t revolve around you.” He hit the side of his head to shut Ginny’s voice out of his mind and looked up to find almost all of the class staring at him as though he’d just sprouted horns.

“What?” he barked menacingly and they all turned back to their work, a few of them whispering to each other. His blood was boiling. Why was everyone always whispering about him? So what, he had a lightning-bolt scar on his head. So what, Lord Voldemort tried to kill him and failed. So bloody what? The whispering in the classroom echoed around and around his head, driving him crazy until finally he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Why don’t you all just shut up for once? What am I? Some kind of freak in a circus?” and with that, ignoring Hermione’s protests, he stormed out of the room, knocking his desk over as he went. The class stared after him, silent with shock.

“What on earth was that about, Harry Potter?” shouted a furious Hermione as she towered over him. He was curled up on a red sofa by the fire, his cheeks fuming hotter than the flames. She flung his books at him in a huff, but he remained silent staring into the flames. He had other things on his mind. The vision he’d just had, for one. It had been exactly the same: the forest, the old building, the panther, the candle-lit chamber, the stone tablet…Voldemort. But this time it had been a little different. This time someone had been with them. This time she had been there.

“Harry!” Hermione insisted, slumping down beside him on the sofa. Her angry scowl had softened slightly to be replaced by a look of concern. “Harry, what’s going on?” he looked at her. He didn’t want to tell her. He wanted to tell Ron. But Ron thought he was cutting in on Hermione. It was insane.

“Nothing.” He finally said.

“Rubbish!” she shouted in the most posh voice possible. “And you know it! Well you don’t have to tell me, but these outbursts have to stop, else people are going to start thinking you’re a freak.” And with that she took her own books and disappeared with an authoritive air about her only Hermione could carry. He rolled his eyes after her as she went out of sight, though it nagged at him, knowing once again that she was probably right. He didn’t hear the footsteps behind him.

“Lover’s tiff?” the bitter voice made him jump. He turned and felt a mixture of foreboding and relief to see Ron. Harry didn’t say a word, but watched as Ron positioned himself comfortably on the sofa opposite him. Neither of them spoke as Ron fixed him with a look Harry had never seen before.

“I’m going to start if that’s ok.” He announced, not really requiring an answer. Harry considered butting in with his side of the story, but thought better of it. “You’re my best friend.” Began Ron. It was a statement, not a question. “I pour my heart out to you, which, to be honest, was really hard to do. I tell you that I’m in love with my other best friend, our other best friend.” Ron paused. Harry remained silent “A few days later I see her in your arms. How do you think that makes me feel?” despite his innocence, Harry felt guilt. He lowered his gaze to the floor. “No answer? Ok, then I feel hurt…betrayed…angry…confused…the list goes on but I think you get the picture.” Harry nodded solemnly. There was a very long pause. “But then I get thinking. I’m thinking Hermione was never going to fall for me anyway. And I’d rather see her happy with someone I know won’t hurt her than with some jumped up egomaniac like Viktor Krum.” He smiled slightly. Harry shook his head in protest but Ron held up a hand to silence him. “It’s ok, Harry. I understand. I’ll find it difficult, but I’ll manage. She’s better with you than with me. She needs someone on par with her. Someone special.” Harry couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“But you are special you great booger head!” he shouted making a couple of heads turn and soft sniggers came from the worktables near by. Harry grinned at the shocked expression on Ron’s face. “You idiot Ron, Hermione’s not in love with me. She came to me because she thought I might understand. She’s scared and needed someone to talk to. That’s all. She was upset and I comforted her. Ok, maybe it should have been you in my place, but I swear, I am not in love with Hermione Granger!” he hadn’t realised how loud his voice had become and the soft sniggers became loud bouts of laughter. This time Ron and Harry joined in.

“Are you serious?” asked Ron, still a little unsure.

“Yes! She’s…she’s having a hard time. She can understand those dolphins. They talk to her somehow. She came to me because of my parselmouth abilities. I think she needed someone who might understand. And…she was afraid to go to you.” Ron looked horrified.

“But why? We’ve…we’ve become so close.” He sounded hurt again, but this time for a different reason. Harry shrugged slightly.

“She was afraid you’d think she was a freak or something.” Ron looked completely grieved.

“But I could never think that of her!” Harry smiled.

“That’s exactly what I told Hermione.” Ron fell silent for a while. Finally he smiled.

“Thanks mate.” Harry grinned gently.

“No problem.”

