Chapter Fifty Four
Harry did as instructed, he went and ate breakfast. The Hall was all but empty, and thankfully Umbridge was nowhere to be seen. Flitwick and Sprout were sitting close together, muttering with heads bent and looking over frequently to where McGonagall and Hagrid, both being early risers, should have been sitting.
Harry had no doubt that it would be all over the school what had happened by midday, it was witnessed by the whole of fifth year after all.
Draco, Pansy and Daphne were just heading out of the common room when Harry returned. He quickly filled them in on what had happened and that McGonagall was alive and in St Mungo's.
"Are you all right?" Draco asked.
Harry nodded, "I just need to get some sleep before my exam, make sure you wake me?"
They promised him that they would wake him half an hour before the exam was due to start and let him flop onto his bed without further questions.
Harry, thankfully, managed to sleep a deep and dreamless sleep for a few hours before Daphne gently shook him awake. He thanked her, shoving his glasses on and yawning before heading downstairs.
Draco, Pansy and Daphne were sat around the table next to the fire, which wasn't lit, it being summer and the middle of the day, and picked up some of the notes they were reading.
The common room door opened and Tracy walked in, small signs of running mascara around her eyes and in flat shoes.
That wasn't what Harry noticed however, what Harry saw was the signs of blood oozing from her left hand, which was wrapped in a handkerchief.
"What happened?" Harry asked, putting the sheet of paper down.
"None of your business, Potter." Tracy snapped, looking outraged that he'd dared to question her.
"Where's your snitch's badge? The Inquisitorial Squad one?" Draco asked, looking over.
Tracy glared at all of them, "I never knew you were so interested in my affairs, may I suggest you get a life?"
"Tracy, come on." Harry huffed, "Was that Umbridge and her quills?"
Tracy rolled her eyes, "Yes. I informed her today that I was no longer interested in being part of the Inquisitorial Squad, she asked why so I told her and she wasn't pleased."
Tracy ripped off the handkerchief, which was badly stained on the inside and thrust her hand towards them. As it had been her first detention the wound was not as deep as many but still bad enough.
I will remember where my loyalties should lie
Was still bleeding, in Tracy's neat, cursive writing.
"There, are you happy?" she hissed, covering her hand up again.
"No." Harry snapped, "Of course not. We are however confused, you were no fan of McGonagall, and certainly not of Hagrid."
"It had nothing to do with them." Tracy gasped, offended and annoyed at the questioning when she was upset and just wanted to cry alone for five minutes before the exam began, "I will not be allied with someone who shows such incredible dishonour, and then doesn't show any worry at that fact. I am better than that! And certainly not when it is a filthy half-blood who thinks she is above her station." she turned and swept away from them.
"Tracy wait." Harry called after her, catching her up, "I have something that will help your hand."
"No, thank you." Tracy sneered, "This doesn't make us friends, Potter. As I said, I don't blindly follow some filthy half-blood, unlike some."
Harry let her go, rolling his eyes and leaving her to it. It wasn't long until they lined up outside that classroom for History of Magic and took their desks.
"You may begin." The examiner announced, "You will have an hour and a half."
Harry turned over his paper and quickly filled in his name and the date.
"You know this… you know this…" he muttered to himself, earning him a stern glare from the examiner.
He worked his way through the questions, mostly thinking how much easier this would be to remember if History of Magic wasn't so painfully boring.
Question one he made something up for, Question two he managed fairly well, Question three he was half way through his answer when he realised he'd miss read it and actually didn't have a clue what they were asking.
Question four he missed completely, Question five he thought vampires might enter into somewhere but didn't have a clue where and had reached the stage where he wanted to snap his pencil in frustration.
He skipped though, trying to find a question he knew the answer to, give him a bit of a confidence boost, he had to skip to Question ten to find one though which didn't help.
Harry was half way though writing when he was starting to think the nap had been a bad idea, he just couldn't seem to keep his eyes open, the warm sun on the back of his neck and the cool breeze…
"I was in my exam…" Harry said to himself, finding himself once more walking down the corridor in the Ministry.
He forced himself to stop, he knew he should go back, to wake up again, but he couldn't help it, he needed to know what was in the room full of orbs. Suddenly his exam meant nothing more than a speck of dust that was floating in front of him.
He made it to the door and found himself in the room filled with door, straight across again, and flung open the door. Harry didn't know why but he could feel his heart pounding, panic was beginning to rise up inside him.
The second door lead to the room filled with strange machines once again. Harry ignored them though, there was no time to look around, he knew he had to keep moving.
He grasped the handle on the third door and breathed heavily for a moment, he wiped his eyes angrily. Why was he crying? Why was he panicking so much? None of this made any sense to him.
Harry wanted to stop, he wanted to think things through and be able to calm himself a little but there was a driving need inside him to keep going, he knew something bad, something awful was going to happen if he didn't get through that door.
The orbs towered over him as he walked slowly between the shelves, looking around him for any sign of what he was looking for.
There was, just in front of him and a could of rows down a quivering black shape, like a large injured dog that felt strangely familiar.
Harry felt his stomach knot with fear and excitement, he felt sick.
"You will get it for me, you will bring it down and place it in my hand." A cold, high voice, a voice that had no sign of human kindness said, coming from Harry's own mouth.
Harry knew who's voice it was, it was his, Voldemort's and he would of thrown up if he was able. He raised his arm, a pale white hand clutching a worn wand and pointing it at the huddling figure.
