Chapter Four – Failed

Harry sat up, staring out the window of his room. Ron, Neville, Seamus, and Dean were all asleep, Neville snoring loudly. The moon had broken through the clouds, and lit the Whomping Willow and lake. Once in a while, Harry could see the large squid pop a tentacle out of the lake, but it always fell back in. Once in a while, Harry could see the Whomping Willow attack a mouse – it was always followed by a random owl swooping down and eating the kill.

Harry had too many thoughts floating in his head. Too much had happened over the summer. Too many people had died. All because of him. At least, that's what he believed. No one blamed him; it wasn't as if he willingly gave his blood to Voldemort. He put up a fight...as much of a fight as he could handle.

He kept thinking of what it was like, seeing Cedric and his parents come out of Voldemort's wand. The utter horror that filled every nerve of his body. How hard it was to hold the connection until his father told him to let go.

It was strange, taking orders from a father. And not a father figure, like Sirius Black or Remus Lupin, but a real father. His true father. Seeing his mum had made his heart leap. It took a while to realize how much he missed them after that.

The only other time he and been "with" them, was when he had found the Mirror of Erised. It was strange then, too. His mother and father waving too him. He felt horrible when Dumbledore told him it would be moved somewhere else. He thought he'd never see his parents again.

But he did see them again. Just not under good conditions.

A movement from somewhere in the room made Harry jump out of his thoughts. He looked around, listening for the scratching sound again. He squinted through his glasses, finally see a small mouse scurrying under the beds. When the mouse realized it had been spotted, it froze, standing on two legs, completely still.

"I won't hurt you," Harry said, even though he knew the mouse wouldn't be able to understand a word he was saying. "You just go on finding food." Harry turned his head away from the mouse, and back to the moon.

The mouse scampered away.

^*^*^

Lucius woke to a pounding headache. After a few moments, he remembered his three bottles of flavored vodka that he downed the night before. The feeling of the bad hangover caused him to spend some time in the bathroom before showing up at the breakfast table.

As he sat at his large table, he heard the unmistakable "humph" from his wife, Narcissa, which caused him to wince.

"Morning, darling," he said, standing up to give her a kiss on the cheek.

She pulled away from him. "Don't start, Lucius." Her voice was cold, and harsh as she spoke to him. "Where were you last night?"

Lucius didn't know how to answer. "I…"

"And don't you dare tell me you were searching for that Oracle again." Her eyes narrowed.

Her husband swallowed hard. "N-No, dear—"

"Because if I remember correctly, I told you that if you search for the pointless Oracle again, you'll be living in a cardboard box on Knockturn Ally. And You wouldn't want that," she smiled sweetly, "would you?"

Lucius shook his head. "No, no of course not, dear. Besides, I wasn't looking for the Oracle. I told you before: we know where it is. The," he coughed, "Potter family has it."

Narcissa glared at him. "You leave that boy alone, Lucius. He may not be…'on your side', but he didn't do anything to you, and if you do anything to him…"

"Knockturn Ally?" he asked her.

She nodded. "I'm not joking, Lucius. You crossed the line when you fought with Arthur Weasley three years ago. But I forgave you. You won't be so lucky next time."

"Arthur," Lucius spat, "is a fool. Someone needs to wake that Muggle-Lover up and make him act like the Pureblood he is."

"I'm warning you, Lucius," Narcissa threatened, "One wrong move…"

Lucius fell into his seat at the table, and whispered, "Yes, dear."

^*^*^

The Gryffindor students stared at their schedules, groaning when they saw that their first class was Potions: and with the Slytherins.

"I can't take another year of this," Ron complained, dropping his fork down and refusing to eat anymore of his pancakes. "I've gotten too many low marks in Potions. Why can't I just drop it?"

"Because," Hermione said, "it's important to your learning career. I can remember when we've needed Potions in the past." She lightly smiled at Ron's look of disgust.

"I wouldn't call the Polyjuice Potion a potion, Hermione. I'd call it a curse."

She glared at him. "If it hadn't been for that potion—"

"If it hadn't been for that potion, I wouldn't have to waste my valuable time in the Slytherin common room, trying to figure out who the Slytherin Heir was by talking the that jerk Malfoy."

