Disclaimer: Parts of this chapter are derived from Chapters 7 and 11 of Half Blood Prince and Chapter 26 of Goblet of Fire.
Chapter 7: Twisted
"I can't believe you let me oversleep!" Harry yelled to Ron as they ran through the castle to the lake for the second task.
"Let you? How is this my fault? Hermione was supposed to come back and help us!"
Fair enough, and at this point there was no reason to argue. Truth be told, they should have figured out a way for Harry to complete the second task weeks ago, but they had not found a solution until it Apparated out of thin air to wake them up this morning. He was still clutching the Gillyweed Dobby had given him firmly in his left hand, wondering how he had never heard of this magical plant before, and whether he might have learned about it sooner if Dawn and Ron could tolerate being in the same castle.
Harry came to a sliding stop in front of the judge's table, getting mud on Fleur's robes by accident. Ron attempted to do the same, but wound up falling face first in the mud. Distantly, Harry heard Percy Weasley chastise both of them, but he refused to pay him any attention. Ron clearly didn't take him seriously either, as he attempted to say something else to Harry, but Percy shooed him away from the embankment and towards the grandstand. Harry wanted to hear what Ron had to say, but he instead bent over with his hands on his knees to gasp for air.
When he looked up, Harry saw Dumbledore smile at him, but Karkaroff and Madame Maxime didn't look at all pleased to see him… It was obvious from the looks on their faces that they had thought he wasn't going to turn up. Harry wanted to apologize for his lateness, but Ludo Bagman grabbed his shoulders and pushed him into place along the bank of the lake next to Krum.
Bagman began to explain the rules, but Harry wasn't paying any attention. He had known for weeks that the task was to retrieve something from the bottom of the lake, and thanks to Dobby he learned that it was his sister. Before he could get too caught up in his thoughts, everyone around him was in motion, jumping into the water while shouting various spells. Harry followed their lead and swallowed his Gillyweed, diving deep into the water before whatever effects it had could activate. Before long, he realized that he was breathing in the water like air, and pushed even harder to reach his sister.
After about twenty minutes and a handful of Grindylows of swimming, Harry began to hear a haunting mer-song. "An hour long you'll have to look and to recover what we took. Your time's half-gone, so tarry not lest what you seek stays here to rot." Pushing on fiercely in pursuit of the mer-song, Harry arrived in the merpeople's underwater village. In the middle of what he assumed was the town square was a gigantic statue, with four people bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson.
His heart lurched into his throat when he saw Dawn between Cho Chang and Hermione. There was also a girl who looked no older than eight, whose clouds of silvery hair made him feel sure that she was Fleur's sister. All four of them looked to be in a very deep sleep. Their heads were lolling onto their shoulders, and fine streams of bubbles kept issuing from their mouths.
Knowing from prior experience that his wand would not perform any spells while he was under the influence of the Gillyweed, Harry grabbed a spear from the nearest merperson, shocking them apparently with this tactic as they all lunged forward to take it back. But, in one swing he freed Dawn from the statue. He carefully held Dawn under his arm, preparing to ascend to the surface as quickly as possible for her safety, but he could not take his eyes off the small silver-haired girl, whose face was ghostly green and pale.
Looking at the little girl, Harry realized what a disadvantage he and Fleur had in this task: they both had a sibling taken away. If Fleur was anything like him, she would risk her life to get her sister back safely. Although Cedric and Krum felt the same pressures to complete the task, there was just no way their experience compared to the total pressures the two elder siblings felt. Clutching the spear tightly, Harry cut the rope securing Fleur's sister and tried to swim, only to have all of the merpeople grab his feet to hold him down.
"You take your own hostage," one of them said to him. "Leave the others"
"No way!" Harry shouted back furiously, as the merpeople took Fleur's sister, not to mention the spear, and reattached her to the statue. He knew they couldn't understand the bubbles coming out of his mouth, but he hoped his wild gesturing was sufficient communication.
"Your task is to retrieve your sister. Leave the others…"
"She's someone's sister too!" Harry yelled. "And I'm not going to let any of them die!"
