Chapter 2 – Vivid Dreams and Cauldron Explosions.
That night was a rather rough one. Constantly, that girls face flashed through Harrys' mind like a beating heart, It wouldn't leave him alone. Then Harry saw all those bodies lying lifelessly on the grass, blood pooling around them. He wished he could help them. Harry gritted his teeth and was just about to run over to help when the scene changed.
Harry found himself in the middle of the woods, he had the urge to run like something or someone was following him. Harry, obeying his own wishes, broke off at a run, having no idea where he was going.
The trees around him were shrouded in an eery mist and the moonlight barely hit the ground.
Suddenly Harry hit a hard, thick tree root and he fell to the ground on his stomach. Harry, feeling a presence behind him turned but saw nothing. Keeping his eyes plastered in that direction, he got up from the ground, brushed himself off and turned back the way he was originally going.
This time what Harry had felt was actually there. Standing just a few feet in front of him was a large group of menacing wizards. Harry pulled out his wand from his pocket and watched silently as the group started to surround him. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw a scowling witch to his right raise her wand, ready to strike.
"Expelliarmus!" He shouted, aiming his spell at the woman.
Her wand zoomed high into the air and she chuckled darkly. A rather large man came up behind the woman, his wand raised.
"Now, now, it was only a simple defensive spell," She stated turning to the large man.
He grunted and lowered his wand a fraction.
Meanwhile Harry had been edging further and further away. This, however, didn't seem to go unnoticed.
Before Harry could act on it, he was thrown backwards by a powerful spell. Hitting the ground hard, Harry swore he heard something snap but his body was far too numb to feel any pain.
Harry opened his eyes to see that merciful woman standing over him, the other wizards accompanying her.
The woman once again chuckled darkly like she found this ordeal rather fun. The next thing Harry saw was her bending down closer and darkness engulfing him.
Harry sprang awake, he was breathing rather heavily and sweating slightly. He drew open the bed hangings, letting in the early morning light. He suspected it to be around 6am.
Harry sighed heavily, wiping his forehead with his hand. His previous dream flooding into his mind. It was just so vivid, like a past memory.
Deciding he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, Harry slid out of his bed and dressed himself.
Just before exiting the room, Harry spotted Quidditch Through The Ages, on Nevilles' bedside table. He doubled back and picked up the book. Harry glanced at Neville, Ron, Dean and Seamus, all four of them were fast asleep. All but one, having no idea what had happened yesterday afternoon at the lake.
As Harry stepped into the empty common room, book in hand, he spotted the window. Curiosity getting the best of him, he crossed the room and peered out the window. He saw no bodies, no teachers, no girl.
Again, Harry sighed and placed himself into the squashy armchair he had been seated at the previous night.
Harry, upon flicking through the many pages of his book, gave up. He hadn't been able to take in more than the first couple of sentences without drifting off into his thoughts.
What happened to all the bodies? Were any of them alive? How did they get to the Black Lake in the first place?
So many questions were flooding Harrys' brain, he needed to get some answers.
Harry exited through the portrait hole, followed the bewitched stairs down a few floors and made his way to Professor Dumbledores' office.
"Lemon drop," Said Harry.
The griffin gargoyle sprang to life and moved aside. Harry climbed the staircase until he reached the door to Professor Dumbledores' office. He knocked rather urgently.
"Harry, What do I have the pleasure of seeing you today?"
"Professor, can I ask you a few questions ... about yesterday?" Questioned Harry walking into the room.
"Yes, of course, I'm sure this must be a very strange ordeal for you. Here sit down." Dumbledore conjured up a chair for Harry to sit in before sitting in his own, behind the desk.
Harry sat, thinking of his first question, "Are any of them alive?"
Dumbledore paused, "Yes ... Some survived, most having pretty serious conditions, but their still alive."
Harry swallowed thickly, that was good news, right?
"... Where did they come from?"
"We can't tell for sure, but I have reason to believe that it wasn't a coincidence that sent them down the lake."
"You think a bunch of wizards could of done this?"
