After the next chapter there might be a delay in updates as a few days ago my aunt died as well as the fact that one of my cousin's is in a coma so...
Hope you like the chapter!
Harry sat numbly, the Potions textbook lying limp in his hand. He had just told us what had happened with Draco Malfoy. Hermione, Ron, Ginny and I sat together, a bit apart, keeping a kind of vigil. Finally, I rose and sat next to him. "You have to get rid of it. Today."
We walked to the seventh floor corridor. Harry, Potions book in hand, followed behind me as we past an empty birdcage and down the corridor when I paused, turned to the wall and shut my eyes.
Harry took my hand as a door materialized. "The Room of Requirement..."
I nodded and turned away. Harry followed. "Over the years, if someone had a secret, if they wanted to conceal something, this is where they came. Some of these things are almost as old as the castle itself."
"Who showed you this?" Harry turned to me.
"Ginny first showed me in second year. She said Fred and George showed her."
We heard scuffling and Harry reached out and pulled aside the tapestry. The cabinet door vibrated. Slowly, he opened it and... a black bird flew free in a rush of flapping wings.
"See, you never know what you'll find up here." I said as Harry nodded and looked back to the cabinet, mystified. "All right. Close your eyes. That way you can't be tempted."
I gently slipped the book from his fingers and started to back away and threw the book deep into the room. Slowly I walked back over to Harry and kissed him. He pulled me into a hug and I rested my head on his chest "Everything's going to be fine!"
Patches of bright blue sky were beginning to appear over the castle turrets.
"For the last time, just forget about Malfoy," Hermione told Harry firmly.
We were sitting with Ron in a sunny corner of the courtyard after lunch. Hermione, Ron and I were clutching a Ministry of Magic leaflet: Common Apparition Mistakes and How to Avoid Them because we were taking our tests that very afternoon, but the leaflets had not proved soothing to the nerves. Ron gave a start and tried to hide behind Hermione as a girl came around the corner.
"It isn't Lavender," I said wearily.
"Oh, good," said Ron, relaxing.
"Harry Potter?" said the girl. "I was asked to give you this."
"Thanks..."
Harry took the small scroll of parchment. Once the girl was out of earshot he said, "Dumbledore said we wouldn't be having any more lessons until I got the memory!"
"Maybe he wants to check on how you're doing?" I suggested, as Harry unrolled the parchment, I leaned over Harry's shoulder as he was sitting next to me. Rather than finding Dumbledore's long, narrow, slanted writing I saw an untidy sprawl, very difficult to read due to the presence of large blotches on the parchment where the ink had run.
Dear Harry, Ron, Hermione and Belle,
Aragog died last night. Harry, Ron and Belle, you met him and you know how special he was. Hermione, I know you'd have liked him. It would mean a lot to me if you'd nip down for the burial later this evening. I'm planning on doing it round dusk, that was his favourite time of day. I know you're not supposed to be out that late, but you can use the cloak. Wouldn't ask, but I can't face it alone.
Hagrid
"Look at this," said Harry, handing the note to Hermione.
"Oh, for heaven's sake," she said, scanning it quickly and passing it to Ron, who read it through looking increasingly incredulous.
"He's mental" he said furiously. "That thing told its mates to eat us! Told them to help themselves! And now Hagrid expects us to go down there and cry over its horrible hairy body!"
"It's not just that," said Hermione. "He's asking us to leave the castle at night and he knows security's a million times tighter and how much trouble we'd be in if we were caught."
"We've been down to see him by night before," said Harry.
"Yes, but for something like this?" said Hermione. "We've risked a lot to help Hagrid out, but after all-Aragog's dead. If it were a question of saving him -"
"- I'd want to go even less," said Ron firmly. "You didn't meet him, Hermione. Believe me, being dead will have improved him a lot."
Harry took the note back and stared down at all the inky blotches all over it. Tears had clearly fallen thick and fast upon the parchment...
"Harry, you can't be thinking of going," said Hermione. "It's such a pointless thing to get detention for."
Harry sighed and turned to me. I took a deep breath. "I agree completely with Ron! That thing tried to have us eaten!" It was common knowledge I was as terrified of spiders as Ron. "I'm not going to risk detention crying over him."
"I s'pose Hagrid'll have to bury Aragog without us." He said
"Yes, he will," said Hermione, looking relieved. "Look, Potions will be almost empty this afternoon, with us all off doing our tests... try and soften Slughorn up a bit then!"
"Fifty-seventh time lucky, you think?" said Harry bitterly.
"Lucky," said Ron suddenly. "Harry, that's it-get lucky!"
"What d'you mean?"
"Use your lucky potion!"
"Ron, that's-that's it!" said Hermione, sounding stunned. "Of course! Why didn't I think of it?"
Harry stared at them both. "Felix Felicis?" he said. "I dunno... I was sort of saving it..."
"What for?" demanded Ron incredulously.
"What on earth is more important than this memory, Harry?" asked Hermione.
Harry did not answer.
"Harry? Are you still with us?" I asked.
"Wha-?... Yeah, of course," he said, pulling himself together. "Well... okay. If I can't get Slughorn to talk this afternoon, I'll take some Felix and have another go this evening."
"That's decided, then, "I said briskly, getting to my feet and performing a graceful pirouette. "Destination... determination... deliberation..." I murmured.
"Oh, stop that," Ron begged, "I feel sick enough as it is-quick, hide me!"
"It isn't Lavender!" I said impatiently, as another couple of girls appeared in the courtyard and Ron dived behind me.