Unsure of what to do, Harry waited for the other champions to come, not willing to leave anyone behind, but at the same time constantly checking Dawn's pulse just in case he needed to get her to safety. Eventually, Cedric rescued Cho and Krum (somewhat clumsily) retrieved Hermione. As soon as he saw Krum reach the surface, he couldn't wait any longer and once again reached for Fleur's sister, only to have the merpeople block his way to her.
Frustrated, Harry pulled his wand on them, instantly causing them to back up. Apparently they didn't realize that his inability to speak impaired his magic, so he furthered the bluff by holding up one finger as he reached his hand out to the nearest merperson, who promptly gave Harry his spear. He held up a second finger as he cut the rope securing Fleur's sister.
In one motion, Harry pulled the small girl under his arm and put his wand in his teeth and took off at a full sprint, knowing that the instant he pocketed his wand all of the merpeople would be chasing after him to return the additional hostage. Using the most powerful butterfly stroke kicks he could muster, Harry propelled himself towards the surface. Although he was managing to move quickly with his webbed feet, he could tell that the merpeople were on his tail, but he was unable to swim any faster with two dead weights under his arms.
After what seemed like an eternity of pushing forward, Harry reached the surface and instantly felt the effects of the Gillyweed wear off as oxygen filled his lungs. Instinctively, he checked on his sister, happy to see her finally stirring again. Fleur's sister was also moving, though her response was to grab onto his arm for dear life as he wadded to the shoreline.
"Did you win?" were the first words out of Dawn's mouth.
"Really?" Harry asked incredulously. "Not, 'thanks for saving my life' or anything?"
"We were never in any really danger. Professor Dumbledore had enough protective spells on us to keep an elephant alive down there," Dawn replied while laughing. Noticing Harry's stunned silence, Dawn groaned and asked, "Don't tell me you took the merpeople seriously."
"No, why would I?" Harry mock scoffed as they walked on dry land. As soon as Fleur's sister was able to stand, she ran towards her older sister and tightly embraced her.
Dawn noticed the emotional reunion and smiled. "Harry, you are such a prat," she said with a chuckle, giving him a kiss on the cheek as someone wrapped blankets around them.
..::..
As Harry had put up the notice for Quidditch tryouts only a week ago, he was not expecting all of Gryffindor house to attend. However, the pitch was packed with students, ranging from first years who appeared to have never flown before to the seventh years that towered over them.
"Hello, and welcome to trials," Harry began in the loudest voice that he could. Most of the crowd ignored him, continuing to talk and point. "Ahem," he began again. "I'm the captain, Harry Potter, and we're going to get started with a simple test!" he shouted. Still, he was ignored by the crowd. Harry turned around to Hermione in the bleachers and shrugged in exasperation.
Instead of smiling at him encouragingly, or even acknowledging the futility of his attempts, she instead waved at him frantically with wide eyes. Harry was only momentarily confused though, as a Bludger screamed past his ear and crashed into the grandstand with a large bang.
When he turned around to face the crowd again, the entire group was silent, with Dawn happily holding a Beater's bat in the back of the group with Ron and Ginny. "As I was saying, we're going to begin trials with a simple test. In groups of ten, you'll fly around the pitch one time, just so I can get a sense of your flying ability."
Harry purposely went through the all the tryouts and divided them up so the first six groups consisted of people he could easily dismiss. Then, he was down to the real competition. There were about six people trying out for Chaser, five for Beater, and seven for Keeper.
"I think we'll begin with the Chasers and Beaters. We'll split you in half and play a game. I want the Chasers to concentrate on scoring, flying, and passing, while the Beaters should try to knock them off their brooms. We'll rotate Chasers every now and then to see your chemistry. Let's start with Dawn, Jimmy, and Ritchie as the Beaters with Dean, Demelza, and Seamus, and Andrew and Jack with Katie, Ginny and Dennis.
Harry knew that everyone in the game could easily interpret this decision. The one side was entirely returning players, save Dennis of course. Harry had made it clear that he wanted to replace Andrew and Jack as Beaters, so he combined the three new applicants for that position to see how well they aimed at the best flying Chasers, Ginny and Katie. In addition, any rotating of Chasers would be to see how well they flew with Ginny and Katie.