"Crucio!" Harry yelled, laughing as the person screamed in pain, trying to stand and falling again to the floor.
"Lord Voldemort is waiting..." Harry said, tutting and shaking his head dramatically.
Harry felt the urge to throw up again as Sirius raised his head and shakily got to his feet, wiping the blood from his nose.
"You'll have to kill me…" Sirius spat.
"Oh we will." Bellatrix said teasingly, stepping forward, "But you need to get it for the Dark Lord first."
"Never." Sirius forced out, clearly with some difficulty.
"You know you have no one to blame but yourself for this." Voldemort sneered, "It was all too easy for Bellatrix to lure you from the safety of your house. A few tears and all that rain…"
Sirius glared between Voldemort and Bellatrix, saying nothing.
"Get it for us!" Bellatrix snapped, a crazed look in her eye, "Or we'll have to go back for that sweet little Danica, do you think she'll be able to reach the shelf?"
Harry raised his arm again and sent another curse at Sirius. He felt his scar split open, the burning was more than he could handle as a scream escaped his own mouth and the exam room came sharply into focus again.
He lashed out at the hands around him, feeling the cold stone floor on his back and trying to work out where he was.
"Harry! HARRY!" Daphne said, grabbing a flailing arm, "Stop! Stop!"
Harry took several deep breaths and looked around, Draco, Daphne, Pansy, Hermione and Neville were all kneeling around him, trying to stop him from hurting someone, or himself.
"You must get to the hospital wing!" The examiner exclaimed, pushing her way through to pull Harry to his feet.
"What happened?" Pansy asked.
"He clearly had some sort of fit!" the examiner said quickly, "Hence the need for medical attention."
"No." Harry said, "I… I'm fine."
"Of course you're not," the examiner sighed, cutting across Draco who was about to ask Harry if there had been another attack, "Do you have a medical history of seizures? Epilepsy? Or Diabetes?"
"No." Hermione told her firmly, "He has no medical history of seizures."
"Well he's just had one!" the examiner pointed out, "Now all of you, return to your exam!"
Draco, Daphne, Hermione, Neville and Pansy all looked very unwilling to move.
"I said now!" the examiner snapped, holding tightly to Harry's arm.
"I didn't have a fit." Harry said, "I just fell asleep, had a nightmare." he forced a smile.
"It looked far more like a fit than just a nightmare Mr Potter." the examiner said, "I really think you should get some medical attention."
"Really I'm fine. I fell asleep, and I will go to Madam Pomfrey if I feel sick at all." Harry promised.
The examiner gave a tight smile, "Pressures of the exams, no worries. Although it would have been better had you not disturbed everyone else. Now, you've a few minutes left, you should be able to nicely round out your answers to finish off." she nodded.
Harry forced a smile and shook his head, "I think I've done all that I can."
"All right." the examiner said kindly, "off you go."
Harry grabbed his pencil case and left the room quickly, he didn't know what to do. He was stuck in the castle, with Sirius being tortured and then… then they were going to go after Danica. He couldn't let that happen.
He didn't know where to go though and paced up and down the corridor. It wasn't long before the students filed out of the exam room, Harry waved over his friends.
"So?" Neville asked, "What happened?"
Harry filled them in on the dream and that he needed to get out.
"Harry, come on…" Daphne pleaded.
"Come on what?" Harry asked, throwing his hands up.
"Harry, this is clearly a trap." Pansy said, trying not to sound condescending.
Harry shook his head, "Of course it is, I know that but it doesn't really change much."
"It might not even be real, Grimmauld place is protected… did you find out how Bellatrix managed to get hold of Sirius?" Draco asked.
Harry shook his head again, running a hand through his hair, "Bellatrix was crying and it was raining, that's all I know. And I know it might not be true, believe me I am hoping it's all nothing but this was more than a dream, it was like when Mr Weasley was attacked."
"She can't of found Grimmauld place though. As Draco said, it's protected." Neville pointed out.
Harry waved his hand dismissively, "It could be another house elf mix up. They don't work the same way as normal magic does, and Bellatrix was born a Black."
"A cousin… she never even lived in Grimmauld place." Draco pointed out.
"Maybe it was just enough to let her get outside and the crying and the rain got her inside, or Sirius was outside or something! I can't take the risk!" Harry tried to explain, they all seemed annoyingly calm to him right now.
"Ok, OK…" Hermione said, chewing her lip and pacing slightly, "We have to think this through. First we need to get in touch with Grimmauld place, see if Sirius is even missing."
"We can't; Umbridge has everything locked down!" Harry shouted, wiping his eyes angrily.
"Harry!" Daphne hissed, "Lower your voice!"
Harry glared at her for a moment before nodding, "Sorry. I just… I can't breath, I feel so trapped. When I saw Mr Weasley being attacked, it was happening right then, he was nearly dead by the time they… found him…"
"What's up?" Hermione asked.
Harry smiled, "Umbridge's office fire isn't going to be monitored, is it?"
"I… I wouldn't have thought so." Daphne said, "I mean why would it need to be?"
"Exactly!" Harry said, "And I need to talk to home. I have an idea."
"You won't be able to get though the fire, that will be caught." Draco pointed out.
"I can just talk to them, I don't need to go through, I can let them know where Sirius is and they can help him." Harry said, begging them to understand how urgent this was.
"Ok, well, how do you plan on getting to Professor Umbridge's office?" Neville said calmly.
Harry bounced up and down on the spot for a moment, biting his lip, "I need to ask Ron for a favour."
