The Fifth House
Disclaimer: I think y'all know how incredibly awesome it would be if I owned Harry Potter. Well, incredibly awesome things have happened to me, but that is not one of them. I own the plot, some characters and settings, and anything that is unfamiliar from the books.
Author's Note: Hey guys! I am just in a writing mood for some reason. I don't know why, but I really like it. In this chapter, I will start bringing Christmas into the picture, I promise! And I may possibly write Harry a way out of the Terces Atrium.
I go back to school tomorrow. Thought you all might like to know.
Read.
Review.
Refrain from all violent actions!
Curtains Up!
Chapter Twenty-Eight
"Where can he be?" Hermione asked Ron during lunch.
"My guess is as good as yours," Ron said while he was chewing. "Actually, your guess is probably better than mine, if you have one…"
"I've already told McGonagall and Dumbledore, and I don't know who they've told, but I'm getting really worried!" Hermione said in a voice that was almost scolding. She had been picking at her lunch, but hadn't really eaten anything.
"He'll show up. You know, I'm worried, too, no need to get testy," Ron said in a defensive tone.
"I'm sorry. It's just that it's been three days, and I've gotten so worried I can hardly do my homework. I've only finished three essays!" Hermione said, concernedly.
"Three? Blimey, Hermione, I think I'm nearly done with one!" Ron said, temporarily sidetracked from the disappearance of his friend.
"We searched the whole castle. We looked through all the secret passageways, all the corridors, the classrooms and offices. Fred and George showed us rooms I never knew existed, and Harry wasn't in any of them," Hermione said, shaking her head.
"Yeah, but, Hermione, you know Hogwarts. The castle's huge, half the rooms aren't even known about, and almost everything moves around constantly. It would take forever to search the entire castle," Ron said.
"Thanks Ron. That's really reassuring," Hermione said sarcastically.
"Sorry, but don't you know anyone who could help?" Ron asked, pausing his eating.
Hermione shook her head slowly, and then stopped. She looked straight ahead, and a gleam of hope shone in her eyes.
"There might be someone…." Hermione said slowly.
She got up and walked over to the Slytherin table.
"What do you want, Mudblood?" Draco Malfoy asked. Kylie shot him a look.
"Kylie, can I talk to you for a minute? It's important," Hermione asked hurriedly, waving aside Malfoy's comment.
Kylie gave Hermione a questioning look as she got up from her table and walked over to Hermione.
"What's up?" Kylie asked, looking concerned.
"You know how Harry's missing?" Kylie nodded. Hermione went on. "Well, me, Ron, Fred and George searched the whole school for him, and we couldn't find him."
"You checked all the hidden rooms and secret passageways?" Kylie asked.
Hermione nodded. "Every one, and you know the Weasley twins, they know this school almost as well as Dumbledore himself."
"Actually, I think there might have been a few people who know the school a little better than Dumbledore, but yeah anyway. But what do you need me for? I don't see how I can help," Kylie said confusedly.
"Well, I was thinking about where I could find information about the school that wouldn't be out in the open. I've searched about every book in the library for rooms and passages, but there's so much more not mentioned," Hermione said.
"So, where do I come in?" Kylie asked.
" There are books that tell about the school's secret's somewhere, there must be. I already checked the restricted section of the library, and there was nothing. I figured these books would be forbidden. Kylie, you have a forbidden book. You have Hogwarts, A History, edition eight," Hermione explained.
"I get it. So you want to borrow my book?" Kylie asked, smiling.
"Well, yes. Because it tells about secret stuff, right? Things students today are not supposed to know about?" Hermione asked hopefully.
Kylie nodded. "Yeah, it's got loads of information about all over Hogwarts. But there is one problem. It's missing."
"Missing? But that was my last hope!" Hermione said sounding exasperated.
"Don't say it was your last hope, ever. There are always exceptions. But about the book, it just disappeared one day. Couldn't find it anywhere," Kylie said, looking apologetic.
"It's okay, Harry will probably turn up eventually…" Hermione said, sounding miserable.
Just as Hermione started to walk away, Kylie remembered something.
"Wait-Hermione!" Kylie said, and caught up to her.
"What?" Hermione asked, looking very sad.
"I just remembered. The book may be missing, but there is one other thing I have that is not, and it may help."
"What is it?" Hermione asked curiously.
"I can't tell you right now. There are too many people. I really don't want word getting out about it, you know? There are only two others besides mine. So I'll tell you after dinner, all right? Outside the Great Hall. I'll bring it," Kylie promised.
Hermione nodded. Kylie smiled and walked away.
"Oh, Kylie?" Hermione called after her.
Kylie turned around. "Yeah?"
"Thanks."