Harry blew his whistle and all eleven players took off. Harry was perched above everything, watching from the Seaker's standpoint and taking in everything below him. Ginny and Katie quickly grabbed the Quaffle and flew towards the goalposts, passing back and forth, and they appeared to be unopposed, until a Bludger knocked the Quaffle out of the air. Harry turned his gaze toward Dawn, who lobbed another one straight at Ginny, forcing her to dodge at the last second instead of regaining control of the Quaffle. In the meantime, Seamus and Dean had shown surprisingly good teamwork in grabbing the Quaffle and flying down to the other side to score.
Jack and Andrew had done nothing to prove that they had improved their flying or aiming since last year, as they feebly managed to fly around the pitch and only once in a while made enough contact with the Bludger to cause anyone else to move. Yet, when compared with Jimmy and Ritchie, Dawn was clearly lacking in her flying ability. However, to compensate for that, they had come up with a system where the two boys would fly towards the Bludger's path and lob it back to Dawn after she hit it, and she would then take aim at one of the opposing Chasers. After she knocked out two of Dennis' teeth by hitting him in the face, forcing him to withdraw, Harry had switched Demelza over to play with Ginny and Katie. Demelza had been the most successful at dodging Dawn's attacks thus far.
Harry blew his whistle "Ok, we're going to switch the Beaters around a little. Let's have Ritchie and Dawn play with Ginny, Katie, and Demelza." He blew his whistle again and instantly the pitch was in motion again.
Obviously, Seamus and Dean were outnumbered as Chasers, but it didn't seem as much of a disadvantage as having Jimmy, Andrew and Jack all scramble to block Dawn's ferociously aimed Bludgers. Of the five beaters on the field, it was clear that the combination of Dawn and Ritchie had not only the best aim and power, but also that Ritchie was the best flyer of all five.
Dawn had a wild smirk on her face as she launched another Bludger towards Seamus. Jack attempted to hit it away from his charges, but lost balance on his broom and nearly fell off instead of making contact. Seamus had no time to react as the iron ball crashed through the tail of his broom and snapped it in two. However, that did not change the trajectory of the Bludger, which hit Harry in the eye, forcing him to land.
Everyone else followed their captain's lead, with several additional students rushing over to check on Seamus and Harry. Harry brushed several of them off, including Romilda Vane, who was trying to force Harry to take some sort of potion for his head. "I think it's clear that our Chasers will be Katie Bell, Demelza Robins, and Ginny Weasley, while our Beaters will be Dawn Potter and Ritchie Coote. Thank you to everyone else who tried out."
The rejected players wandered off the pitch, while Ron and the other hopeful Keepers grabbed their brooms and began to walk onto it. Harry motioned for the five newly selected players to remount their brooms, and they took off.
"Now, we'll have Keeper trials. You will each have an opportunity to block five shots from Demelza, Ginny, and Katie, while at the same time avoiding Bludgers from Dawn and Ritchie." After Harry said the last part, three of the applicants walked back to the bleachers, joining a pretty sizeable audience for Quidditch tryouts. "Good luck! We'll start with Chris, then."
The third year nervously mounted his broom and ascended towards the goalposts. Harry was about to take off as well, but he felt a hand on his shoulder and whipped around to face Cormac McLaggen. "Listen, Harry, I know that Dawn and Ginny were clearly qualified to fill their respective posts, but don't you think that Ron has an unfair advantage if his sister takes shots at him and his best friend's sister is the one aiming Bludgers at him?"
Harry snorted, which took Cormac by surprise. "Listen, Ginny has been taking shots at Ron for years and knows exactly how to score against him. And there's nothing Dawn would love more than to knock Ron unconscious with a Bludger." Cormac nodded slowly, and appeared to have a rebuttal, but Harry kicked off and blew his whistle before he could complain more.
Fortunately for Ron, the first two applicants only managed to make two saves combined, mostly because they were more concerned with dodging Bludgers than actually making saves. Cormac ascended as the third candidate and dazzled the crowd by making the first three saves and, during the fourth save, using the caught Quaffle to deflect a Bludger.
During the fifth and final shot, Ginny wound up and threw to the left goal post. Though Cormac thought about going right for an instant, he went left but was unable to make the save when the Bludger hit the Quaffle, causing the ball to speed up midair. Cormac reached his hand out to catch the Quaffle, but the increased velocity forced him into the goal, along with the ball. He quickly landed, growling about how unfair the tactic was, although Harry was pleased that his newest teammates were gelling so quickly.
