14
By Amadeus
Author's Note: You'll have to excuse me. I happen to be very fond of cliffhangers and tend to put in as much suspense as possible. Thank you to all those reviewers who take the time to read and tell me what they think. I really do appreciate it. All you readers are in luck. This is where the action starts, right here in this chapter. I hope you like it. Please remember to R/R!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his surrounding characters belong to JK Rowling
Chapter 3: 14
The last month before the start of Hogwarts passed quickly for Harry and his friends. After two weeks with no problems had passed several of them started to believe that "You-Know-Who" had just been trying to scare Harry, and Percy, under the influence of Cornelius Fudge, was beginning to question Voldemort's return, and suggested that it could have been a stupid prank.
This possibility was only heightened by the fact that, other than Harry and the useless body of the young Bartemius Crouch, there was no evidence of the Dark Lord's return. There were no ostentatious killings, no Dark Marks, (besides Harry's) and over all no discernable connections whatsoever. Not one former Death Eater had gone out of line.
The group was kept on their toes only by the words of Albus Dumbledore, whom they had notified immediately: "Be careful. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Harry was His last target before he was first defeated, and will most likely be his first target, directly or indirectly, now that he is revived. I am doing what I can to prevent Voldemort's return to power but the Ministry is making it difficult as is the lack of evidence. Be careful. I look forward to seeing ALL of you at Hogwarts this year."
After the spoiled party Neville had gone to his grandmother's, Hagrid's "can't tell yer that" most likely meant he was returning to discussions with the giants, while Lupin and Sirius went left for their own confidential ordeal. Bill and Charlie, too, returned to their respective jobs, but Hermione stayed at the Burrow.
"I want to stay to make sure you two don't get into trouble," she had said, which Harry suspected was true, but he also thought she was hiding a bit of her own fear under her protective shell. The Weasley twins seemed the least worried and they lightened the load for everyone else with their practical jokes and inventions.
"We're going to try to make a deal with the owner of Honeydukes and go into a joint business since we won't have enough time to have our own shop this year because of school and NEWTS." Everyone knew not to accept anything that had been in Fred and George's possession, but occasionally someone would bravely accept one just to see what it did. Added to the canary creams, quidditch cake, and tongue-tied toffee were such items as laughing lollipops (which brought several minutes of histerical laughter from anyone who tried them), floating fizzy drinks (which made the owner float lightly several feet off the ground), and clairvoyant candies which made the owner look a bit like a ghost.
Trying the last two at the same time, Harry had given the rest of the Weasleys the scare of their life (looking of course like a floating ghost) while Fred and George had looked on laughing hysterically (not because they had eaten the lollipops). Mrs. Weasley had yelled at Fred and George for a straight two hours after the effects wore off, but by the end could no longer hold it in and had laughed with the rest of the family. Fred and George had insisted that Harry repeat the performance upon their arrival at Hogwarts, but that idea was nixed by Mrs. Weasley.
Despite all the doubt about Voldemort's intentions Mrs. Weasley insisted that everyone stay together as a precaution on their trip to Diagon Alley. But there once again were no problems as Harry, Hermione, and the younger Weasleys bought their Hogwarts things without incident. By the time the end of the month came around, nearly everyone had dismissed the thought of Voldemort's revenge, and they boarded the Hogwarts Express sad that the summer was over, but glad that they were headed back to school.
While on the train Harry, Ron, and Hermione met up with their old friends, and enemies. Seamus and Dean had entered their cabin for a bit to talk about the quidditch matches to be held that year. Even Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown hadjoined them for a short while to discuss what they had done over the summer. The most unwelcome Draco Malfoy as well as his thugs Crabbe and Goyle had entered their compartment, too.
"So Potter, still alive? Not for long." Crabbe and Goyle chortled stupidly. "You and you're pathetic little friends here…" Malfoy continued to insult them, but Harry was no longer listening. He had noticed a small snake slithering out of Crabbe's pocket.
"Hello," he said in Parsletongue quietly so that only the snake would hear. The snake looked up surprised.
"You are a Parselmouth?" the snake asked him. Harry nodded. "My name is Salazar, named after Slytherin. It was not my choice. That ssstupid git," Salazar nodded his head toward Crabbe, "named me. Hide me, pleasssse, I can not ssstand him." Harry nodded toward Hermione's purse, which was at his feet. "Thanksss." Said the snake and entered the purse. Harry turned his attention back to Malfoy, who was now in a heated argument with Ron, who was becoming very red in the face with anger. No one had noticed the snake's appearance but he. Malfoy's attention shifted once again back to Harry."
"So, the Weasel and the Mudblood have a thing for each other." Harry had noticed this too. Ron and Hermione had spent nearly all of their time at the Burrow together, some of it without Harry, who had had a sudden change of heart toward the youngest Weasley who had grown up in several ways over the summer. "What about you Potter? Any pathetic…"
But Harry had grown bored of Malfoy, and slowly took out his wand at pointed it at the blond boy in front of him. "Tacite." He whispered and Malfoy stopped speaking. His mouth continued to move for a bit before he realized he was making no sound. He looked up at Harry with surprise and anger and begun an advance on his adversary, but Harry was already performing a second spell.