Kylie grinned and walked out of the Great Hall.
* * * *
It was early December and Hogwarts was decorating itself for the upcoming Christmas holidays. Holly boughs were all over the place, real icicles glistened on the banisters, and several large Christmas trees adorned the Great Hall.
Harry saw none of this, because he was still in the Atrium. He had not eaten, but something about that hall fulfilled any hunger he'd had. He barely slept. It didn't get very dark in the Atrium. There were no windows to let light in, but large candlesticks were in front of every portrait, and there were many of those. Then there was the giant fireplace, in which a fire with violet flames was constantly burning.
Harry hadn't met the other Terces members yet. He'd hoped he wouldn't have to, that someone would save him before that moment. But no one had come. It wasn't like Harry could blame any of them; it wasn't like anyone knew where he was, anyway.
Enna had just left for the night, and Harry was alone in a corner of the hall. He leaned against the wall and sighed. As he moved around a little, he heard a strange crumpling sound coming from his pocket.
He reached into his pocket and drew out a piece of parchment. It was an old, crinkly piece. Harry couldn't believe his luck. He'd thought he was trapped in the Atrium forever, but that all changed when he just happened to find the Marauder's Map.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he whispered to the parchment. Immediately, ink started shooting over the parchment like a spider's web, and the final product was a detailed picture of Hogwarts. Harry looked around the map for a little dot labeled 'Harry Potter' and eventually found it in the lower right hand corner of the map.
Harry had never seen this before. There wasn't even a picture of where he was, just a dot labeled 'Harry Potter {off map}'. Harry had to figure out a way to make the picture move so that he could see where he was.
"Mischief leads me to the lower right hand corner of the map?" he tried. Nothing moved.
"Right?" Harry tried. The picture moved to the right, showing part of some rooms he never knew existed.
"Down," Harry said. The map moved downward, exposing more rooms, labeled 'Hogwarts Underground'.
So he was under ground. He'd been underground once before, when he was in the Chamber of Secrets during his second year. But judging by the fact that Moaning Myrtle's bathroom was nowhere near the rooms above him now, he was on a completely different side of the castle.
He looked around the map a little more to see if there was a way out. There had to be one… somewhere.
Harry spotted a tunnel that went straight to the Gryffindor common room, or the broom closet of it, from a large room that could be the Atrium. Harry saw that it was to the west where his dot was. The only thing was, he didn't know what direction he was facing.
"Point me," Harry whispered to his wand. His wand spun until it pointed straight ahead of him.
Harry had used the Four-Point Charm, a charm that would make his wand point due north, which Hermione had taught him in his fourth year.
Since he needed to go west, he turned to the left and looked for something that could lead to a tunnel. He looked around for a little while before tilting his head up and coming face to face with a wolf portrait.
"Of course," he whispered to himself.
"Password," the wolf in the portrait growled at him. Harry jumped a little at this, he hadn't expected the wolf to talk, let alone speak English.
"Er," Harry started. He couldn't' think of anything that would be used to get out of where he was. He tried random words associated with Gryffindor, but so far nothing had worked.
So for a while he stood in front of the wolf portrait, firing words at it, and kept waiting for one of them to work.
* * * *
"Now, what did you say this thing you had was?" Hermione asked Kylie outside the Great Hall. Dinner had just ended.
"Over here, we don't really want to be seen," Kylie said, directing Hermione behind a Christmas tree that loomed twenty feet over their heads.
"Okay. This is better," Kylie said.
"Why don't you want people to see it?" Hermione asked, not knowing what 'it' was.
"Well, I know you've already seen one, and used one, no doubt, but it's just not something people really need to know,' Kylie said.
"I see. So… what is it?" Hermione asked.
Kylie pulled a piece of parchment out of her robes.
"Do you know what this is?" she asked Hermione.
Hermione just stared at it for a few minutes.
Kylie went on. "You may not recognize it, all four were concealed differently. I used a spell on mine to both prevent paper aging and repel water." Kylie looked pleased with herself because of this.
Kylie took out her wand, tapped it against the paper, and said, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
Hermione gasped.
"But, where did you get it? There're four of them?" Hermione asked in amazement.
"Calm down, Hermione. There originally were four, but there are only three now. One was destroyed," Kylie said.
"But, how? And how'd you get one?" Hermione asked.
"Well, the four makers, they each got one. Harry has Prongs's, I have Padfoot's, and I imagine Voldemort has Wormtail's now. Moony's was accidentally obliterated when he tore it up," Kylie explained.
"If he tore it up, how was it accidental?" Hermione asked curiously.
"It was during a full moon, and he got a little… out of hand, if you know what I mean," Kylie explained, giving Hermione a knowing look.