Meanwhile, Ron appeared to grow greener as he flew higher, but he blocked the first two shots from Katie and the next two from Demelza, and he even took one or two Bludgers in the process without flinching. To make things fair, Harry had purposely only allowed Ginny one shot on her brother, and even though she and Dawn had prepared the same tactic of hitting the Quaffle with the Bludger, Ron dove towards it with great intensity and managed to make the save by swatting the Quaffle out of the air with his left hand, just barely staying on his broom.
"Congratulations Ron, that'll end the trials now that we've found our Keeper!" Harry yelled, effectively dismissing everyone else from the pitch.
Cormac though did not appear to take the declaration the way it was intended. "I demand that I get another chance. Ron had a clear advantage after seeing me fail to make that very same shot."
"He may have seen you make the shot, but in the instant he had to respond, he was able to make the save and you weren't. Ron's Keeper, fair and square. Get out of my way." Harry ignored Cormac and walked past him to where his new team was now assembled. "Congratulations everybody! I expect to see you at practice Monday afternoon for our first…"
Harry paused out of distraction, as Dawn was frantically waving Colin over and, as soon as he reached her, embraced her tightly. "Do you think Dennis is mad that I knocked out a few of his teeth?"
"Nothing a quick trip to the hospital wing can't fix. Besides, I think he'll understand, since you may be the best Beater Hogwarts has ever seen."
"You don't really…"
Harry cleared his throat to get Dawn's attention again, and she blushed once she realized that the entire team had been listening to their conversation. "Anyway, I'll see you Monday. For now, why don't we go to the Common Room to celebrate?"
There was slight grumbling to this suggestion, as Colin and Dawn not so subtly walked in the opposite direction towards the Lake. Ginny also peeled away from the group, attempting to fight her way onto the bleachers to console Dean about the situation. Demelza and Ritchie also mumbled an excuse and excitedly ran over to their friends.
"Thanks for the invitation Harry, but I have an essay due for Defence Monday," Katie said to her long-time teammate. "Besides, it doesn't seem like there was much support for the idea anyway."
"Thanks, I understand," Harry mumbled in agreement.
"Don't worry mate, there'll be plenty of time for celebrating after we win the Cup!" Ron said cheerily, still euphoric from beating out Cormac.
"Yeah, I'm sure you're right. You flew really well today."
"You did brilliantly, Ron!" Hermione yelled enthusiastically as she ran up to join them.
"Thanks Hermione!"
"I can't believe you didn't break anything in your hand during that last save."
"Me neither," Ron replied happily, holding up a rather swollen hand. "I could've sworn that my hand bent backwards, but I didn't feel a thing. Still don't, come to think of it."
"Do you think you might have gone into shock?" Harry asked, looking at Ron's hand a little more carefully.
"Dunno. Only one way to find out I suppose. Up!" Ron commanded his broom. It shot up into his left hand, causing Ron to instantly scream in agony. "Down! Down! I think I broke every bone in my hand!"
"Ron, are you okay?" an exasperated girl yelled from behind them. At once, Lavender Brown was by his side, with his arm around her shoulder. "I'll take you to the hospital wing, don't worry!"
"I…" Ron stammered as he was forced away.
"Good thing that celebration fell through," Harry muttered. "Otherwise it would be pretty lonely."
"What's wrong Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing's wrong! I just assembled the greatest Gryffindor Quidditch team I've ever seen, and they're all so excited," the gusto in Harry's voice had all but disappeared, "that they want to talk about it with their friends."
"And clearly it's bothering you."
"Well, yeah. I thought Ron, Ginny, and Dawn at the very least would want to celebrate with me."
"Ron wanted to. So, you're upset that Ginny and Dawn didn't?"
"Well, when you say it like that, yeah."
"Listen Harry, they both have boyfriends and…"
"Harry?"
Harry and Hermione both turned around to see Cassie Newton standing behind them. "Hello Cassie."
"Professor Dumbledore wanted me to give you this. I hope this wasn't a bad time."
Harry smirked slightly as he accepted the parchment from Cassie. "Perfect timing."
"I sort of figured. See you later," she said with a smile as she walked past them towards the castle.
"What does Dumbledore want?" Hermione asked, reading over his shoulder.
