Raising Harry: Chapter 32
Harry wiped his tears with his sleeve as he wiped his glasses clean. As he put them back on, he looked for his parents in the mirror once again. When he saw them, he couldn't help but smile. For a moment, they weren't just stories before bed; he could see them. How his mum's eyes sparkled when she smiled, and how he really did look like his dad. They looked just like they did in the picture in the locket that Auntie gave him for Christmas.
He had so many questions, so many things he wanted to know. His heart ached when he realized that they couldn't speak, nor were they really there sitting next to him. He glanced at their places behind him as if they were there, then looked back in the mirror saw his parents' sad faces in the mirror. For the first time in a long time, he let himself cry.
He let his tears flow freely down his cheeks as he sat in front of the mirror, feeling the loss of his parents for the first time. He had always wanted to know what his parents' mannerisms were and what their voices sounded like. And in a way, he saw a glimpse of their mannerisms now, but he would never be able to hear how they talked. They were gone. He had known that from the moment Katrina and Auntie sat him down at the kitchen table and explained it to him. But it didn't feel real until now.
He realized how much he missed them, that he would never be able to know them except through other people's stories of them. He wanted so badly to know where he came from, what it would have been like to grow up with his parents. Why did his parents have to die?
After a little while, he found he didn't have any more tears. He wiped his face on his sleeve and cleaned his glasses once again, and sighed. He sat there quietly for a few moments, just staring at their faces, memorizing every detail.
His parents looked solemnly at him, and he said softly "Sorry, I just wish I could know what it would have been like, you know?"
His mum nodded with what looked like tears in her eyes. They smiled weakly at him, and he returned the weak smile.
He stood up, and said "I'll be back again soon, I want to see you again without crying. I love you, mum, and dad." They smiled at him, and he turned to leave.
He quickly put his cloak on before he changed his mind and slipped through the door to go back to the Common Room.
As he started his walk back, he heard voices talking a short distance away. He was exhausted, but found himself walking toward the sound, and stopped short a few meters way.
He couldn't see their faces, but he saw two figures in the hall across from the way he was about to turn into before he heard them.
"Don't lie to me, Quirrell, I know what you're up to…"
It's Professor Snape! Harry dared not to breathe as he started to step back slowly.
"I d-d-don't k-know what you m-m-mean!"
What was Professor Quirrell doing this late? And why was Snape after him?
"This is the third time in the past two months that I've caught you prowling around late at night searching-"
"S-Severus, I d-don't know w-what you're t-t-talking about! I w-was up late g-grading papers, t-t-that's all!"
Snape pinned Quirrell to the wall, and Harry nearly gasped, but he covered his mouth in time. He dared not make one sound, if Snape caught him out of bed-
"I will be watching you very carefully, Quirrell. I know what you were up to tonight, and I'm here to tell you that you won't find it."
Quirrell whimpered, and said "P-please, S-Severus."
Snape released his hold on him, and said "If I catch you again, I will tell the Headmaster himself that I have reason to suspect you...and what you were looking for."
But what was Snape suspecting Quirrell to look for?
Harry backed away and turned as he began to walk quickly back to the Common Room before they departed.
A short distance away, he heard Filch walking out of another hallway towards where he just left Snape and Quirrell.
He sighed quietly in relief, and hurried back to his dormitory.
When he got in, he closed the portrait quietly and caught his breath as he took his cloak off. His heart was pounding loudly in his ears: What did he just hear? Snape is after Quirrell for searching for what?
It couldn't be what Fluffy was guarding, could it?
Could Fluffy be guarding the Sorcerer's Stone as they discussed a couple months ago?
Was Snape after the stone too? Is that why he's keeping an eye on Quirrell, because he wants it for himself?
His head was spinning with all these possibilities, and even though he was very tired now, he was also wide awake at the same time.
He had to discuss this with Ron, Hermione, and Mary tomorrow, and see if they could get something out of Hagrid about how safe the Sorcerer's Stone really is, if that's what Fluffy was really guarding.
He yawned, exhaustion finally setting in. He walked up the stairs quietly, and went inside the dormitory as quietly as he could. He stuffed his cloak into his trunk before he shuffled over to his bed, and fell to the bed, not bothering to take his glasses off and falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
The next morning…
Harry awoke to the sound of his alarm. Bleary-eyed and groggy, he reached for his alarm clock to turn it off. He felt around for his glasses, and he couldn't find them. He sat up, feeling more alert, and asked aloud "Ron?"
