A/n It's been awhile since I put out a chapter on this!! If you see any mistakes in this, let me know. I'm getting into the adventure part, and I want to make sure I'm making sense and not just getting stuck in my own little worldJ
A glimmer within a trial
Part
xiii
"They couldn't have," Hermione stated. "We proved that Sirius didn't necessarily write those letters."
"Well, it seems that the ministry have been doing several charms on the letters, and all the evidence points to Black. They also found fingerprints that trace back to Sirius Black. Now, get back to your common rooms. Classes will be back in session tomorrow, with or without Dumbledore," Professor McGonagall explained.
"How is Hagrid," Harry asked, concerned for his friend.
"I'm sorry Harry," Professor McGonagall softened her voice. "Hagrid ran off when he heard the news. We are searching for him, if it calms your nerves any."
"No, I need to go into Hagrid's hut," Harry insisted. Ginny grasped onto his hand to show support.
"There is nothing you will be able to do there, Harry. Besides, no student is allowed out without a teacher. It is much too dangerous." All eyes shot straight to Snape.
He scowled and tried ignoring him, until Kimberly coughed something that sounded a lot like 'Shelby'. "Fine," he barked, but don't expect me to help you hunt around for that brooding idiot. You will owe me one." He shot down the stairs expecting the rest to immediately follow.
They proceeded down the stairs, through the hall, and out the door onto the snow filled grounds of Hogwarts. Ginny would have normally taken in the fresh air, and marveled at the beautiful blanket of white snow, but she did not have the time. They marched straight into Hagrid's hut to find it void of both Hagrid and Fang.
"What exactly are we doing Harry," Hermione asked.
"We are going to try and contact Sirius, Liberty, and Shelby. They will surely know what to do," he explained.
However, they did not need to find a way to get a hold of Sirius because as soon as Harry said this, three bodies shot through Hagrid's fireplace in a tangled up mess.
"Ow, you're laying on my arm," Liberty cried, pushing up a half stunned Sirius.
"Sorry, I think I got a nasty bump on my head," he answered, rubbing his temples.
"Are you all right Shelby," Snape asked holding a hand out to help her up.
"I take it you guys heard the news," Sirius said.
"Yes. What can we do," Harry asked.
"We have to carry out with our plan Harry. We should capture Wormtail and therefore, Dumbledore's name will get cleared with mine."
"But it's not going to be that easy. We don't even know where Voldemort is," Harry stated.
"And what about Hagrid," Ginny questioned.
"Oh no Harry…Hagrid didn't simply run off," Hermione gasped, holding up some sort of note. She walked up to Harry, and handed him the note. Seeing his face swell up in confusion, Ginny leaned over Harry's shoulder to read the note. From what Ginny could read from Hagrid's messy scrawling, he was planning on running off to find the ministry and Dumbledore. The strange part was, he never finished the letter. It came to an abrupt end, with a huge inkblot smeared over the last few words.
"He must have been in a hurry," Harry stated.
"Look really closely at the ink blot Harry," Hermione said.
Ginny looked down, and noticed it almost immediately. She couldn't believe she didn't notice it the first time. Harry turned and looked into her eyes, and she could tell by the connection that he saw the same thing, the blotch looked strangely like the death mark. Ginny quickly grabbed on to Harry's hand, and gave him an encouraging smile. "I'm sure he's all right Harry. Wherever he is."
"I don't know Ginny…"
Upon further inspection, they found a coffee table broken into two, a broken cup, and a plate of coffee cakes underneath of it on the floor. Ginny and Harry reached down at the same time to grab one of the fallen cakes, and suddenly she felt a dizzy swirling in the pit of her stomach. As soon as it stopped, she glanced around, and noticed she was no longer in Hagrid's hut. She and Harry were somewhere in the middle of a forest, assumedly the Forbidden Forrest.
"Oh no, not again. Run Ginny," Harry yelled.
"What's wrong? What's happening Harry?"
"I'm don't want the same thing to happen to you that happened to Cedric. Run!"
"But, I don't want to," she screamed back.
They stood there for about ten minutes. Harry, with his wand out ready to attack, trying to push Ginny away and Ginny trying to stand her ground. Suddenly a body popped up in the exact same place Harry and Ginny fell. Harry stuck his wand to the throat of the unsuspecting person.
"Harry, put that down before you hurt somebody." The voice belonged to Hermione.
"Hermione, what are you doing here?" Before she could answer, six more people appeared; Ron, Sirius, Liberty, Shelby, Bridgett, and finally Snape.
Ginny walked up to the others. "What are you guys doing here? And, where is Kimberly?"
"The coffee cakes must have been portkeys…but why," Harry asked.
"I don't know Harry," Sirius said. "But, I don't think they were planted by the death eaters, or by Voldemort because they would only plant one portkey, not ten."
"And what about Kimberly," Ginny asked.
"There were not enough cakes to go around. She volunteered to go get Mrs. McGonagall to tell her we've gone," Shelby told her.
"Wait, I thought you said there was ten cakes," Harry said.
"Hiya Harry," Remus Lupin said, appearing at that moment.
"Remus?"
"I arrived at the hut right when you and Ginny left. Thought this may come in handy," he said, taking out the Marauder's map.
"Where did you get that? We lost it to Moody in fifth year," Harry exclaimed.
"I have my secrets," he said, winking. "The most interesting thing I found was this," he said, pointing to a place on the map. The dot was labeled Pettigrew.
"So this is where he's hiding," Sirius said, scowling.
"Yes. No use trying to get to him now though, it'll be dark soon. We need to capture him in the early morning which is the safest time to be out in the Forbidden Forest."
"Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's try to get out of here," Snape growled.
Harry used his wand to point them in the right direction. They started walking north, hoping they were not too far from the edge of the forest. However, as nightfall became nearer, their dots on the map had not gotten any closer to the edge of the forest, and it was getting dark fast.
They came to a strange wood cabin in the middle of the forest. It was surrounded by curious looking black shrubs. It was in fairly good shape, though parts of the wood were beginning to crack. It was in a small rectangular shape, with a small chimney poking up.
"Who on earth would live in the middle of the Forbidden Forest," Sirius asked.
"All it says here is 'woman.' That's odd," Remus said, holding up the map.
They walked up to the door, and Remus rapped it. Sirius quickly turned back into his dog form. A minute later, the door slowly creaked open, and Ginny heard someone say, "Come in."
Like the map said, there was a woman standing there. She had a brown robe on, almost the kind the dementor's wear; witch covered her face and most of the rest of her body. Ginny could see puffs of brown hair spilling out from the hood. As they walked in, the woman stared at her intruders, making them quite nervous. She dropped a pitcher of water she was holding and it hit the floor with a loud crash. She frantically started picking the pieces up and throwing them into a little bucket. Ginny could see tears fall heavily down her face.
Finally she spoke up in a hesitant, yet young and soothing voice, "why are you here?" She pulled her robe up across her face to hide her tears.
"We were lost in the woods, and it is getting dark. Do you know of a place we could stay," Remus asked.
"Follow me." She led them into a small storage room. "I'm afraid this is all I have."
"It will do for the night," Liberty said, shivering.
"Thank you. What is your name," Ginny asked.
"My name? Er…I don't have a name…not anymore," the lady said with a tinge of sadness. She left the room, and came back with some blankets. Again, she left the room without another word or question, shutting off the light.
A/n Please review and let me know if I made any mistakes.