In their second year of Hogwarts, Harry, Hermione, and Ron had suspected Draco Malfoy of being the Slytherin Heir, and the one who had opened the Chamber of Secrets. The Chamber of Secrets unleashed a foul and dangerous creature, called a Basilisk, which caused chaos in the school. The Basilisk, which is basically a dangerous, deadly snake, petrified four Hogwarts students, (Hermione being one of them) and a Hogwarts ghost, Nearly Headless Nick. Harry and Ron, with the help of a petrified Hermione found out that the real Slytherin Heir, Tom Riddle, was controlling Ginny Weasley, Ron's little sister, through a diary. Harry ended up defeating Tom Riddle (now more commonly called He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named), and saving a dying Ginny Weasley.

Hermione just rolled her eyes at Ron, and turned back to her schedule. "Well," she said, with a happier tone, "at least we have Care of Magical Creatures right after Potions. And with the Hufflepuffs. At least we can have Hagrid there to cheer us up, eh?"

Harry nodded. "I can't wait to see Hagrid. I missed him when we got off at the train..." he paused. "Did...did either of you see him?"

Ron shook his head. "No, but we were one of last ones getting off. Remember?" He bit some of his bacon. "I mean, there weren't very many first years. He probably didn't have to wait to long to gather them all up.

Harry thought about this, then finally agreed. "I guess so."

Hermione continued looking at her schedule, when she said, "Oh! Boys, it's time to get going. We should go get out books."

Ron rolled his eyes. "We have five minutes," he said, looking at his watch.

"No," Hermione said, showing him hers. "Your battery is dead," she pointed out. Ron's watch said "12:30 AM"

"Damn Muggle product!" he cursed, and threw it off. "No offence, Harry," he said. Harry had given it to him for a birthday present.

^*^*^

"I suggest, to all of you, that you stay out of my hair. I will admit I'm not in the happiest of moods," he paused. "This summer did not go so well for me."

Ron leaned over to Harry. "Gee, maybe that mark on his arm was annoying him."

Snape glared at Ron. "Weasley, that is exactly what you should not do, and will not get away with this year. Five points from Gryffindor." He ignored Ron's outraged face and turned to the Slytherins. "None of you will get away with anything, either. You cross the line, and you will lose points. Maybe even receive detention. And trust me: Mister Filch would love to have you—he has found his hooks."

A few students gulped at this, others looked confused.

Snape smiled evilly, causing shivers up the students' backs. "And, I will not tolerate failure this year," he said, looked directly at Neville Longbottom, who was so frightened, he was severely shaking.

"NOW," Snape said, making everyone jump at his sudden uncharacteristically loud voice, "Open your books to page fifty, and work on the Polyjuice Potion."

Ron groaned.

"WHAT was that THAT, Weasley?!"

Ron gulped. "Stomachache, sir."

Snape raised an eyebrow, but ignored Ron after that.

Hermione turned to Harry and Ron, and whispered, "Well, I'm rather excited about this year. How about you two?"

Harry and Ron just bit their lips.

^*^*^

A knock caused the old Headmaster too look up from his papers, and stand. "Enter."

A large, black dog strutted into the room. He was a rather thin dog; as if he was not properly fed. He carried in his teeth a paper, The Daily Promphet. His tail was barley wagging, though as the got closer to the Headmaster's desk, it began to wag faster.

"Sirius."

The dog barked, dropped the paper, then morphed into a tall, black haired man with light stubble on his chin.

"Headmaster."

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, until Sirius bent down and picked up the paper off the floor.

"Another attack, sir."

Dumbledore stared at Sirius. His voice choked up, as he whispered, "You're joking."

Sirius shook his head sadly. "I—I'm afraid to mention the family, Sir."

"I dare not ask."

Sirius placed the paper in front of the man, and stepped back. "Someone should tell him, Sir. His only family."

Dumbledore sat down hard, and stared at the headline on top of the paper. He held his head in cupped hands. "I have failed."

"No!" Sirius cried, leaning on the desk. "He's still alive, Albus. That's all that matters. True...we'll need to find a new home. But sir," he leaned farther in, and made Dumbledore look up at the man's intense eyes. "You have not failed."

Dumbledore could only sigh, and he stared at the headline. "I still can't believe it."

"You knew it would happen."

"Well, yes," Dumbledore said. "But I was hopping he'd be out of school..." He looked up sadly at Sirius. "What are we going to do?"

Sirius coughed. "I'm...I'm not sure, Sir."

"The Dursleys...dead..."

"I can't believe Arabella Figg didn't mention anything to us."

"She's probably too old to even remember who Harry is," Dumbledore said. He suddenly grinned. "Well, I guess I'm one to talk, right?"

Sirius forced a smile. "I should go see her."

"Yes," Dumbledore agreed. "That may be a good idea. But first," he sighed sadly. "Let us inform young Harry."