" ... Well, I can't say for sure but something like that, yes."
"Someone has to stop them."
"There's no need to worry Harry, we have people searching the area for suspected 'attackers', if they're still there, we will find them."
Harry nodded thankfully, then spoke, slightly slower, "Professor, do you remember that girl ... the one that I pulled out of the water?"
"Yes, Harry I do."
"Well, is there any chance that she's ..."
"She's alive, if that's what you're asking." -Harrys' expression brightened ever so slightly- " We'll be receiving birth records and such in the next couple of days, meaning, if everything goes according to plan they will be identifiable."
"Okay, right ... There in the Hospital Wing, are they?"
"Yes, the victims are being tended to here, until further notice."
"Thanks, Professor. One last question, do many people know about it?"
"The teachers have been informed, as well as the Ministry, but other than Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger and yourself, no other students. Remember we would like to keep it that way, we don't need extra alarm just yet."
"Right well, see you Professor," Harry said making his way to the door.
"Goodbye, Harry."
Harry walked down the empty corridor towards breakfast with a somewhat relieved expression, as sad as it was to hear that not everyone had survived, he was still quite happy that, that one girl had survived. He felt drawn to her for some reason.
By the time Harry had gotten to the Great Hall, he felt his stomach grumble, after all he had missed dinner last night.
Seating himself in front of a large pile of toast at the Gryffindor table, he was met with another fellow Gryffindor; Dean Thomas.
"Hello Harry," He said seating himself opposite him.
"Hi Dean."
"You alright?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
"Well, no reason really ...It's just, last night I saw you sitting by the window, you looked kind of glum, that's all."
Harry opened his mouth to explain when he remembered Dumbledores' words not to tell anyone. He quickly thought up an excuse.
"I was kicked out of the library while trying to finish an essay, very upsetting ordeal." He said in a slight airy manner.
Dean watched as Harry piled bacon onto his plate, "... Oh okay, fair enough."
The two didn't say much after that, not until Ron joined them, shortly followed by Hermione.
"Double Potions first on a Monday, how could life be so cruel," Ron groaned, taking a bite of his toast.
"What more could we wish for, a full hour and a half with our favourite Professor," Harry commented sarcastically.
Breakfast for Harry went incredibly quick. He was now standing in his Potions classroom, trying hopelessly – along with everyone else – to correctly brew a deflating draught. Out of the three of them, Rons' seemed to be the worst. It was gurgling horribly and smelled faintly of burnt toast.
"Hermione ..." He pleaded.
"Ron, I'm not supposed to help you ..." She sighed, "Add more essence of Belladonna, at least it will get rid of that smell."
Ron did as he was told and the smell disappeared, leaving only a small hint of liquorice.
"Thanks," He said breathlessly.
As if on cue, Professor Snape stalked over," I could of sworn that horrid smell was coming from you, Weasley."
Ron gulped, trying not to look at Hermione and give it away.
Snape gritted his teeth and without a good reason to hand out detentions, swept off to another table.
"Phew, that was lucky," Said Ron watching Snape point menacingly at Seamus Finnigan whose draught was spilling over the sides of his cauldron.
Harry nodded his head in agreement. Looking down at the recipe he remembered that he had forgotten to get one last ingredient.
"I'll be right back," He said heading for Snapes' ingredient cabinet.
Draco Malfoy, was at that time watching Harry. As soon as he left his cauldron, Malfoy strode over, Crabbe and Goyle following close behind.
"What do we have here, Weaslebee? Looks to me like your potion is more of a poison."
"Shove off, Malfoy," Replied Ron, Harshly.
Crabbe edged closer to Ron, distracting both he and Hermione. That's when Malfoy decided to take his move. Silently, he dropped a crushed handful of 4 different ingredients and backed away, not a moment too soon. Harry had come back from the cabinet, his eyes narrowed suspiciously at Malfoy.
"What was all that about?" Harry asked as Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle stalked back to their table.
"He was just trying to pick a fight, as usual," Hermione huffed stirring her concoction anti-clockwise.
