"Oomph, what the... Dobby." Harry said resignedly, "What do you want? It's," Harry looked the wall, before he realized he was at school. "Ugh! No clock! Well it's late anyway." That much he could tell by the snores of the other boys in his dormitory.
"Oh great Harry Potter, Dobby does not wish to disturb you, sir, but Dobby has urgent news. Someone is plotting against Harry Potter!!"
This was hardly new for Harry. Dobby seemed to be visiting him with more and more so-called "dire" warnings. He was worse than Professor Trelawney when it came to predicting doom.
"Is this like two weeks ago, when you warned me of plots because Malfoy said he wanted to beat the crap out of me? Or like last month when you said I would be eaten by a monster?"
"A man eating monster was in the school, Harry Potter, sir!"
"It was in my care of Magical Creature's class! I'm sorry, Dobby, it's late, and I have to sleep. Why don't you go back to the kitchens or wherever?"
"Oh! Dobby annoy Harry Potter! Dobby annoy his bestest friend," Dobby cried, his whiny voice reaching an even higher pitch.
"Mph, Harry keep it down."
"Sorry Seamus, bad dream," said Harry as he clamped a hand over Dobby's mouth. "I know you want to help me, but now is not the time, okay? You warned me, I assure that is more than enough. Now get back to the kitchens before they notice you're gone!"
"All right, Harry Potter, Dobby is going now. Dobby will talk to you at a better time, sir."
Dobby jumped off of Harry and scrambled out the door, and Harry, too tired to think anymore, rolled over and fell asleep.
*****************************************************
"You have to do something about that elf."
"What do you want me to do, Ron?"
It was the next morning and Harry and Ron were heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry had just finished telling him about Dobby's surprise visit during the night, and oddly enough Ron wasn't surprised. They had both gotten kind of used to Dobby popping in and out of their room, not that they liked it.
Ron sighed, "I guess its not your fault, Harry. What was the warning this time? Beware of Killer Bunny Rabbits?"
"Actually he never finished; I convinced him to leave."
"Without impersonating a police siren? That's a feat."
The conversation stopped as they walked into the Great Hall and sat by Hermione; she was still obsessed with S.P.E.W. and neither of them wanted to set her off. Harry looked up at the ceiling for a second and thought that it looked like it would be a nice day outside. Ron, on the other hand, was piling food on his plate like he was facing a seven-year famine.
Hermione raised one eyebrow as she looked up from her copy of the Daily Prophet, "A little hungry, Ron?"
"If you must know I.…"
Ron's reply was cut short however as Dobby leapt onto the Gryffindor table, seemingly from out of nowhere, and ran over to Harry, knocking food everywhere.
"What do you think you're doing!" Harry hissed. He didn't want to draw any attention
to Dobby, not that Dobby hadn't drawn a lot of attention already. Harry noticed most of the other students staring and he heard them start to whisper. The entire Slytherin table was smiling in rather malicious manner.
"Dobby has come to warn Harry Potter at a better time, like Harry Potter asked, sir." Dobby said.
"Not so loud! And get out of here,"
Hermione put down her newspaper. "He can be here if he wants, Harry; he's a person too."
Ron, on the other hand, just grinned
"Look, whether he's a person or not doesn't matter! He's embarrassing me." Harry hissed at Hermione.
"Dobby is an embarrassment to the great Harry Potter, sir? Harry Potter does not like Dobby? Dobby understands, sir." Dobby looked crestfallen, and, with his head hanging, he disappeared as suddenly as he came.
"Are you happy, Harry? You just hurt his feelings."
"Hermione, he's just a house…"
"He still has feelings, Ron!"
Harry wished he could slide under the table. What with Dobby showing up and Hermione and Ron having another argument, Harry knew someone else couldn't be far behind.
"Well, Potter, I'm surprised you sent that house elf away. He was such an improvement over your other friends."
Harry turned around and saw Draco, flanked as always by Crabbe and Goyle, who seemed to be getting even bigger lately.