“Where’s you been all day, we’ve been dying to talk to you!” squealed Hermione, appearing from nowhere and dropping next to Ron on the sofa. Both Harry and Ron grinned broadly. “Well anyway, you’ll never guess what happened to me, I mean us…and the bird, and Snape and everything!”

“Hold on, hold on. What are you talking about?” Ron steadied her as her excitement got the better of her.

“What? Oh. Yeah. Well the dolphin is fine and I had to go to Dumbledore to tell him what they said…”

“What the dolphins said?” Ron interrupted.

“Yes, and so we went to see him…you should have come with us but you left!” she scowled at him and Harry winked at him.

“Hermione slow down. The dolphins said something?”

“Yes.”

“In English?”

“Don’t be silly Ron!”

“Well explain a little clearer then!” he was finding this funny rather than annoying. Hermione looked a little nervous.

“Well, you see, they spoke and I could understand, and they gave me a message for Professor Dumbledore.” Hermione’s excited burble was going straight over Ron’s head.

“Ah yes the dolphin thing. Harry was telling me. And no, I don’t think you’re a freak.” He said with a grin and Harry stared at him gob smacked before rounding on Harry.

“Harry Potter, you little…” but Harry cut her off as he went to join her and Ron on the other sofa, so that she was sandwiched between the two boys.

“Oh, come on. He’s fine about the whole thing. Let’s not start arguing now. Weren’t you telling Ron something?” Ron threw Harry a wink over the still excited girl’s head and Harry grinned back. Hermione seemed to immediately forget the whole thing and continued to babble her story. After a very hurried but animated tale of the silver kestrel and Professor Snape being unusually human for once she stopped talking and panted slightly for breath looking desperately for a reaction on Ron’s face. What she got was a thoughtful look.

“So, Snape just turned up, didn’t do anything about our little Chinese Fireball here attacking one of his precious students and then agrees wholeheartedly to take all Slytherins out of the classes.” Harry nodded and Ron continued to look thoughtful, whilst somehow managing to block a left hook from Hermione who had taken exception to his Chinese Fireball comment. With aid from Harry, they had both of her flailing arms pinned to the back of the sofa where she couldn’t cause any damage. Squealing but laughing she relented and all three of them fell into fits of giggles which ended in a kind of group hug, with the two boys each with an arm around her shoulders, grinning madly.

“Well, it’s obvious isn’t it?” Said Ron with Hermione still giggling next to him. Harry gave a questioning glance and Ron shrugged.

“Well, Snape’s either been swapped with a robot programmed to behave like a human being, or he is the evil half of a pair of twins and someone’s swapped him for the nice one.” He explained in an extremely serious voice and a thoughtful expression on his face. Harry and Hermione collapsed into loud laughter, which turned the odd head as they crossed the room. A serious look had crossed Ron’s face, which made Harry stop laughing and watch him, half expecting another joke.

“What is it?” he asked, as Hermione caught her breath and stopped giggling. Ron looked thoughtful once more.

“Well, it could just be a coincidence but…you don’t reckon all this is all connected somehow with Winky do you?” That hadn’t occurred to Harry and he thought about it carefully whilst Hermione looked curiously between the two boys.

“Winky? What about her?” The boys exchanged a difficult expression. They both knew how Hermione felt about the house-elves. Ron took a deep breath and began explain.

“Well, whilst you were busy ignoring us we kinda had a little chat with Dobby…”

“…ut ot ood ‘e ‘ant iv er???”

“What?”

Hermione swallowed the mouthful chocolate pudding and tried again.

“But what would he want with her?” she repeated and clarification flooded into their faces.

“How should we know? You’re the brains of the outfit.” Ron informed her kindly as she stared wide-eyed at him.

“oppy-ock!!” she protested through another mouthful of chocolate, and Harry couldn’t help but snigger.

“I think that was `poppycock’.” he informed a confused Ron who not only couldn’t tell what she was saying but wasn’t that familiar with the word anyway.

“That’s rubbish Ron and you know it. You’re both just as clever as me.” She announced then returned her attention to her third helping of dessert. To be fair, she’d barely touched her main course, but it was evident to both of the boys that Hermione’s sugar binge was far from over.

“Hermione, er, notice the slight difference in our records and exam results.” Harry insisted. She rolled her eyes dismissively and shook her head.

“I promise you, I am no smarter than either of you…” Ron snorted but she ignored it “…I just apply myself better when it comes to studying.” She finished and both boys exchanged glances before shaking their heads.