"Cool," said Ron, peering over my shoulder to check. "Blimey, they don't look happy, do they?"
"They're the Montgomery sisters and of course they don't look happy, didn't you hear what happened to their little brother?" said Hermione.
"I'm losing track of what's happening to everyone's relatives, to be honest," said Ron.
"Well, their brother was attacked by a werewolf. The rumour is that their mother refused to help the Death Eaters. Anyway, the boy was only five and he died in St. Mungo's, they couldn't save him."
"He died?" repeated Harry, shocked. "But surely werewolves don't kill, they just turn you into one of them?"
"They sometimes kill," said Ron, who looked unusually grave now. "I've heard of it happening when the werewolf gets carried away."
"What was the werewolf's name?" said Harry quickly.
"Well, the rumour is that it was that Fenrir Greyback," said Hermione.
"I knew it-the maniac who likes attacking kids, the one Lupin told me about!" said Harry angrily.
Hermione looked at him bleakly. "Harry, you've got to get that memory," she said. "It's all about stopping Voldemort, isn't it? These dreadful things that are happening are all down to him..."
The bell rang overhead in the castle and Hermione, Ron and I jumped to our feet, looking terrified.
"You'll do fine," Harry told us both before giving me a kiss on the cheek, as we headed toward the entrance hall to meet the rest of the people taking their Apparition Test. "Good luck."
"And you too!" said Hermione with a significant look, as Harry headed off to the dungeons.
It was late in the afternoon when Ron, Hermione and I returned.
"Harry!" I cried as I climbed through the portrait hole followed closely by Hermione. "Harry, I passed!"
"Well done!" he said as he gave me a hug. He turned to Hermione. "What about you?"
Hermione beamed "I passed too!"
"Congrats. And Ron?"
"He-he just failed," I whispered, as Ron came slouching into the room looking most morose. "It was really unlucky, a tiny thing, the examiner just spotted that he'd left half an eyebrow behind... how did it go with Slughorn?"
"No joy," said Harry, as Ron joined us. "Bad luck, mate, but you'll pass next time-we can take it together."
"Yeah, I s'pose," said Ron grumpily. "But half an eyebrow! Like that matters!"
"I know," said Hermione soothingly, "it does seem really harsh..."
We spent most of dinner roundly abusing the Apparition examiner, and Ron looked fractionally more cheerful by the time we set off back to the common room, now discussing the continuing problem of Slughorn and the memory.
"So, Harry-you going to use the Felix Felicis or what?" Ron demanded.
"Yeah, I s'pose I'd better," said Harry. "I don't reckon I'll need all of it, not twenty-four hours' worth, it can't take all night... I'll just take a mouthful. Two or three hours should do it."
"It's a great feeling when you take it," said Ron reminiscently. "Like you can't do anything wrong."
"What are you talking about?" I said, laughing. "You've never taken any!"
"Yeah, but I thought I had, didn't I?" said Ron, as though explaining the obvious. "Same difference really ..."
As we had only just seen Slughorn enter the Great Hall and knew that he liked to take time over meals, we lingered for a while in the common room, the plan being that Harry should go to Slughorn's office once the teacher had had time to get back there. When the sun had sunk to the level of the treetops in the Forbidden Forest, we decided the moment had come, and after checking carefully that Neville, Dean, and Seamus were all in the common room, sneaked up to the boys' dormitory.
Harry took out the rolled-up socks at the bottom of his trunk and extracted the tiny, gleaming bottle.
"Well, here goes," said Harry, and he raised the little bottle and took a carefully measured gulp.
"What does it feel like?" whispered Hermione.
Harry did not answer for a moment. Then, slowly but surely, an exhilarating sense of infinite opportunity stole through him; he felt as though he could have done anything, anything at all... and getting the memory from Slughorn seemed suddenly not only possible, but positively easy...
He got to his feet, smiling, brimming with confidence. "Excellent," he said. "Really excellent."
"Now remember. Slughorn usually eats early, takes a short walk and then returns to his office." Hermione informed Harry.
"Right... I'm going down to Hagrid's." Harry announced to us
"What?" said Ron, Hermione and I together, looking aghast.
"No, Harry-you've got to go and see Slughorn, remember?" I said.
"No," said Harry confidently. "I'm going to Hagrid's, I've got a good feeling about going to Hagrid's."
"You've got a good feeling about burying a giant spider?" asked Ron, looking stunned and I grimaced.
"Yeah," said Harry, pulling his Invisibility Cloak out of his bag. "I feel like it's the place to be tonight, you know what I mean?"
"No," said Ron, Hermione and I said together, looking positively alarmed now.
"This is Felix Felicis, I suppose?" said Hermione anxiously, holding up the bottle to the light. "You haven't got another little bottle full of- I don't know -"
"Essence of Insanity?" suggested Ron, as Harry swung his cloak over his shoulders.
Harry laughed, and Ron, Hermione and I looked even more alarmed.
"Trust me," he said. "I know what I'm doing ... or at least..." he strolled confidently to the door, "Felix does."
He pulled the Invisibility Cloak over his head and set off down the stairs, Ron, Hermione and I hurrying along behind him. At the foot of the stairs, Harry slid through the open door.
"What were you doing up there with her!" shrieked Lavender Brown, staring right through Harry, past me and at Ron and Hermione emerging together from the boys' dormitories. I laughed as I watched Ron spluttering behind us as he darted across the room away from her.
Thank you for reading.
Kisses,
RockaRosalie
xxx