"Speak of the moron," said Harry. "At least my friends are better than those two escaped gorillas you hang around with."
Crabbe and Goyle just scratched their heads trying to figure out what Harry had said.
Malfoy opened his mouth to reply, stopped for a second, and then smiled. "Actually, Potter," he grinned, "if I were you I'd hope my friends were just as good as I am." He then turned and walked off without saying anything else, Crabbe and Goyle trailing behind.
"Those two," Ron said. "I almost pity them. They never seem to eat anything at breakfast.
"It's okay Ron," Hermione said soothingly. "You eat enough for both of them."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"What do you think? God! Not only do you eat too much, but you're slow! Why any girl would like you is beyond me. Humph."
"Well that's okay because right now, I see no girls I would even like to talk to let alone date."
While Ron and Hermione carried on their argument Harry just sat and thought. "When Malfoy smiles it can never be a good thing," he said half to himself. "What did he mean?"
"How plainly do I have to say it, Harry! I don't care what Hermione thinks. It isn't that hard a concept to grasp."
"No, not you, Ron! Malfoy! When he was talking about having friends who are as good as I am?"
"How should I know? He's probably just trying to scare you," said Ron.
"I don't know. Malfoy's talking in riddles and Dobby did say people were plotting against you," Hermione spoke up.
"Oh, speaking of bad predictions, we have to get to Divination." Ron picked up the last scone from his plate and stood up.
Harry looked longingly at the table full of food and realized he hadn't eaten anything. He quickly stood up and grabbed some rolls to snack on in class and hurried after Ron. Both of them waved to Hermione as they left, feeling jealous that her classes didn't start for another 20 minutes.
As Harry and Ron climbed up the ladder to the North Tower they were both hit by the noxious smell of the incense that always burning in the room. It was small and attic-like, with a fireplace, several low tables, and people sitting on cushions all over the floor. They were the last ones to get there and quickly plopped down on two cushions in the back--not a moment too soon either because Professor Trelawney floated in just a second later.
"Get out your charts everyone, we're going..."
Harry didn't really hear anything else she said; he was already on autopilot. He was just starting to have a really good daydream too; it involved Snape in a bunny suit locked in a cage in the Great Hall, when his scar began to burn. Harry clenched his teeth in pain.
Ron leaned over, "Harry what's wrong?"
"Nothing, just a small headache."
"Oh well with the way you look I'm glad its not a big one--your head might explode!"
"Harry, is everything alright?" Professor Trelawney asked.
"I'm fine."
"I doubt it; I sense you're in pain. Why don't you head down to the hospital wing? Ronald can you escort him?"
"No, I'm fine I swear."
"If you're sure..."
"I'm fine, okay?"
"Alright then, class, please turn to page 356 in Death Omens and You."
"Hey Harry," Ron whispered, "are you really okay?"
"Yeah, the pain's gone," said Harry absentmindedly. An image of Cedric's body flashed before his eyes. Too often his scar had hurt and he had done nothing. Didn't warn anyone didn't say anything. Well this time things would be different, Harry resolved. He would go to Dumbledore tonight, when everyone was asleep.
The rest of the day was pretty routine: sleeping through History of Magic, avoiding fire breath in Care of Magical Creatures, the regular. That evening, however, Harry stayed awake in bed, waiting for everyone else to fall asleep so he could sneak out. Finally, when he heard Neville's snores, he crept out of his bed and opened his trunk. Shifting aside his clothes and books, he took out his father's invisibility cloak. It shimmered in the darkness, looking more like liquid than anything else. Thanking his father silently, Harry slipped it on and opened the door when there was a sudden muffled THUMP.
Harry turned and saw a pile of sheets on the floor with a foot sticking out. "Oomph, Harry, help me up" Ron whispered. "Harry I know you're there, come on." Ron struggled with his tangled sheets.
Harry went over and peeled the sheets off Ron, helping him get up, and they both went downstairs to the darkened common room.
