Disclaimer: I still don't any of the Harry Potter characters, only the cloaked figure.
Chapter 2
Harry was flying. Up and up, until he was next to the stars. The wind had been whipping through his hair, but suddenly it was all quiet. Nothing moved, silence sounded as loud as a thunder storm.
Harry was not flying anymore. He was standing. Looking down, Harry saw that he was standing on nothing but air. Closing his eyes, he waited to feel himself falling back to earth with a bone jarring crash.
"You can't fall from up here," a sweet, simple voice reassured behind Harry.
Harry turned to find the black figure from the Great Hall standing ten feet in front of him. He couldn't make out who it was; they still had the hood pulled over up, covering their face.
"Who are you?" Harry asked with more bravo then he felt as he stared into the dark shadows the hood made.
One slender hand come up, pulling the hood up and then off. Under the hood was the pale face of a young girl. She had a strong chin, high cheek bones, but her eyes . . . Her eyes were covered by dark sun glasses and all Harry could see was two tiny reflections of himself. Her hair was a sterling silver color; it was cut in layers to frame her face, giving it a look of perfection.
"My name is Emily. I've come to warn you." She answered in an accent that was often related to the Southern states of the United States of America. 'Red neck' and 'country' were two popular 'nicknames' for the way of speech.
"Warn me about what?" Harry asked starting to back away from her. "And where are we?" Harry turned to look around him. Behind him, he knew, was a quarter moon with stars glowing in a dark sky, yet before him was the sun, its rays lashing out at a sky of pink, gold, orange, and light purple.
"This place is called an Apex, a place between the dream world," As she said this, she pointed to the moon with its stars and watched as a falling star zoomed across the sky, "And the real world." Turning back, she pointed toward the sun with its pink sky.
"Why did you bring me here?" Harry asked as he turned back, looking away from the bright sun. The sight that met his eyes caused him to jump. When Emily had shown him the large star, she had been nearly 10 feet away. Now, as his eyes judged the distance between them, he decided she could be no more than three feet away.
"I brought you here to tell you--" Suddenly Emily stopped and let out a scream that was filled with pain and anguish. Bending over, arms wrapping around her middle, she stumbled forward and fell. Her small form continued to fall farther away as Harry watched in horror.
"Hey!" Harry yelled as he jumped after her, falling from the Apex with her.
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Harry jumped, pulling himself out of the sleep like peace he had fallen into. Still he could hear the girl's screams, then he felt himself laying down and guessed that some one had brought him and the girl down to the Hospital Wing.
Turning to his side, Harry saw the girl on the bed next to him fighting with Madam Pomfrey. Only Snape was there holding the girl down to the bed while Madam Pomfrey conjured up hospital restrains from her wand, restraining Emily to the bed. The girls eyes were tightly closed and Madam Pomfrey had removed her glasses.
"What's going on here?" Suddenly Dumbledore walked in. His sharp eyes took in the girl attempting to turn from side to side, testing her restrains.
"She went crazy when I took off these sun glasses," Madam Pomfrey replied, handing the sun glasses to Dumbledore. "I had to get Snape here to hold her down while I restrained her."
"She needs her glasses," Harry said, causing everyone jump; they thought he was unconscious. "The light, it hurts her eyes." he answered the question he saw in their eyes.
"How do you know that, Harry?" Dumbledore asked as he reached to put the glasses back on the girl. Instantly the girl calmed down and stopped fighting the restrains that held her.
"I don't know how I know that, sir. I just know that light hurts her eyes." Harry answered as he started to sit up.
"Mr. Potter, you must lay back down." Madam Pomfrey said as she started to walk over to Harry's bed.
"I'm fine, I'll swear it on Dumbledore's desk if you want."
"That may be, but you're going to stay in that bed." Madam Pomfrey answered back has she pushed Harry back into bed. "Down." She said when he started to get up again.
"Madam Pomfrey," Dumbledore said as he walked over to Harry's bed, "will you go down to Hagrid's hut, outside you'll see a big black dog beside Fang. Will you bring him here, then go back to the Great Hall and await for me there?"
"But, Harry's. . . . . Yes, Headmaster." Madam Pomfrey said as she walked out.
"Snuffles?" Harry asked as Dumbledore sat down next to him on the hospital bed.
"Yes, his been staying here for a week. He was going to leave in the morning, but I think he should stay for a while now." Dumbledore answered, running his hands over his face, suddenly looking old and worn.
Snape walked over and sat in the chair between the Emily's bed and Harry's. "Who's your new friend, Potter?" he asked, staring at the still form on the nearby bed.
"Let's wait till Sirius gets here before we begin asking questions." Dumbledore interjected before Harry could answer.
After a few tense moments, a big black hairy dog walked into the room. The aura that he gave off made one think he was in charge of the entire situation. The dog leaped onto the bed with Harry, then turned into a man. His hair was longer then Harry remembered, yet still untidy and matted. He no longer looked malnourished, Harry thought with approval.
"Hello Sirius," Harry said as his godfather pulled him into a bear hug.
"Getting into trouble already, are we?" Sirius teased lightly as he let go of Harry and turned toward Dumbledore.
"Harry's not in any trouble. Not that I know of," the Headmaster answered, his eyes gleaming for the first time all night.
"Well then, what's going on?" Sirius asked as he looked around. His brown eyes fell upon the girl in the bed beside Harry, his cautious eyes taking in her restrains and dark glasses. Then his eyes fell upon Snape, who remained in the wooden chair. Snape was looking at the girl as if he knew her. Sirius watched as Snape's eyes fell to the girl's left arm.
"Who is it?" Sirius asked Snape.
Snape jumped in his chair, then turned toward Sirius. "Why do you ask me? Harry seems to know more then I do at the moment."
"Okay then," Sirius said, turning back to Harry. "Who is it?" he asked again.
"She said her name was Emily. And that she had came here to warn me." Harry answered has he turned back to look at her. She was so still, one would think she was dead. Only the tell-tale rise and fall of her chest showed that she was still alive.
"Why's she tied up then?" Sirius asked this of Dumbledore.
The Headmaster was looking at Emily and the question went unanswered. Sirius looked down at Harry who shrugged and each turned their attention to the motionless girl.
Sirius and Harry found out what held not only the Headmaster's attention, but Snape's as well. The restraints on the girl's left arm were slowly coming undone by themselves as were the restrains on her right arm.
Suddenly her restrains flew off her arms and anchored themselves onto Snape's own arms, hooking him to the chair he was sitting in.
"What the--" Snape started but a sock appeared out of thin air and stuffed itself into his mouth.
Everyone turned to find a now empty bed. As they looked up, they found the girl was standing on the other side of her bed, out of reach from everyone. Pointing one slender finger at Snape she said very quietly, "He's a Death Eater."