"He scheduled our first lesson for tonight. I'll have to hurry and change if I'm going to make it on time!" Harry began to sprint towards the castle, leaving Hermione and the uncomfortable conversation behind.
"Don't think this conversation is over!" she screamed after him.
..::..
After a little, private celebration with Colin, Dawn decided to return to the Common Room to catch the end of Harry's, while Colin asked if he could borrow Anyanka to send a few letters. However, by the time she got there, the Common Room was quiet. With nothing better to do, Dawn decided to finish her homework, and sat in a corner of the room by herself. After what seemed like an eternity of writing an essay for Herbology, she felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Excuse me, Dawn?" asked a small voice. Dawn whipped around to see Sally standing behind her, clutching The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 against her chest. "Can you help me with an assignment?"
"Sure," Dawn said, tapping the chair next to her. "What do you need?"
"Well, Professor Flitwick asked us to write an essay on the steps you need to take to cast the Hover Spell, but all the book says is to say the spell and wave your wand. What else do you need to do?"
"Well, that is what you need to do, but there's a specific motion. Haven't you discussed the wrist flick?"
"Yeah, but I didn't know that was for this spell. So you say the words while you're swishing and flicking?"
"Yes, exactly," Dawn said proudly, though it was mostly in herself for quickly helping the younger girl.
"Thanks. I thought it had to be more complex than just the swish and flick. I suppose I over-thought it."
Dawn returned to her own essay briefly before she felt another tap on her shoulder. Expecting to see Sally again, Dawn nearly jumped out of her skin when it was instead Neville standing behind her.
"Sorry Dawn, didn't mean to startle you. I was just wondering if you had free time for a little bit of duelling practice? Like last year?"
"Sure Neville. Why do you need my help though?" Dawn asked as she got up from her chair.
"Well, it seemed like last year during the D.A. meetings I could do any spell, but it's been several weeks and I still haven't cast a single non-verbal spell. I was hoping that if we went to the Room of Requirement and practiced against each other, I would be able to do it. I can proofread your Herbology essay if…"
"Sure Neville, I'd be happy to help you." She quickly returned all of her supplies to the dormitory and ventured to the seventh floor of the castle with Neville.
"So, what kinds of wordless spells have you tried?" Dawn asked.
"I've tried everything from duelling spells, like stunners and shields, to really simple spells we learned first year. So far, I've gotten a piece of parchment to twitch on the table." He paused as Dawn giggled. "You don't have to laugh about it."
"I'm not laughing at you, I swear. It's just funny that I've been asked to help with the Hover Charm twice today."
Neville laughed too as they approached the familiar hallway where the door to the Room of Requirement would appear. "Would you do the honour, or should I?"
Chuckling slightly, Dawn began to pace in the hallway, thinking to herself, "I need a place to practice defence, I need a place to practice defence, I need a place to practice defence." When she stopped, she walked over to where the door was supposed to appear, but nothing happened.
"That's odd," she said. "I requested a place to practice defence three times."
"Maybe I should try?" Neville asked as he began the same process of pacing and telling the room what he needed. After some time, he stopped walking and approached the still-empty wall. "Well that's new."
"I wonder if someone's in there…" Dawn mused as she rapped lightly on the wall. Dawn was about to give up when a sudden crashing noise caused both of them to whip around with their wands drawn.
A familiar blond figure in oversized robes was staring at them from down the hall. Dawn took a small step forward and was able to identify the student. "Sally? What are you doing here? I thought you were in the common room?" Dawn took another step forward and saw a set of rather large metal scales sitting at her feet. "Sally?"
Before she could take another step, Sally took off running. Dawn and Neville wasted no time chasing after her, hoping to catch up quickly due to her small stature. But, they found that she was surprisingly good at manoeuvring around the castle, cutting down stairs, weaving through displays, and navigating through passages Dawn didn't know existed. After a minute or two of running, she lost the two older wizards.
"Never thought a first year could get away from me in this castle," Dawn muttered as they walked back towards the Room of Requirement.
"Why do you think she ran away? I thought you just helped her with her essay?" Neville wheezed, still slightly out of breath.
"Yeah, I did. She was in the common room when we left. I wonder how she got there so fast."
"Well, she probably used all of those shortcuts she used to get away from us."