“Whatever you say Herm.” Ron grinned gently and she gave him a piercing and characteristic squint.

“Anyway, we’re steering from the point. What on earth would Lucius Malfoy want with an innocent little house elf?” she said aloud, though she appeared to be thinking to herself. Harry and Ron shrugged. Hermione sucked on her chocolate-plastered spoon as she thought hard to herself and Ron played with the sauce in is bowl aimlessly. Harry’s attention began to wander. He stared around the room, not really taking anything in. Everything was just as it always was. He stared at the teacher’s table, slightly out of focus, random thoughts going through his head: Winky, the panther, the dream, the witch, the Knight Bus, the kestrel, Winky again, Mr. Crouch…then it hit him.

“Harry?” he focused again to see Ginny staring at him.

“What?”

“You ok? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I…I…Ginny when did Neville’s parents die?”

“What?!” came a new voice. Harry was startled to see Neville staring at him, his face red.

“Neville…” Harry began but he was cut off.

“My parents didn’t die. They’re just…sick. And what do you know about it anyway?” Harry was shocked. Neville looked absolutely furious.

“I’m sorry, Neville, I am, truly, but…” yet again, he didn’t get to finish as Neville got up from the table and stalked out of the Great Hall.

“What was that about?” he turned to see who the angry voice came from. It was Ginny. “That was really insensitive, Harry. Why did you do that?” she looked almost as furious as Neville had.

“I…I just had this thought…”

“If you’d been thinking, you wouldn’t have said it.” She returned to her dinner, which Harry noticed, yet again resembled modern art rather than food. He thought about trying to explain, but her body language said that this conversation was over. He looked at Ron and Hermione who were giving him less angry, but extremely curious looks. They both looked questioning and he signalled that he’d explain later. They nodded and went back to their dessert. But Harry’s mind was elsewhere, working overtime. Yet again he let his attention wander around the room and fixed it on the teacher’s table. He frowned, something didn’t look right. Everyone was there. No one was missing and there were no extra places at the long table. After a few moments study, he realised with surprise what the difference was. Sure enough, everyone was there but the seating arrangement had shifted slightly. Hagrid, who was usually seated to Professor Dumbledore’s far left was seated on his far right…next to Professor Snape. What made Harry frown was not that Hagrid was sitting next to his least favourite teacher, but that the two seemed to be in deep, animated conversation. Harry watched a little confused as his friend and his second worst enemy chatted away as if they were best of buddies. It wasn’t quite like that. Snape appeared to be doing most of the talking which was unusual in itself. But the seriousness and quiet excitement that emanated from Hagrid was almost worrying. Again, Harry felt like something was going on and he was the only one that didn’t know what it was. And if that something meant that Snape and Hagrid were having quiet little discussions over dinner, Harry couldn’t help but feel it was serious.

Krysta · 06-23-2008, 08:40 AM

Chapter 13, part 3

“Er, Harry?”

The voice snapped him out of his thoughts like a lightning bolt. He looked from his diary to see Neville staring down at him. That was the last person he’d expected to see. Automatically he covered the diary with his arm, even though he knew Neville couldn’t read it. He closed it and placed it beside him on the bed. Neville looked uncomfortable and Harry felt guilty enough to put him out of his misery.

“Listen, Nev, I’m really sorry.” Neville immediately shook his head and held up his hand in protest. Harry was surprised.

“No, Harry. I’m sorry. Ok, I was upset, but I didn’t need to explode like that.” He paused as though searching for words. Harry motioned for him to sit down, and Neville accepted, popping himself on the end of Harry’s bed.

“I’ve been really testy recently.” He began. Harry watched him, searching his features for some sign of what might be troubling his friend. He found such a confused plethora of emotions that Harry could ascertain nothing from them at all. Instead he waited for Neville to speak.

“Y’see, I’ve kinda been thinking about Mum a lot recently. Oh that sounds terrible. I mean I think bout my parents all the time. I think about what it would have been like…I lost them when I was very young. They were attacked.” Neville broke off for a moment and Harry felt uncomfortable. He already knew what had happened to Neville’s parents, and who had been responsible. But Neville was unaware of this, and the fact that Harry probably knew more about Neville’s parents’ demise than Neville himself made Harry feel strangely awkward. With much discomfort he remained quiet and allowed Neville to say what he so badly needed to.