Harry poked his head out from under his cloak, "How did you know I was leaving?"
"Either leave the cloak on or take it off; it's too weird talking to a floating head."
Harry took off the cloak. "Now will you answer my question?"
"Fine. Your scar hurt in Divination. I know how you look when that happens; I've known you too long. So now you're planning on telling someone, probably Dumbledore." Ron explained impatiently.
"Yeah, but that still doesn't tell me how you knew when I was leaving."
"Oh, that. I tied a string from the door to my toe after you went to bed."
"That's a dumb plan."
"It worked, didn't it."
"Just because it worked doesn't make it a good plan. I could have just left you on the floor."
"I didn't think of that. Come on, let's go."
"I'm going alone," Harry insisted. "This isn't your problem."
"Who cares! You're my friend and I'm going with you. Besides, I don't think I've ever seen Dumbledore's office."
"Go back to bed."
"I'm going with you."
"No you're not."
"Yes I am."
"No, all three of us are going."
"Hermione?"
"No, it's Malfoy," Hermione grinned as she stood up from one of the chairs by the fireplace.
"I'm not even going to ask what you tied a string to," Harry said, exasperated.
"Actually, I fell asleep down here and you woke me up."
"How much have you heard?"
"Enough to know that it's important and I'll wake up the whole tower if you don't take me."
Harry smiled, touched that his friends cared that much about him.
"Are you alright, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Harry just shook his head and picked up the invisibility cloak. "Let's go."
The three of them got under the cloak and opened the common room door. The fat lady was asleep and they crept quietly down the hall listening for Filch and Mrs. Norris. Suddenly Harry stopped, and Ron and Hermione crashed into him.
"Ow! Warn me before you stop like that!" hissed Ron.
"Why did you stop?" Hermione asked.
"Look, that door is open."
"Who cares," Ron muttered. "We're invisible. We can just keep going."
"I think we should check it out."
"Look, Harry, I know adventures can be fun," Ron said, "But we're already sneaking out of our dorm trying to find the headmaster." Ron stopped. "I just realized what a dumb idea this is. We snuck out of our dorm to find the..."
"Shh," Hermione whispered, "someone's talking."
From inside the room, the trio heard "Are you sure we can just leave this here?"
"Yeah, nobody comes in here. It'll be safe until we need it."
The voices were too soft to be recognized and two figures silently crept out of the room, closed the door, and hurried away.
"Okay," Harry said, "Now we have to investigate."
"Why? Because two weird guys just stashed something there? That's not much of a reason," Ron said.
"Well I'm going in there, and the cloak is coming with me. I don't know what you guys are doing."
"God, Harry, you're curiosity is going to kill us one of these days." said Ron.
"Just as long as it isn't tonight."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Let's just get it over with."
The three of them slipped over to the door, Harry eased it open, and they went inside.
It looked like every other unused room Harry had seen at Hogwarts. Dusty desks were piled in the corner, and a large mirror sat in the middle of the floor.
"Why is there a mirror in an unused classroom?" Hermione asked.
"Oh cool," Harry said, "It's the mirror of Erised. I found it my first year. You remember, Hermione; we told you about it when you got back from your Holiday."
"I also remember you telling us that Dumbledore got rid of it." Ron said.
"Well that's what he told me. I don't know how it wound up here, but let's have a look."
"Why should we? It's not like it'll show us anything new."
"Well, Hermione's never looked in it."
"Yeah, I am kind of curious to see what I really want."
"Fine, come on. We'll do it together and then get out of here. I want to find Dumbledore before morning," Ron urged.
The three of them walked over and stood in front of the mirror. They were surprised to see that there was no reflection other than the three of them.
"Shouldn't we see what we desire or something?"
"That's how it worked last time."
"No incantation or anything?"
"Nope."
"Maybe we should take off the cloak."
"It worked when we had the cloak on last..."
Harry didn't finish his sentence. Not that anyone really noticed. That's because at that exact moment, all three of them collapsed to the floor unconscious.