"But where is she going? We kept running down the stairs, away from the Tower."
"I don't know. Seems to be a lot of weird things going on today," Neville stopped in front of where they both knew the Room of Requirement was. "Maybe we should try again?"
Dawn nodded and paced back and forth, again thinking about how she needed to practice defence. Though she wasn't expecting anything to happen this time, the door quickly appeared, revealing the D.A.'s practice facility from last year.
"Like I said," Neville reiterated, "really weird things."
..::..
"Acid Pops," said Harry, and the gargoyle leapt aside; the wall behind it slid apart, and a moving spiral stone staircase carried Harry in smooth circles up to the door with the brass knocker that led to Dumbledore's Office.
Harry knocked.
"Come in," said Dumbledore s voice.
"Good evening, sir," said Harry, walking into the headmaster's office.
"Ah, good evening, Harry. Sit down," said Dumbledore, smiling. "I hope you've had a fortuitous tryout?"
"Yes, thanks, sir," said Harry.
"Right," said Harry, who now looked around surreptitiously for some indication of what Dumbledore was planning to do with him this evening. The circular office looked just as it always did; the delicate silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, puffing smoke and whirring; portraits of previous headmasters and headmistresses dozed in their frames, and Dumbledore's magnificent phoenix, Fawkes, stood on his perch behind the door, watching Harry with bright interest. It did not even look as though Dumbledore had cleared a space for duelling practice.
"So, Harry," said Dumbledore, in a businesslike voice. "You have been wondering, I am sure, what I have planned for you during these — for want of a better word — lessons?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, I had planned for you to learn more about our enemy by gleaning information from past encounters." He paused.
"But?"
"There are more pressing matters at the moment, and I'm afraid that I must ask you to grant me access into your personal memories."
Harry stood and pulled out his wand, placing it next to his temple. "What memory do you need?"
"I'm afraid that I am not requesting to view your memory in that form. For you see, it has come to light that several of my own memories have been modified, as have Professor Snape's, and viewing memories in a Pensieve only allows us to see modifications that have been made after the memory has been removed from one's head."
"I'm afraid that I don't know what you're asking me to do, sir," Harry admitted as he sat down across from the elder wizard.
"Harry, I am asking your permission to probe your mind using Legilimency. I'm sorry to say that it is a most intrusive process, but it is the only way I can see the changes in your memories."
Harry sat in silence and stared at his lap for a few moments before asking, "Why do you need to see my memories, sir?"
Dumbledore returned the silence before carefully confessing, "All of the memories that we have found to be modified involve you and your sister, either directly or indirectly."
Sighing, Harry stood and walked towards the door, pivoting as he reached it to face the headmaster. "Well, then let's get started."
Dumbledore stood as well and carefully picked up his wand using his healthy hand. "I apologize in advance for any discomfort this may cause, though my style of Legilimency is less abrasive than Professor Snape's. Now, please think of a memory, preferably one that involves your sister. Legilimens!"
..::..
Harry was surprised to find himself swimming. He hadn't even felt Dumbledore enter his mind, unlike Snape's brutal tour-de-force through his memories during his Occlumency lessons last year. Yet, he was reliving a memory, unconsciously performing the same physical actions while consciously being unable to deviate from the way the events played out originally. Looking down at his hands, or fins as the case may be, he realized exactly what memory he was living: the second task in the Triwizard Tournament.
From behind him, he could hear Dumbledore's voice. "Siste!" As the spell took hold, Harry found himself unable to move a single muscle, which he found odd as this whole ordeal was theoretically taking place inside his head. "Sorry Harry," Dumbledore said as he floated into view in front of him. "I just need to cast a quick spell to see the influence of magic in your memory. Tirer la Couverture!"
As soon as he uttered those words, two things happened simultaneously: Harry began to move again, but the effects of the Gillyweed disappeared. Harry was reluctant to breathe in the water without the gills, but yet his lungs forced him to inhale…air. Although he could no longer see the gills and fins the plant game him, they were clearly still there: the spell Dumbledore had cast forced him to see how see the world without magic. No longer could he understand the Merpeople's song that was drawing him to Dawn either, though he was able to see them once he arrived in the village.
