I don't own anything. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling, except the plotline and Professor Sullivan. Anyway, here's chapter 23.

Chapter 23

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The air was tense in the Great Hall. The Gryffindors were soon joined in the Hall by the Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and the Slytherings, all of who were confused and puzzled by what's was happening. Dumbledore, who was behind them, cleared his throat to silence the students.

"The Gryffindor Tower has been attempted to be broken into," he said. At once, murmurs filled the hall. After it died down, he continued, "As I speak, the staff is searching the castle of the person who is responsible for this horrid act. I request that until we have done a thorough search, you all will remain here. I ask the Head Boy and Girl to take charge and keep the peace in here. Prefects and ghosts, I want you all to stand guard and watch the entrances to the Hall. A teacher will come in here every thirty minutes to see that you all are safe. Now, I ask all of you to stay calm through this process. I am truly sorry that you all have to spend your time like this," he added, as he started to leave.

After he left, the hall was again filled with chatter. Hermione left Harry to assist the other prefects. So Harry sat with Seamus and Neville (A/N: I thought I would make Dean Thomas a prefect since none of the other Gryffindor boys are prefects for now), who were both talking about what had just happened.

"Who do you reckon it was?" asked Seamus to Harry. Harry shrugged.

"Maybe it's Sirius Black," said Neville. "I mean he broke in once before right? He almost attacked Ron?"

"I don't reckon it's him," said Harry hastily. Seamus and Neville looked at him.

"How would you know? Are you in touch with him?" asked Seamus skeptically.

"No," said Harry quickly, "I just reckon that if he had tried to break in before and failed, he wouldn't do it again, would he?"

"Hmmm," said Seamus thoughtfully, "I reckon you're right. I mean he wouldn't do it right under Dumbledore's nose, wouldn't he?

"Speaking of Ron, where is he?" asked Neville. Harry explained to him how Ron broke his leg and has to be in the hospital wing for the rest of the day and night. "Maybe the Slytherins did do it. I mean they would do anything to get the cup, right?"

"And why would we do anything like that, Longbottom? We already know we are going to win," said a voice behind their backs. It was Malfoy.

"Because you're just jealous of Ron!" shot back Harry. He felt a lot of anger towards Malfoy and would do anything right now to avenge Ron. Malfoy's eye narrowed. He was about to say something when the Head Boy, Adam Cunningham, approached them.

"Is there any problem here?" he asked. They all said that nothing was wrong. Malfoy walked away with his friends.

They spent a couple more hours in the Hall. Finally, Dumbledore announced that the intruder was now gone and that they all can go back to their common rooms. A portrait of severe-looking knight replaced the portrait of the Fat Lady.

Few days have past and Harry was having a dream. It was at a dark study. There was heavy breathing coming somewhere next to the bookshelves.

"Master, please, I'm sorry…"

"But you have to know how bad the blunder was, my servant," said a cold voice. Harry knew at once where he was and the cold voice belonged to, Lord Voldemort. "It is imperative that I get that half. And you know how important that thing is to me, Avery. I have been searching for it for so long. And now that I have the other half, I must get the other pieces."

"But what about the news that I told you, Master. The girl. She's back and have been well kept by Dumbledore," said the servant known as Avery.

"Hmm…yes, no doubt I can get rid of her. But let's get our priorities straight, Avery. The missing pieces, the Potter boy, and then the girl. Now, where were we? Oh, yes. Crucio!"

Screams of agonized pain echoed through Harry's head. At an instant, Harry's forehead burst into white-hot pains. He was screaming himself. The next thing he knew was that a pair of hands was shaking him awake.

"Harry!"

"Wha'-What's going on?" asked a voice in the far corner of the dorm. Harry woke up. He sat up to put on his glasses. He saw that Ron was sitting on his bed, looking very tired.

"Are you all right, mate? You were screaming and holding your forehead. Is your scar hurting again?" he asked, looking very pale. Harry touched his scar. It still hurt, but not as much.

"I got to go to the Owlery. I need to send Hedwig to Sir-Snuffles," he said getting up.

"Do you want me to come with you?" asked Ron, looking around to see that if anyone was still awake. Everyone had fallen back to sleep.

"No, that's okay. I'll be just a second." Harry threw on his Invisibility Cloak and went down to the common room. Ron followed him. Ron opened the portrait hole as Harry slipped out of it.

"Wait up for me, all right," he whispered. Ron nodded.

The corridors were empty and Mrs. Norris was nowhere to be found. It was safe for Harry to walk all the day up to the Owlery without being noticed. He was carrying a quill and a piece of parchment. He was still walking when he approached an office that still had its light on. He knew whose office it was, Professor Sullivan's. He slowly crept up to the door to see what she was doing. She was pacing her office, stopping now and then to look at something.