"Exhortus." He muttered and something invisible caught Malfoy by the arm and started dragging him away. Malfoy looked back to see who had grabbed him but saw no one. He looked back at Harry with surprise as he was dragged out of the compartment. His idiot thugs, lost and confused without their leader, left soon after. Ron, whose face had resumed its normal color, also looked at Harry in surprise. And then he laughed, joined by Fred, George, and Ginny, who had just entered the compartment.
"Who's responsible for The Silence of The Ferret?" asked Fred with a chuckle. Harry turned pink partly because Ron was pointing at him and the other boys were clapping him on the back, and partly because Ginny had just sat down next to him. But it ended quickly as suddenly gave out a shrill scream and ran to the opposite side of the compartment as Salazar slithered out of her purse, which she had brought over to her while Harry was occupied.
Salazar slithered quickly over to Harry and into his pocket, frightened by Hermione's screams. "Calm down Herm, its only Crabbe's pet snake Salazar," said Harry in a soothing voice.
Hermione calmed down a bit but did not return to her seat. "Then why isn't it with Crabbe?"
"Because it hates Crabbe and thinks he and his friends are idiots." Responded Harry.
"Smart snake." Commented George. Hermione, satisfied with this, came back to her seat.
Harry, seeing that the rest of the compartment was okay with the presence of Salazar, turned his attention back to the snake coaxing it out of his pocket. "It's okay now, she was just frightened. She didn't expect to see you. She won't hurt you. She's my friend."
"You're friend is very loud." The small snake responded.
"What did it say?" asked Hermione.
"Salazar said that you scream very loudly." Responded Harry. Everyone laughed. Salazar was no longer frightened, and curled around Harry's wrist as he went around introducing everyone, switching between parseltongue and English. In the end everyone decided that the snake was great and that it was welcome to stay, so it did.
By the time they reached Hogwarts, everyone was famished (despite the candy they eaten from the witch's cart) and desperately wanted the feast to start. Harry noticed as he left the train and boarded the horseless carriages that Hagrid was back, and, from the look of him, it seemed as though Dumbledore's envoy to the giants had been successful.
The sorting went by as slowly as ever as Harry and his friends looked at their empty plates hungrily. Harry clapped with the rest as Zeichner, Neil became a Gryffindor and then looked expectantly from Dumbledore to his plate back to Dumbledore. The headmaster of Hogwarts stood up and started his short speech. Most of what he said was the usual spill about the forbidden forrest etcetera, but at the end of his speech he bowed his head.
"I ask for a moment of silent remembrance before we eat in honor of the student who was taken from our midst last year. Cedric Diggory." Silence enveloped the Great Hall. Most of the first years looked around questioningly, obviously oblivious to what happened last year but remained respectfully silent all the same. When Dumbledore sat down, the rest followed, the plates filled, and the talking resumed. The twins were talking loudly about their plans for the magic joke shop, Ron was admiring Hermione's prefect badge (she had been the only one to seem surprised that she was a prefect), and Harry and Ginny were stealing small glances at each other.
All of a sudden Hermione spoke up. "Where's Neville?" she asked. She was right. Neville was nowhere to be seen. "He wasn't on the train. I thought he'd already be here."
"Maybe he's in the hospital wing or something like that," suggested Ron. "After all, Harry's missed two feasts before." The rest of them nodded and the previous conversations resumed.
By the end of the feast everyone was extremely full and extremely tired. They trudged up to the Gryffindor common room, gave the password ("Golden Snitch") and went quickly to sleep. No one noticed that neither Neville nor his possessions were there.
* * * * * * *
The next morning everyone entered the Great Hall for breakfast lazily after a good night's rest. Class schedules were distributed (the fifth year Gryffindors groaned as they saw double potions with the Slytherins as well as Care of Magical Creatures) and were just starting a conversation on the subject when a flock of owls flew into the Great Hall with the daily morning delivery.
Harry returned to his breakfast as he saw there was nothing for him, but just as most of the owls had left, a loud an horribly familiar screech filled the Great Hall. Harry looked above the heads of the rest of the Hogwarts students (covering their ears) to see the black hawk which had ruined his birthday. It flew over him, dropping a rolled piece of parchment into his hands and flying out of the hall again leaving with another loud and obnoxious shriek.
All eyes in the Great Hall turned to Harry who slowly and shakily unrolled the parchment. The Hall was silent. Harry dropped it in surprise as a loud and familiarly cold voice shouted "Crucio!" A scream of agony filled the Great Hall. The screaming voice too was familiar. Harry's blood chilled as he recognized the voice. It was Neville's. The screaming continued from the letter for what seemed an eternity. It was silenced only by the original voice. "Avada Kedavra!" came the cruel voice of Voldemort. The screaming stopped abruptly. The Great Hall was completely silent. After a minute or two of silence Harry picked up the piece of parchment. It had only two things on it. The first, was Voldemort's horrible calling card, the Dark Mark. Below it, in large print, was the number 14.
Author's Note: I'm horrible aren't I? Please remember to review.