Following the familiar path into the middle of the town square, he was disturbed by what he saw in attached to the gigantic statue: the four people bound tightly to the tail of the stone merperson were not asleep and pale, but were instead healthy-looking, breathing, and, most disturbingly, blinking.
Guided by actions taken nearly two years ago, Harry approached the figure dangling between Cho Chang and Hermione, but was shocked to find himself grabbing a rock from the bottom of the lake to free…Ron? It was impossible for him to be a hostage at the bottom of the lake, since he had been with Harry researching the entire night before. Although he knew that his physical state could not betray his internal confusion, he could hear the headmaster distantly mumbling about the situation.
Harry's patterns resumed the actions he thought he had taken all along, as he stood by and watched Krum, who looked utterly bizarre trying to cut the rope securing Hermione with his human teeth, and Cedric, whose appearance in the memory caused Harry's heart to lurch, retrieve their hostages and begin swimming towards the surface with their eerily healthy hostages, before freeing Gabrielle Delacour and swimming to the surface.
As soon as he got his head above the water, the crowd in the stands began shouting and screaming. Harry looked to the shoreline as they began wading towards it, but was unable to locate Dawn anywhere. Gabrielle looked scared and confused, as he believed she had originally when he rescued both her and Dawn, but Ron merely expelled a great spout of water, blinked in the bright light, turned to Harry, and said, "Wet, this, isn't it?" Then he spotted Fleur's sister. "What did you bring her for?"
"Fleur didn't turn up; I couldn't leave her," Harry panted.
"Harry, you prat," said Ron, "you didn't take that song thing seriously, did you? Dumbledore wouldn't have let any of us drown!"
..::..
Harry felt a tug as he left the memory and found himself once again in the headmaster's office. They were both panting heavily to catch their breath, though the instruments on Dumbledore's desk indicated that only a few minutes had passed.
"Sir?" Harry asked after a few more moments of silence. "What was that?"
Dumbledore walked quietly to his desk, and motioned for Harry to do the same. "Honestly, I'm not sure."
"What do you mean you're not sure?" Harry asked as civilly as he possibly could, though he knew that it was more agitated than anything else. "Dawn wasn't in that memory. Did I forget that I rescued Dawn?"
"No, I actually would believe that you forgot rescuing Mr. Weasley instead."
"How is that possible, sir?"
"Again, I'm not sure. But, it does match what Professor Snape and I had found previously. It seems as though your sister was added to our memories."
"Is…"
"No, Voldemort is not behind this. He revealed to Professor Snape that none of his memories were modified; he instead noticed the changes in Wormtail's memory." Dumbledore either ignored or didn't notice Harry's physical reaction to the name. "No, this was the work of a global memory spell."
"How can you tell?"
"It would be impossible to modify the memories of every student and faculty member in the castle, not to mention everyone who has had contact with your sister in the past."
"We still can't rule out Voldemort. He might have just fed that information to Snape so we believe she isn't a mole he created."
"Yes, but would Voldemort have bothered to modify your muggle relatives' memory?"
"No, that doesn't sound like him. So I suppose we don't know anything about this, besides that it happened?"
Dumbledore chuckled slightly and looked up at Harry with a familiar twinkle. "I see you're catching on." He pulled out a bit of parchment and scribbled a quick note on it. "It is unfortunate that we know so little of this matter, but I have full confidence that you will be able to find some information on global memory altering spells in the library, and might even be able to discover who would be able to cast such a powerful spell." He handed the parchment over to Harry, who realized that it was a pass for unlimited access into the Restricted Section for himself, Ron, and Hermione.
"So, you want me to do research into the topic with Ron and Hermione?"
"Yes. Miss Granger has a remarkable ability to discover crucial information, and I would hope that you trust them enough to share this information with them."
Harry got up from the desk, looking no more reassured than he had after emerging from the memory. "I will sir."
He was about to leave the room, when suddenly the Headmaster spoke again. "One more thing Harry: do not treat your sister any differently. She still loves you and needs you, regardless of what your investigation reveals."
Harry nodded slightly without turning around. Both wizards seemed relieved that the other hadn't seen him shed a tear.
Thank you for reading this chapter. I'm sorry for the delay, but I didn't want to post this chapter until it was perfect.
Please review! I welcome all criticism, especially constructive, as it helps me improve my story.