"…No, that can't be right…unless, unless, if-no, no, no, that's not it…Ugh, focus, Briana…Oh, it's no use. The only vital information I need is that if Harry's scar hurt any time it happened…I need help…" Harry heard footsteps approaching the door. He was about to scurry away when his foot was caught at the hem of the Cloak. He tripped and fell. But that wasn't the worst part of it. His foot pulled down the cloak and, therefore, revealing his head. The door of Professor Sullivan's door opened. She stood there for a moment, shocked, at Harry's head. He looked back at her. He noticed that she wasn't in a great shape. There were dark circles around her eyes and her face was pale. She smiled weakly at him and started towards him.

"Your father's Invisibility Cloak, eh?" she said, as she helped him up. Harry nodded meekly. "Hmm, what are you doing up at this late at night?"

"I was just going up to the Owlery, to, er, send something," he stammered.

"Why are going to send something in the Owlery at this late at night?" she asked him. Her eyes felt like Mad-Eye's magical eye as they looked at his face.

"My scar hurt," he said very quietly, looking at the ground.

"Your scar? Hurt?" she asked. "Come here." She grabbed Harry by the arm and dragged him towards her office. "Sit." She pointed at a chair near the fire. She took some powder from her drawer and threw it in the fire. "Dobby?" she called out, "Can you please give me some teacakes and pastries?" At once, the house-elf emerged from the fire holding a tray of teacakes and pastries. Dobby caught sight of Harry and beamed proudly at him.

"You is visiting, Professor Sullivan, Harry Potter? The noble Harry Potter is confirming with the fair Professor Sullivan," he said.

"Yeah, Dobby," said Harry.

"Thank you, Dobby. That will be all," said Professor Sullivan. Dobby vanished with a pop. Professor Sullivan busied herself with making tea. She looked at Harry. "Go on, eat. I believe that a person awake at midnight should at least have a snack."

"My scar didn't hurt on the time that it happened," was all Harry could afford to say. Professor Sullivan smiled.

"So I see you have heard about that. Now, what happened that made your scar hurt tonight?" She sat down across him as she handed him a cup. Harry told her about his dream and how Voldemort tortured his servant about his "blunder." She let him talked his way through it all. After that, they were silent.

"And you were going to the Owlery to sent Sirius a letter, am I right?" she asked. He nodded. She looked at him with great concern. "Are you all right now? Is your scar still hurting?"

"Not as much." Harry caught sight of the portrait of the Fat Lady with the charred hole in the middle. Professor Sullivan noticed this and said,

"I was working on it for quite some time now. I'm almost there, you know? Just one more and I think I'm going to get it."

"It's my fault. Everything's my fault. Cedric's death, everything," he said, gloomily.

"Don't say that. Don't ever say that," she said, firmly.

"But it is. I told him to take the cup with me." He was wondering why he was telling her this.

"Well, when you look at it that way, it may look like it was your fault. But it's not, Harry. It's not your fault but Voldemort. He's the one who killed Cedric."

"But he didn't have to die if it wasn't for me. I wish I was dead instead of him."

"Don't say that. Look, I have dealt with many deaths in the past. My parents, your father and mother, my best friends in the entire universe."

"Your parents died? When?"

"When I was kid, just months before I started Hogwarts. I wanted them to see me get in. But they never did. That's not the point. When I heard what happened, I became sad and angry. I blamed myself for everything. Most importantly, I felt like I wanted to die, to join them. But a wise man told me to look at the sunset over the horizon and see that there will always be a better day after. You shouldn't say that you wish to die, Harry. Just think about that sunset and realize that maybe there will be a happier note tomorrow. It will all past. I know it all sounds pretty gushy and everything, but trust me it helps," She reached over to hold his hand. Harry felt warmth throughout his body. He longed for someone, an adult, like parent to understand him. And now, he does. They remained like this for a while.

"Well, you said that you were going to the Owlery? Maybe I should go with you. I need to get something sent too." She got up and went over to her desk and began writing. Every now and then, she would mumble to herself and scratch out something on the parchment. "All right, I'm done."

Harry put his cup down as she rolled up her parchment. They both went up to the Owlery. As they reached their destination, Harry sat down and wrote his letter to Sirius.

"Hmm…Artemis is probably on her midnight flight again. She just loves the Forbidden Forest."

"Artemis?" Harry asked.

"My owl. Now let see. Ah, these ones." She tied her letters on two screech owls that just flew in. When Harry was finished, he tied it on Hedwig's leg. He watched her fly off.

"Are you all right?" Harry nodded. "I guess I should take you back to your common room."

"Thanks for walking me here, Professor."

"It's my pleasure."

Harry climbed in through the portrait hole and found Ron asleep on one of the chairs. He woke him up and told him all of what happened to him. It took awhile for Ron to absorb everything. It's because Ron was half awake and half asleep. As Harry followed Ron up to the dorms, he thought about what Professor Sullivan meant about the sunset. That there was always a better, brighter day ahead.

All right, that was pretty mushy. But always, please leave a review. I'm sort of surviving without my GoF book but I still need it!