“I was barely walking when it happened. But I was always a late starter.” They both smiled. To be fair to Neville, his slow and painful start in the world of magic 4 years ago had slowly dissolved and with a few prods in the right direction, Neville was on his way to being an extremely accomplished magical Herbologist. “I was probably two or so. Like I said, I was a late starter. A lot of people say it’s because of what happened, but I know I was like that before. I know it’s just me.
Anyway as you know my Grandmother brought me up. She’s my Dad’s Mother. My Mum’s Mother died years and years ago in some kind duel or something. No one ever talked about it when I was around. It was the same with my parents. No one ever told me what really happened. Just that they were hurt so bad they couldn’t help them. Their minds were gone, some people said.” Harry fidgeted a little. He was feeling more uncomfortable with every second that Neville continued with his story.
“All my life I’ve always wondered…what it would have been like. What I would have been like.” He stopped and looked at the expression on Harry’s face. Harry felt a deep gut-wrenching tug at his heart and he felt slightly sick. Neville was watching him and Harry held his gaze.

“I guess…you do that too, huh?” Neville asked him quietly and Harry nodded slowly and sadly. He suddenly felt a kinship with Neville. They’d both lost their parents when they had been little more than a baern. And although their lives and upbringings had been so very different, Harry felt a connection. Harry stared out towards the window and frowned. It was dark already. He had left dinner little after 7:15 and the sky was pitch black.

“What’s up?” Neville had caught the frown.

“Oh nothing…well actually, it isn’t nothing. Have you noticed anything weird with the weather lately?” asked Harry. To his surprise Neville’s face suddenly brightened.

“Yes!” he cried. “I was beginning to think it was just me, but I was up really late this morning…as usual…” Harry grinned ”…And it was dark right up until 7:30 and it’s already dark now. It’s been bloody freezing too, for September.” Harry nodded in agreement, relieved that someone else had noticed it too.

“It’s like Autumn couldn’t be bothered this year and we’ve just skipped it completely and gone onto winter.” Harry said and Neville grinned and nodded.

“You can’t really tell around here coz it’s all evergreen trees in the Forest, but my Grandmother says it’s the same everywhere. Even some of the leaves are changing colour.” Harry’s eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Really? Weird. Hey Neville, I was wondering…I know this is personal…but you said recently you’ve been thinking about your Mum a lot.” He prompted gently, and Neville nodded.

“Yeah, and not the old ‘what if…’ thoughts. It’s like I keep having flashbacks. Little things keep coming back to me, things I’d forgotten. I remember her smiling, laughing and her hair. I always remember her hair. Long, golden curls, and I remember getting my fingers caught in it.” He stopped and smiled sadly, causing Harry’s heart to snag again. He couldn’t remember his Mother at all and it burned him inside sometimes.
“Recently, I don’t know, it’s like she’s watching me. Watching over me. First I thought maybe something had happened.” Harry tensed a little, that had occurred to him. He knew enough about the magic world to believe in ghosts. Several ghosts shared the castle after all. Maybe if Neville’s Mother had died, he spirit could indeed be watching over Neville. Neville began speaking again. “I even wrote to my Grandmother, but she says there’s no change at all. My Mother…she was hurt really bad, more than my Dad. They said…people said that they…tortured her to get information out of my Dad.” Harry recoiled from this information in disgust and the sickened expression on Neville’s face made Harry want to wrap him in a hug. This urge he declined. Mustering strength Harry never knew the timid boy never had, Neville continued.

“My Mother was always further gone than my Dad. Dad at least responds to the treatment sometimes, y’know, he’s in there somewhere, but Mum…” Neville trailed off, his voice becoming distant. “Gran told me when I was older, that when they found them my Mother was…” he was searching for words “…Lost. It was like she just wasn’t there anymore. Her body was…just a body. She never responded to any tests at all, no treatment could bring any kind of reaction. It was like her soul just…up and left.” Here Neville stopped and fell completely still. The room was icy silent and Harry could swear that in the dark stillness he could hear the wind in the trees outside. Neville’s voice broke the silence, and his words left Harry listening to the whispering breeze in wonder and contemplation.

“Sometimes…I wonder where she went.”

The time flew past to the weekend. Life was pretty uneventful for a few days and lessons went on as usual without any upsets. Snape seemed his usual self, although he didn’t take nearly as many points from Gryffindor as usual. He didn’t shout as much and although he was as moody and miserable as ever his new quiet countenance was putting the students on edge, especially Harry.