"Oh! But how did you get one, for the third time. And how do you know all this?" Hermione asked.
"I have connections, which is how I got the map, and how I know about the Marauders," Kylie said.
Hermione nodded. "So, where's Harry?" Hermione asked, peering down at the map.
Kylie and Hermione scanned the map for a few seconds before Kylie pointed to the lower right-hand corner. "There."
"But it says 'off map'," Hermione said.
"There are ways to see those parts you know. Having spent a good deal of time with a Marauder myself, I hear things," Kylie said.
"Down, right," she commanded the map. The picture moved so that the southeast part of the castle was uncovered.
"Hogwarts underground? That's where Harry is?" Hermione asked.
"I guess so. But how did he get there, is what I want to know," Kylie said inquisitively.
"He's standing still, not moving at all, which is odd. He's probably looking west, since he's in a corner pointing west. Hey, look!" Kylie said, pointing at something else.
"It's a tunnel," Hermione said, looking at where Kylie was pointing.
"It goes straight to the Gryffindor common room, the broom closet, actually," Hermione said Matter-of-factly.
"Are you saying we should go there?" Kylie asked.
"Yes, we could go through the tunnel, and find Harry and-" Hermione started.
"Hmm, hmm," Kylie said, cutting her off.
"What?" Hermione asked her.
"There is one minor problem with us going from the Gryffindor common room," Kylie said.
"I don't see any problem," Hermione said, sounding a little confused.
"Uh, hi," Kylie said.
Hermione stared at her for a few seconds then opened her mouth and said, "Oh, you' a Slytherin."
"Right," Kylie said smiling.
"But, you still have to come! It's your map, we'll need it to see if Harry moves at all!" Hermione persisted.
"Okay, but how will I get into your common room?" Kylie asked.
"Er… hold on! I have an idea… Okay, meet me outside the Great Hall in one hour, everything will be all set! And don't forget the map!" Hermione promised, and then she ran off.
"We really need communication therapy, no one can just tell people things anymore," Kylie said to herself. "Mischief managed," she said to the map, which went blank.
* * * *
"Does it have anything to do with Gryffindor?" Harry asked the wolf.
The wolf made no reply. Harry had been talking to it for the past half hour, and it never answered his questions.
"Er, Godric?" Harry guessed.
The portrait stayed still.
"Lions?" Harry guessed.
The portrait swung open so fast Harry had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by it.
"Lions? Really? Well, I reckon that makes sense, wolves and lions, both animals, I guess," Harry said, he stepped into a very dark tunnel, and before he could even light his wand, the portrait began to swing behind him.
"Lumos," he said to his wand, and a light glowed from the tip.
Harry started walking down the tunnel, taking maybe three paces before he heard something behind him.
"What are you doing?" he heard Enna scream at him. But the portrait closed before she could get in, and Harry ran for his life through the tunnel.
* * * *
"It's got to be here somewhere," Hermione said, rummaging through Harry's trunk.
"Aha!" she said, once she found the silvery cloak.
She was just about to leave the boys' dormitory when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She quickly through the cloak over her and backed into a corner of the room.
"Hello?" Neville asked, as he entered the room slowly.
"Anybody in here?" he asked.
He looked around suspiciously.
"I could have sworn I heard someone up here…" he said.
Hermione walked right past him and out of the door to the common room, where she took the cloak off quickly when she was sure no one was looking.
Stuffing the shimmering fabric into her robes, she pushed open the portrait and walked to the Great Hall.
* * * *
"So what's this great plan you've got?" Kylie asked. "I'm dying to know, you looked all excited, and then you just left."
"Sorry about that. Here," Hermione said, tossing the cloak to Kylie.
"An invisibility cloak, very nice. I hope it wasn't difficult to find in your room?" Kylie asked.
"Harry's room, actually. I almost got caught, but I had found it by then and just threw it over me," Hermione said.
"I knew you were Hermione the Smart Girl, but I never knew you as Hermione the Mischief-Maker," Kylie said, grinning.
Hermione gave her a look that was half happy, and half disapproving.
"You should have told me it was a cloak, though, because I could've just taken Draco's," Kylie explained.
"He has one, too?" Hermione asked.
"He's got tons of things for sneaking around the school, but he doesn't have the Marauder's Map," Kylie said, smirking and pulling the map out of her pocket.
"You lead, I'll put on the invisibility cloak and follow,' Kylie said.
"Okay, but make sure you follow closely, especially when we get to the portrait hole,' Hermione instructed. Kylie nodded and with one swish of the cloak, she disappeared.
"Okay, this way," Hermione said, walking towards Gryffindor common room. Kylie was singing under her breath the whole time, her way of letting Hermione know that she was still there.
