Disclaimer: I do not make any money off of these stories. I only do them for fun. All that I own is the plot, Chris, Sean, Raulings, and Draco's evil cousins. All respected Harry Potter characters belong to J. K. Rowling and Richard, Kahlan and Zed belong to Terry Goodkind.
Harry Potter and the Green Flame Torch: Chapter Eight
Awakenings
As they walked up to Ron's room Harry wondered why Ron was glancing up every few seconds.
"Hey Ron," he said. "It's ok. The ceiling is not going to fall down on your head."
"No it's not that. Here come in I'll tell you what is going on."
Hermione had left them to go to Ginny's room.
As Ron closed the door behind them, Harry started taking his things out of his trunk.
"You still have your Invisibility Cloak, right?"
"No, I left it at the Dursley's for safe keeping. Of course I still have it! What is wrong with you? You are acting like there are hit wizards out to get you or something."
"No nothing that drastic. It's just that Fred, George, and my mum might be hiding someone in the attic."
"Why would you think that?" Harry was now getting very interested in this little mystery. He had had nothing to do over the summer.
"I hear screams in the middle of the night and then I hear Fred and George go running up the attic stairs and then the noise stops. My mum is making food that babies eat and they won't let me go anywhere near the stairs."
"Well, in my opinion, it looks like we are going to have to go on a little escapade tonight," Harry's eyes were gleaming and he had one of those insane type of smiles on his face.
"Oh, I don't think so misters," Hermione had come back from Ginny's room and Ginny was right behind her.
"I wouldn't try that Ron, "came Ginny's voice from behind Hermione, who had decided to block the door. "Come on 'Mione, move over!" Ginny was trying to squeeze her way into through the door.
"Why shouldn't we try to go up there?" asked Ron, who was very annoyed.
"Because," said Ginny, who had finally made her way into the room. "Mum is sleeping at the bottom of the stairs in a sleeping bag. That's why she is rubbing her back in the morning and is always complaining about her hard 'bed'"
"That won't be a problem for these two. Harry has an Invisibility Cloak," said Hermione, who had finally decided to stop blocking the doorway and join the conversation.
"Oh, yes it will. She has got the best sense of hearing in the entire world. She's better than Mrs. Norris. She could hear us right now if she weren't up in the attic. There is no way that you are going to get past her, even if you do have an Invisibility Cloak."
Harry had to admit that she was probably right, but he wasn't ready to give up his adventure yet. "Hey, what if we have a distraction. Ginny you could scream and Hermione…"
"Excuse me! I never said that I wanted any part in this at all." Hermione was obviously very angry.
"You didn't let me finish. Now both of you could scream and create a distraction while Ron and I run up the stairs under the cloak."
"Come on Ginny," Hermione said as she walked out the door. They could hear her muttering as she went down the stairs, "Those boys are so juvenile!"
Harry and Ron giggled as Ginny left the room to go after Hermione. Harry organized his trunk while Ron cleaned his room.
They both told each other what they had done over the summer, which wasn't much.
When Harry started telling Ron about how Dudley had developed a crush on Hermione, Ron knocked over his candles and sat down on Pig's cage. Both of them just looked at each other and burst out laughing.
You see, Harry was so annoying in the car with his melancholy talk about his summer that Hermione couldn't take in any more. She had put a cheering charm on him and now he was prone to fits of laughter until the spell wore off.
Ron just thought that it was funny.
Down in Ginny's room…
Hermione was vigorously going through her trunk trying to find her Standard Book of Spells: Grade Five when she remembered that she hadn't gotten it yet.
She really wanted to know who, or what was in the attic, but she would never tell that to anyone.
Hermione wanted to go and march into the boy's room and tell them that she would help, but that wouldn't be like her. She wanted to stick with her reputation of being a stick in the mud.
Ginny was staring at Hermione trying to picture what she was thinking. She could do that sometimes. Read peoples minds. She was better at reading faces but both worked.
"You really like him don't you?"
Hermione's face showed her shock. Her voice was trembley. "I-I don't know what y-you're talking about."
"Oh, come on 'Mione! I know that you have a crush on Harry."
"How could you now that? I never told any one."
"I read your mind."
"Ginny! Give me a break! You can't read peoples minds."
"Yes I can. That's how I know what is up in the attic."
Hermione couldn't resist. "What?"
"I thought that you didn't care." Ginny was having fun playing with Hermione's head.
