Harry Potter and the Duplaticus Curse
Chapter 10 The Meeting
(The first part of this chapter takes place before Harry, Ron and Hermione are walking down to dinner. Like, the night before)
James walked up down the dark halls that he hadn't been in for a number of years. It was September 1, the day that all of the students came to school. Even though it was almost 10 a number of students were still roaming around the halls. He was trying to remember how to get to Gryffindor tower. He was wearing a dark cloak and was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. He took out his wand and turned himself invisible before he was spotted by a bunch of students walking from their class.
After they had passed he became visible. It was very hard for wizards to turn invisible without an invisibility cloak, James couldn't stay invisible for that long. Only a few strong wizards or witches to turn invisible, Dumbledore one of them.
James walked down a few more corridors before he found what he was looking for. A painting of a woman wearing a pink dress. He gazed up at her.
"Password?" She squawked. James cursed under his breath. He didn't know the password. He turned away, just as a group of chattering girls came around the corner.
"Password?" The Fat Lady said again.
"Rosenboum." Said one of the girls.
The Fat Lady opened and the girls crawled into the common room. Now all James had to do is wait.
At about one o'clock in the morning James moved from his hiding space. He walked up to the Fat lady.
"Password?"
"Rosenboum."
She swung open to let him enter.
James climbed into the now empty common room. Fires were smoldering in the fireplace. He walked up a winding staircase, to the sixth year boy's dorm. Once he was inside he looked around the enormous round room. Someone was snoring loudly.
James walked over to a bed, a boy with red hair was sleeping in it. In the bed next to him lay Harry. James took out his wand and walked to the end of the bed.
With a swish the trunk at the end of Harry's bed opened and James looked inside. He was looking for the invisibility cloak…
Several students were sitting in their seats when Harry, Ron and Hermione walked into the great Hall. They were looking expectingly at their plates.
"You guys stay here," Hermione said. "I'll go tell Dumbledore." Hermione went over to the teacher's table and she spoke quickly to Dumbledore. After a minute or two Hermione came over to them and sat down.
"Well, what did he have to say?" Harry asked.
"He says that he already knows. He won't say why they left though"
"What about our dinner?" Asked Ron.
"He said that he was letting Professor McGonnagal do most of the cooking." Sure enough, a few minutes later golden platters appeared at their spots. The food wasn't like you would expect though.
"What is THAT?" Harry said pointing to some green looking stew.
"Maybe she's trying to poison us," suggested Ron.
"Or maybe she's trying to make us barf," Harry said, looking at some murky brown liquid that was supposed to be what they were going to drink.
"I'm sure that she tried her hardest to make this for all of us," Hermione said, placing some mushy blobs that were supposed to be carrots on her plate. She poured herself some of the liquid and took a sip. She clapped her hands to her mouth and made a gurgling sound.
"Harry, I think you're right," Ron said, looking at Hermione. "I think she's trying to poison us."
"I'm not eating that," people were saying up and down the Gryffindor table. Several people were getting up and walking toward the doors of the Great hall. All of a sudden Professor McGonnagal walked in.
"How do you like the dinner," She asked anxiously. Everyone glanced around. They didn't want to tell her the truth.
"It's um… wonderful," Hermione lied.
"Great," several people said.
"That's wonderful!" Exclaimed Professor McGonnagal. She wiped her hands on her robes and bustled over to the teacher's table. Several of the teachers gave her weak smiles. The new DADA (defense against the dark arts) teacher was doubled over, looking like he was about to be sick.
The students walked away from the room. Not noticing the invisible man, standing by the door.
"Well, what should we do now?" Asked Ron, flopping down in one of the chairs by the fire.
"We don't have any homework," Harry said.
"We can study!" Hermione said. Harry rolled his eyes. "Or not."
"Want to play chess Harry?" Ron asked.
"No, what's the point. You'll always win."
"How about exploding snap?"
"Sure." Ron went up to his dorm and got his Exploding Snap pack.
When he returned he scowled at Hermione.
"Crookshanks is on my bed," He said.
"Well, get him off it if you don't want him on it."
"I tried that," Ron snarled. "He won't get off."
"I'll try to get him off," Harry said, getting up off of his chair. He walked up the spiral staircase and into the boy's dorm.
Sure enough, Crookshanks was sitting on Ron's bed, staring at lint flying through the air or something like that. Or was he staring at lint. As Harry walked over to push Crookshanks off of Ron's bed Crookshanks made a low, growling sound in his throat.
"What's the matter with you Crookshanks?" Harry asked, attempting to pick Crookshanks up. Crookshanks hissed at Harry and attempted to claw him. Harry backed away and walked over to his bed, which was where Crookshanks was staring.
He lay down on it and looked around the room. Crookshanks's head moved suddenly, as if he were watching someone. Harry looked over to where Crookshanks was staring. There was nothing there. Or was there. Harry suddenly stood up and went over to his trunk. He flung it open, surprised to find that it wasn't locked like it usually was. As he rooted around for the Marauder's Map he noticed that his invisibility cloak was missing. He pulled out a piece of old parchment and sat down on the bed again.
He took out his wand and tapped the paper.
"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good," He wispered. A map appeared on the parchment, dots were moving around with miniscule writing underneith them. There were two dots in the tower. One labeled Harry Potter, the other one labeled James Potter. He was moving very slowly toward the door, as if he were tiptoeing. If Harry listened hard enough he could even hear the soft thuds of him putting down his foot.
"You know," Harry said suddenly, "You really shouldn't take peoples things without asking."
There wasn't a reply, but the thuds stopped.
"I know you're there," Harry said, "You're on this map."
There was still no reply.
Harry sighed and got up off of his bed.
"Fine, don't talk. It doesn't matter, just tell Voldemort that I know he has his powers back. Tell him that I know about you too, James," Harry said.
"You know?" said a voice suddenly.
Harry nodded.
"But I want you to know something. No matter who you are, if you work with him we are enimies. No matter what." Harry said. He put his map back in his trunk and held out his hand.
"I'd like my cloak back." Harry said.
"No." said the voice. Harry sighed.
"Fine, keep it," Harry said. All of a sudden the door swung open and Ron walked in.
"Who were you talking to?" Ron asked.
"Crookshanks," Harry lied, "I was trying to pursuade him to get off the bed, but he won't listen to me."
Ron snorted. "You're weird."
"So, are we going to play Exploding Snap?" Asked Harry, trying to change the subject.
"If you ever get down there." Harry followed Ron downstairs, leaving the empty room.