Once they had reached the Fat Lady, Kylie stopped singing.
"I'm still here," she whispered so that only Hermione could hear.
"Password?" the Fat lady asked.
"Dragon's eggs," Hermione said immediately.
The portrait swung open and Hermione walked in slowly, making sure to give Kylie enough space to squeeze by, too.
"I'm in,' Kylie whispered to Hermione once she passed through the hole.
Hermione walked into the common room and found it to be quite crowded.
"Kylie, wait here for one second, right here, don't move at all, I have to get something…" Hermione said. She walked up to her dormitory and grabbed a dungbomb she'd taken from Ron. She hurried down the stairs, tapped it with her wand, and threw it towards a big crowd of people.
No one knew Hermione had thrown it. There was an instant uproar when it exploded. Hermione raced towards where Kylie had been and said, "Come on, Kylie!"
The two girls hurried toward the broom closet and walked in.
"You're in, Kylie?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah," Kylie replied.
"Lumos," Hermione said.
"Kylie, take out the map, I want to see which side of the closet it's on-" Hermione started.
The left wall slid into the side of the back wall, exposing a tunnel.
Kylie stepped in, took the cloak off, and said, "I think it's in this wall."
Hermione followed her, and the wall slid closed behind them.
The two were walking for quite a time before they heard footsteps rushing towards them.
"Kylie- take out the map!' Hermione hissed.
"It's Harry!' Kylie said, looking at the parchment.
Sure enough, Harry came hurtling towards them, go back! Someone's coming!" he said, out of breath. He stopped for a second, and then kept running. Hermione and Kylie looked at each other for a minute.
"Where are you going?" a voice from far down the tunnel echoed.
"Okay, maybe we should listen to him now,' Kylie said, and ran to catch up with him. She and Hermione were running, and when Kylie tripped, she saw a girl running behind her that was not Hermione.
"Hermione?" Kylie asked.
"Come on!" Hermione yelled from the beginning of the tunnel. Apparently, Hermione had run past Kylie when she tripped.
Kylie got up and ran for the broom closet, getting through the sliding door just before it closed.
The three of them were leaning against the side of the broom closet, trying to catch their breaths.
"That was close," Kylie said, looking at Harry and Hermione.
"Where are we?" Harry asked.
"Broom closet of Gryffindor," Hermione explained.
"Oh, okay," he said, panting.
"I would like to know where the heck you were Harry, but I have this odd feeling that it's a long story, and I'm so tired, I just want to sleep right now," Kylie said, closing her eyes.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, then at Kylie.
"Kylie?" Hermione said, tapping her friend's shoulder.
"Come on Mom, it's a Saturday…" Kylie said in a sleepy voice. Kylie opened her eyes and blinked a few times.
"You," she said to Hermione," are not my mom. Sorry about that, but I think I was explaining how tired I was. So tired, in fact, that I forgot that my mom stopped waking me up a long time ago, and my other never woke me up, so I have to use some sort of alarm thing."
Harry and Hermione stared at her for a few seconds.
"Your 'other', did you say?" Harry asked, interested in what that meant.
"Yes, it's an insanely long story, and I don't think this is a good time, really. I got to go to bed," Kylie said.
"I'll go out of the portrait hole with you, to, er, check for something," Hermione offered.
"Yeah, but then you gotta walk with me for a while, so that I can give your cloak back,' Kylie reminded her.
Hermione nodded and they set off for the portrait hole. It took them a while to get out of the closet, as they had to make sure no one was looking. After a few minutes, though, the common room had cleared, and the three walked out of the closet.
"I'm going to bed, see you guys later,' Harry said, and set off up the stairs.
Hermione and Kylie walked to the Great Hall, where Kylie returned the cloak to Hermione, saluted, and walked towards the dungeons.
Hermione couldn't' help wondering what Kylie had meant by her 'other'. But, she decided, she didn't need to think about it now. All the running had exhausted her. It had been a very long night.
Curtains Close!
Author's Note: Did you like? I've been looking forward to this chapter for a while. Tell me, what do you guys think abou the story now that it's this far into it? Is it as good as you wanted it to be, because I can tell you, I've got plans, guys, plans. This story is going to be getting a lot …better in the next few chapters. And then there's Christmas! Oh joy, 'tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la…
Words of Wisdom: "Sorry you can't define me, sorry I break the mold. Sorry that I speak my mind; sorry don't do what I'm told. Sorry if I don't fake it, sorry I come too real. I will never hide what I really feel,"
~Christina Augilera, 'Stripped, Part I"
Thanx for the reviews, guys, keep 'em coming!
Please review!
I love you all!
Ciao!
~Starry