She didn't really know who was up there, but she had a pretty good idea.
Now she was stuck though.
"I er- um- don't. I just said it to make you think that I was."
"That was so pathetic Hermione! Why can't you just admit that you were wrong."
"Because you just don't WANT to admit it to yourself." Ginny said.
"Why did you just say that?"
"I already told you. I can read people's minds."
"Fine, but…" Hermione didn't get to finish her sentence, because Mrs. Weasley had called them all to dinner.
They heard four pairs of feet rush down the stairs above them.
"Come on. We gotta get down there before the rampaging adolescent males reach us." Ginny said as she pulled Hermione down the stairs.
When they reached the bottom Ginny said, "You might want to move out of the way if you don't want to get trampled."
Hermione scurried across the room just in time. Just as she reached the wall Harry, Ron, Fred, and George rocketed across the room and into their seats.
Ginny and Hermione walked calmly to the table. As they sat down Mr. Weasley and Percy both apparated into the kitchen.
They had a wonderful meal of mashed potatoes, green beans, fried chicken, steamed vegetables, a Mexican casserole, (don't ask me how Mrs. Weasley knows how to make Mexican casserole because I don't know) and chocolate pudding for desert.
All of the boys went straight for the pudding. Mrs. Weasley just clucked her tongue and they all went to different dishes but were still eyeing the pudding hungrily.
Hermione thought that they had made too much food.
Ginny whispered in her ear, "Fill your plate if you want seconds or it will be gone before you could conjure it."
Hermione put extra casserole and mashed potatoes on her plate. Ginny was right. Those boys scarffed that food so fast. She thought that they had inhaled it.
When the rest of the food was gone, all the boys looked at the pudding with their mouths watering, including Percy and Mr. Weasley, who were supposed to be the dignified males in the group.
Mr. Weasley went to serve it up when Mrs. Weasley said, "Excuse me? What is the rule about dessert in this house hold?"
All the boys answered in unison, "Ladies first."
"Thank you very much," she said with all the dignity she could muster. "Now pass you plates this way so that I can serve you."
Ginny and Hermione got their plates there last. Hermione had never seen boys eat this much before. No wonder the Weasleys were poor. It was amazing to her that she had fed them all anyway.
Mrs. Weasley served up the pudding. Ginny and Hermione got the most. Ron and Fred were complaining that the girls got more than they did.
"Will you two stop it?" Hermione asked them. "I mean Ginny and I aren't going to eat all of this. You can have whatever we don't eat alright?"
After every one had gone to bed Hermione wondered when the boys wanted her to scream.
The door was slowly creaking open. Harry and Ron walked in with the Invisibility Cloak.
"In five minutes scream, ok?"
Hermione nodded. She also saw Ginny nod.
Hermione looked at the clock on the wall. The five minutes were up. Ginny and Hermione looked at each other and both sent out blood curdling screams.
Within seconds, Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, and Percy came running in to the room.
"What happened?" Mr. Weasley panted.
Ginny answered, "We thought we saw a man outside the window in a black cape."
"Wow Ginny," Hermione thought. "You are good at fibbing."
"There's no one there now sweetheart. You can go back to sleep."
They all walked out of the room and Hermione gave Ginny a big thumbs up. Ginny returned it. All they had to do now was wait.
In the attic…
Chris was having nightmares. She couldn't sleep in this dark attic anymore.
Her strength was returning to her. She could hobble about the attic without getting out of breath.
She slowly walked down the stairs, trying desperately not to collapse.
She reached a room and the door was slightly cracked. She peered in. This was Fred and George's room. She walked in. Her legs would not hold her any longer. She collapsed on to the floor.
As she did, she heard two screams and the pattering of feet outside of the door. She was glad that she had gotten out of there. She did not want anyone to find out about her. Not yet.
Harry and Ron ran up the steps to the attic. They lighted their wands to look around. There was no one there. There was a mattress on the floor covered with blankets. There were also some dishes and some of Bill and Charlie's old worn out robes.
They could see that some one had been here. They just didn't know who.
Just at that moment, they heard George say, "Jeepers Chris! Don't scare me like that! What are you doing down here? You're supposed to be in the attic."
That was all they needed to hear.
AN: This is one of my first big cliffhangers. I hope you people like it. Thank you to every one who read my series. And even more thanks go to those of you who reviewed. Next chapter is in its reviewing stage so it should be up soon. I hope that you like the longer chapter.
Thanx -Chris Lillith