Harry was spending all his spare time (when Hermione wasn’t nagging about homework) with Ron on the Quidditch pitch and besides the time Ron swore there was a new ghost in the changing rooms that too was uneventful. He’d come running onto the pitch his robes over his head shouting and cursing. After Harry had calmed him down and made himself stop laughing at Ron’s semi-dressed state he had managed to get from Ron that whilst changing a set of drawers had shot straight out of the cabinets and hurled themselves across the room at him. Harry had raised a sceptic eyebrow and to save argument just accepted Ron’s ranting. Apparently on leaving the room, Ron had heard footsteps and giggling as he ran down the corridor to the pitch. However upon mentioning this to Nearly Headless Nick at breakfast the next morning (Saturday), the gallant ghost informed them that he knew of no new ghost and suggested that maybe Peeves was up to his usual tricks. Secretly Harry thought this was exactly what had happened, though of course he didn’t mention this to the still steaming redhead who was now insisting that some of the Slytherins must have sneaked in and cursed the drawers to fly at him just to take him out the running for the try-outs on Saturday.

The rest of the Gryffindors were taking his ranting quietly with a pinch of salt and even one or two grins, but it was he started accusing some the other prospective Gryffindor students of trying to take him out of the try-outs that the arguments started. It started with George and Fred telling him quite pleasantly that none of the Gryffindors would do that and Ron arguing back saying some people were obsessed with getting on the team and would do anything to relax the competition. This was followed by an angry retort from Heather Summer, a fiery 6th year, who told Ron quite irritably that he was the obsessive one and he should think twice before accusing innocent people of such slander.

It was on the brink of maybe quietening down when Ron announced that not only was he obviously in the running for both chaser and keeper and that many people would like to see him out of the way. Many just stared in disbelief at the sudden arrogance Ron was displaying and he received nudged from Harry and Hermione to calm down when he was attacked by the most unlikely of people imaginable. Without warning Ron received the hardest slap across the face he’d ever felt and stared wide-eyed at the person who dealt it. With hair and face to match Ron’s Ginny towered over him her features and stance furious. For a few seconds no one spoke. Ron and Ginny stared each other with a hatred Harry didn’t remember seeing in either of them before. However before anyone could ask what was going on a large bundle of papers slammed onto the table right between the furious siblings making them both jump.

“Mail’s here!” came the anonymous cries from around the room and everyone looked up to see the owl post swooping across the enchanted ceiling above them. Letters and bundles hurtled to the tables like giant hailstones causing Ron to become even more irate when a letter from home landed in his plate. It was now spattled in crimson due to the pint of ketchup Ron always insisted on having on his bacon. Growling fiercely he threw it to his brothers who did their best to wipe it clean. Another yelp drew Harry’s attention as Neville was bombarded by what seemed like the entire contents of a Newsagents. Throwing Harry a grin, Neville began to unwrap the clump of newspapers skimming the headlines as he went.

“That’s from Charlie!” cried Ron and everyone stared at him. He was staring furiously at Ginny again who defiantly covered the letter she’d received with both her arms.

“So?” she retorted and continued reading her letter seemingly just to spite him.

“Why would he write to you?” he asked again incredulously.

“What’s that of yours?” she snarled. “It’s my letter and it’s my business, so stay out of it.” She snapped again and Ron was practically simmering on the spot with anger. Just when everyone thought the little bickering had stopped Ron spoke again and Harry was getting a little tired of Ron’s attitude and behaviour. Valuing his life however, he thought it unwise to actually say so.

“I know what’s going on y’know.” Ginny stared back defiantly, daring him to continue. Unfortunately he did. “It won’t do you any good you should know that. So you keep your stupid letter, I don’t care. We’ll see what happens.” The pair of them stared each other out for a few seconds before Ginny slowly and deliberately put her letter safely in her bag, got up from the table and walked calmly from the room. Fred was the one to speak.

“You know one of these days, we’ll have a meal without any arguments or people storming from the table.” He received a grin from George but besides that only wary glances were passed around the room, as though they were all scared of who might be next to start screaming.

The next person to do so was actually Neville and he got several nervous looks before they realised his scream was actually a cry of surprise. Everyone besides Harry went back to their sombre breakfast. Neville passed Harry two newspapers. One was the daily prophet and the other, to his surprise was a Muggle paper: The Daily Mail. He picked up the Daily Prophet first scanning the page for anything that could have prompted such a strange reaction from Neville.

“Right hand side.” Neville instructed and Harry realised what all the fuss was about. It took up an entire column and with a bold headline that made his blood run cold.