Harry turned backwards to Malfoy who was smirking gleefully.
Suddenly Hermione gasped, drawing Harrys' attention.
His own cauldron was bubbling violently, alarming wafts of smoke rising into the air.
"Harry, what did you do?" Hermione shrieked, stepping back.
"I didn't do anything!" Harry had retrieved his spoon and was trying hopelessly to calm the mixture.
Professor Snape spotted the incident and abandoning a students far too watery mixture, rushed over.
Suddenly the cauldron erupted, sending globs of a lumpy, khaki green substance high into the air. Harry, being the closest, seemed to get the full blast and fell backwards unexpectedly.
As many students had dived out of the way, Cauldron mixes and ingredients scattered the floor.
Ron pulled Harry up from the floor, staring dreadfully at Snapes' enraged expression. Harry gurgled like he was trying to say something but no words came out. He had conveniently swallowed some of the concoction.
"Uh, I'll take Harry to the Hospital Wing," Exclaimed Ron dragging Harry to the door.
Professor Snape stood there, too mad to say anything. Ron, taking this as a good time for Harry to leave, exited through the door.
Harry stumbled all the way to the Hospital Wing, threatening to throw up every step. Ron being the only thing keeping him up, was pleased when Madame Pomfrey ushered Harry to sit down on a vacant hospital bed.
"Oh, dear me, what happened here?" She asked.
"He was on the wrong end of a cauldron explosion," Ron explained standing at the foot of the bed.
"Hmm ..." The Healer stepped away from Harry, rushed into her office and came back with a tall bottle of what looked like watery Peanut Butter.
Madame Pomfrey uncapped the bottle and poured some of it's contents into a glass. She then passed it to Harry, waiting for him to drink.
Harry stared groggily at the glass for a moment, held it to his mouth and downed the entire contents in one go.
As Harry dropped the glass to his side, Ron noted his tortured expression, like he had just been forced to drink pure sick.
Harry opened his mouth slowly and blurted out, "My tongue ... It's itchy. I-Is that right?"
At least he could talk.
Madame Pomfrey smiled satisfyingly, "You might want to stay here for a little while, just until you get the feeling back into your legs."
Just as she said this, Harry realised the fact that he could no longer feel anything from his waist down.
Madame Pomfrey, taking the tall bottle with her, made her leave to check up on other patients.
"Did you see Snapes' face! His head looked ready to explode!" Ron commented, "I can't imagine what he'll be like in our next class, we're lucky we didn't stick around long enough for him to hand out life long detentions!"
Ron was right, Harry was sure to get a centuries worth of detentions next time he saw Snape.
"I reckon it was Malfoy," He started, "He was hanging around our table just before it happened, he probably put something in my cauldron for a laugh."
"Yeah, that sounds like something he'd do."
That's when Harry remembered Dumbledore telling him about the victims resting here, in the Hospital Wing.
Although some beds had been curtained off, he still managed to spot many unfamiliar faces, almost everyone of them unconscious.
Harry – using Ron as something to lean on – stood up, his legs feeling like jelly.
He craned his neck, searching for the girl. There she was, lying peacefully in a bed not too far away.
"That's her," Said Harry and, with the slight help of Ron, made his way over to the bed.
Harry edged closer to her unconscious state and found himself taking in her appearance.
The absence of dirt on her face and the fact that she wasn't as pale as she had been drew him in even closer, she was, to Harry quite pretty.
"Dumbledore thinks a bunch of dark wizards might of started all this," Harry told Ron quietly.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he was right, it's too much of a coincidence that it happened to so many people."
"But how would they be picking them? ..."
"Dunno, mate."
Harry was still incredibly inquisitive about this situation, so much that he didn't even notice the girl open her eyes.
A/N: Yay, Chapter 2! I wrote this one fairly quickly because I'm sick at the moment and have nothing else to do.. So much for Friday night parties and riveting weekends! Ha.
Thanks to those people who reviewed, favourite'd and so on! It really means a lot to me. =]
Happy reading!
-xMessyNessy