Ron made a noise that he couldn't really distinguish, and Harry repeated "Ron! I need help, I can't find my glasses."
Ron said with a sleepy voice "You can't find your glass of what?"
Harry sighed, and said "My glasses. I can't see without them."
Ron said "Oh, your glasses, right." He yawned and stretched before he got up and walked over to help Harry look. He suddenly said "Ouch!"
Harry asked "Are you okay?"
Ron said "I am, but your glasses aren't. Sorry Harry."
He picked up the pieces and handed them to Harry. Thankfully, no broken glass, but the frame was broken in two, and the right lens was cracked.
Harry sighed and said "It's alright, it was my fault. I guess I forgot to take them off last night. I need to find someone to repair them, though. I can't go to classes like this."
Ron nodded as he helped lead Harry to the bathroom. Harry got dressed and got ready the best he could manage.
As they left the Common Room, Ron led Harry down the changing staircases to make their way to the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Blind as a bat now, eh, Potter?" Draco Malfoy sneered.
Ron glared, and Harry said nothing as they tried to ignore Draco and his friends as they walked.
Crabbe chimed in and said "Bet you can't see us now!"
Draco sighed and said "That's what "blind as a bat" means, you oaf."
Crabbe said "Oh" as Draco said "Poor pathetic Potter. Well, you're pathetic anyway this just makes you look like it even more!"
Draco and his friends started sniggering, and Ron said "Oh shove off, Malfoy! Go be a toerag somewhere else."
Ron walked with Harry away quickly as Draco's retort was lost to the sounds from the Hall. Ron and Harry found Hermione and Mary at the table and sat down across from them.
Hermione asked "What happened?"
Harry pulled his broken glasses out of his pocket, and showed them.
Hermione made a "tsk tsk" sound as Harry said "I guess I was so tired last night I forgot to take them off, and Ron's foot found them this morning."
Ron smiled sheepishly, and Hermione said "I can repair them. Hand them to me, please."
Harry did so quickly, relieved at the thought of being able to see clearly again.
Hermione said as she held the broken glasses in her hands "oculus reparo!"
She then handed them back to Harry, who gladly put them back on and said "Blimey, thanks, Hermione!"
She grinned and said "Just don't do that again, I could get in trouble for casting spells outside of class, you know."
Ron had already started having his bacon and eggs with toast and jam when Hedwig swooped in with a rolled-up newspaper that she dropped in Harry's lap, and a letter in her beak. Harry petted her and said "Good Morning, Hedwig. Thanks for that."
He traded her a piece of toast for the note in her beak, which she gladly accepted. She perched on his arm while he read the note.
Ron asked "Who is it from?" with his mouth full, and Mary giggled as Hermione rolled her eyes.
Hermione said with an exasperated tone "Ronald, it's none of our business, and besides, you shouldn't talk with your mouth full!"
Mary tried not to giggle anymore, and Harry smiled as he said "Hagrid wants to meet for tea tomorrow afternoon."
Hermione said after taking a sip of pumpkin juice "Well, we have some questions for him, so that works out, doesn't it?"
Harry nodded, and Ron took a large gulp of his pumpkin juice as he said "WE? You mean YOU, I don't want to know what Fluff-"
Mary said "Shh! Not here, Ron. Later."
Ron said "Oh you know what I mean! Why do we care?"
Harry remembered the events of early this morning, and said "Because it may have something to do with Professor Snape. I-"
"Yes, Mr. Potter?" Harry turned around to find Snape himself staring at him.
Harry said "Oh, I was just talking about-"
Hermione chimed in and said "Our homework for class today!"
Harry nodded, and he suddenly noticed Snape's knee was bloodied! He stared, and Snape quickly covered it with his robes, and glared at Harry.
He said "Well then, Mr. Potter, I expect that your homework will be on my desk promptly at the beginning of class today. If not, I will begin to suspect that your recent conversation was about… something that is none of your concern."
He stared coldly at all four of them, and Ron gulped as Snape turned to walk away, limping as he did so.
Harry watched him walk away, before turning to the other three. He said quietly "I have to tell you something later, maybe on the way to Hagrid's."
They nodded, and they all finished their breakfast, and Harry feeling thankful that he did all his homework already thanks to Hermione's reminders.