Mysterious Spell Cancels Autumn

Experts at the Ministry this week have confirmed that the unusual weather and practical absence of Autumn has indeed been caused by an unknown source of magic.

The spell, whatever it is, is worldwide, although seems to be stronger right here in Britain. The effects are so horrific that even the Muggles have noticed and has caused much excitement and speculation in their media. Our muggle correspondents in the government have reached an agreement with our own Ministry to do the best they can to cover up this from the Muggle public. They are confident that for a time at least their ‘scientists’ can offer a false explanation for the prodigal events affecting the environment.

In the meantime the search continues to find the perpetrator responsible for this horrendous misuse of power…

Harry looked up from the article in horror.

“So it wasn’t just us then.” He said and Neville nodded.

“Something extremely weird is going on. Even the Muggles know something’s up.”

“Oi!” protested Hermione in defence of her family and Neville apologised sheepishly.

“Well I’d love to see what explanation the scientists have come up with. Probably some dribble about tectonic movements, or the orbit of the moon.” Added Hermione and Harry passed her the Muggle paper so she could read through it. Every now and then they heard her chuckle or mutter “what a load of tripe” as she skimmed through the scientific reports and weather maps. “Oh well, at least the public are eating it up. I wonder what’s really going on.” She added as an afterthought. She handed the paper back to Harry who began skimming through it to see if anything interesting had happened in the Muggle world since he’d left. Not much of interest really.

“Any footy news?” asked Seamus and a few other Muggle-borns pricked their ears up. Harry flipped to the back page and read out the latest results and the highlights from the Leeds-Liverpool match in which Liverpool had creamed the other team in a 3-0 win. The students from wizarding families listened with interest but they all concluded at the end that Quidditch was a far better game and Harry had to agree with them.

“I can’t believe it’s the try-outs already.” Squealed a nervous Ravenclaw who Harry knew was thinking of trying out. The Ravenclaws were trying out this morning straight after breakfast and the Gryffindors had the pitch all afternoon, though the team had already decided that the trials would not begin until 4’o clock to give all the hopefuls some warm up time.

“Oh that reminds me. Guys, Harry, Alicia, we’re holding a team meeting at 2pm. We have some things to discuss.” Announced Angelina to the existing team members who all nodded a little curiously. The room was buzzing with excited chatter now as everyone discussed the upcoming try-outs. Slytherin and Hufflepuff had try outs the next day and Harry already knew the Slytherins were planning to spy on the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw try-outs to give them a clearer idea of the competition. Slytherin of course were minus a seeker since Draco Malfoy still hadn’t turned up and they were contemplating holding seeker try-outs just in case he never did. To everyone’s relief Marcus Flint had finally graduated so they were also missing a captain and a chaser.

Harry was just wondering how Ron would bear up in the try-outs when he was in such a foul mood when something in the Muggle paper caught his eye and made him freeze. He skimmed the tiny article rapidly his heart pounding rapidly in his chest.

“Neville, can I borrow this?” he asked quietly motioning to the paper.

“Sure.” Neville answered breezily and returned to his discussion with Christine.

Harry tucked the paper under his arm and slipped from the table without anyone noticing he had gone.

Once alone in the common room he unfolded the paper and laid it out on the table in front of him flipping to the page he had been reading.

Farmer Sees Man-Dog

Local Cornish Farmer Jacob Growse claimed a mysterious man broke into his farmyard barn late Thursday night.
The 37 year old was awoken in the early hours of Friday morning when his livestock became agitated. Taking only a broom as his defence he went to investigate. Growse claims he saw a dark man enter the chicken shed and decided to challenge the intruder. However upon entering the shed the only living thing besides the chickens inside the barn was an extremely large, black dog, which quickly ran past the farmer and escaped over the fields.

The article continued but Harry had read enough. Many things were uncertain right now, but one thing he was sure of.

Sirius was alive.

emjay · 06-23-2008, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krysta

“Well, Snape’s either been swapped with a robot programmed to behave like a human being, or he is the evil half of a pair of twins and someone’s swapped him for the nice one.”

. . . and still no Draco . . . hmmm . . .

alyweasley · 06-25-2008, 01:00 PM

I CAUGHT UP!!!! YES IT'S ME!

hehe! It only took me 12 hours but hey I did it!! hehe! I love it! Some things I'm confused about, but I guess thats the idea. I love it ... you are a great writer! Your imagery is genius! I love it!!!

PAM NOW!!! hehe!

Love always
Jade xxxx

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