Chapter Six: Star Light, Star Bright
Ron lay in his bed, still worried. Where was Harry? He hadn't come back yet. Something was bound to be wrong. He realized it was one o'clock. He looked over at Harry's four poster bed to find it still neat and made… and no Harry. Where was he? Could something have actually happened to him? He suddenly sat up in his bed so fast it made him feel dizzy. He hoped what he thought wasn't true. Could he have been… Captured? By You-Know-Who? If it were anyone else, Ron would have laughed at the thought. But this was Harry Potter. And Harry Potter was different.
Ron stood and found the old piece of parchment inside a book on Harry's end table.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he muttered. The Marauder's Map showed itself to Ron. He didn't see Harry or Jasna's name on the map. He decided it was time to tell Professor McGonagall that Harry and Jasna were missing.
Jasna wandered around aimlessly. She'd been walking around for hours. She had no clue where she was going. Every single tree looked identical, like tall, menacing figures looming over her. She was scared. She shouldn't have left Harry. They were better off together than they were apart. What if one of them found their way back and the other didn't? What would happen then? She was so worried, not only about herself, but about Harry as well. What was going to happen to them?
"Harry, I'm so sorry!" Jasna screamed into the dark night sky, "I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have left you! I hope you get back OK…" Jasna decided she'd look for Harry as well as for Hogwarts.
"Where is he?" McGonagall demanded of Ron. Ron shrugged.
"He never came back after he
went looking for Jasna."
"Is Jasna here?"
"I don't think so." McGonagall looked around the common room, nervously.
"Are you sure he's not here?"
"Professor, with all due respect, I sleep in the same room as him." Ron said as
politely as he could.
"Right. Well," she sighed. "I'll go get Professor Dumbledore." And with that,
she climbed out of the portrait hole, and disappeared out of Ron's sight.
"Well, I guess that's that, then."
"Poppy seed."
The gargoyle sprang to life, and soon Professor McGonagall was knocking timidly on the door to Dumbledore's office.
"Come in." A faint voice came from inside. McGonagall entered, and looked around the interesting room. Fawkes was in a beautiful stage, the phoenix's plumage was to its fullest and dazzling. The scruffy Sorting Hat, old and patched, was set on an end table beneath several paintings of old headmasters, many of whom were still awake despite the late hour. They blinked and watched as McGonagall approached the form slumped over his desk in exhaustion. They observed as she gave him a small tap on his shoulder, and he rose slowly.
"May I help you, Professor McGonagall?" He found his hat, and placed it on his aged head.
"Um, I am here concerning a few students from the Gryffindor House, sir."
"Of course…" Dumbledore sighed and sat down. He massaged his temples. McGonagall bit her lip.
"We have two missing students."
"Two this time is it?" Dumbledore said, "Who?"
"Harry Potter and Jasna Larden," McGonagall answered. Dumbledore sighed, fatigued.
"Not again…"
Harry was tired. It was five in the morning and here he was, in the Forbidden Forest, walking around aimlessly with no idea what to do next.
"This is just perfect!" he
cried, kicking a rock. He trudged on
angry, annoyed, and extremely frustrated.
He came to a clearing and could finally see the sky above him. As he kicked another rock, he didn't realize
his foot got caught in a vine. He
continued on his quest for Hogwarts, for home.
He looked at the stars. Hours
ago, they had looked so peaceful as he laid in the water with Jasna, staring up
at them. Now, they seemed to mock him
as they watched him toil to find his school.
They were high, safe and secure in their firmament. They needn't worry about finding
anything. They could see everything
from their position. They were probably
staring at Hogwarts right at that moment and laughing at Harry because he had
no idea where it was. He spat at them,
angrily.
"Stupid stars," he muttered. He looked
at the ground, "Stupid dirt," he added, "Stupid vi- wait, vine?" He shrugged it
off and tried to shake the vine from his leg and continue. He didn't realize (or if he did, he didn't
care) that he hadn't succeeded in shaking off the vine. He was looking at the stars again, so didn't
notice there was a large hole ahead of him.
As he stepped into it, he screamed.
As he fell forward into the hole, the vine around his ankle stopped him
from falling to the ground as it was attached to an old tree stump. Harry hit his head against the side of the
hole, hanging from his ankle upside down.
"Great!" he sighed, sarcastically, pushing his glasses back on with a frown. He took out his wand from his robes and pointed it at the vine in severe annoyance. Red sparks jetted out the end of the wand, severing him from the vine. It wasn't until he started falling to the floor of the hole did he realize that cutting himself free from the vine wasn't the best idea.
"Where would he be, Mr.
Weasley?" Dumbledore asked Ron.
"I told him Jasna was out on the grounds, near Hagrid's."
"Do you suppose he is with Hagrid?" McGonagall asked.
"I don't think he would be,
Professor. Not this late, anyway."
"What's going on?" Hermione yawned as she entered the common. She stopped, dead in her tracks as she saw
McGonagall, Dumbledore and Ron standing there talking.
"This is about Harry, isn't it?"
she asked.
"Do you know anything?" Dumbledore asked her, kindly. Hermione shook her head.
"Ron was worried earlier that he hadn't come back yet, that's all. Harry had just had a very heated fight with Jasna and went to look for her to apologize."
"Jasna?" McGonagall raised an eyebrow and glanced at Dumbledore. Dumbledore just shook his head.
"I assure you, Professor, Jasna is not dangerous!" he said, "And that is the last time I will tell anyone that!"
"Excuse me, sir," Hermione whispered, "But why would she be dangerous?" McGonagall glanced at Dumbledore again, who sighed.
"That's just it, Miss Granger, she's not dangerous. I will say no more on the matter."
"What do you suggest we do, Professor?" Ron asked. Dumbledore looked at McGonagall, who seemed skeptical, but concerned none the less. He then looked at Ron and Hermione, Harry Potter's best friends, and their worried looks and sighed again.
"I suppose we'll have to conduct a search of the grounds. We have to wait a full twenty-four hours before we can file a missing wizard's report."
Harry opened his eyes to see the
stars again. Those stupid, annoying
stars. He let out a small growl as he
tried to get up. He yelped in pain when
he realized he couldn't move his leg.
Swearing under his breath, he also realized his glasses were broken
again.
"At least that's something I know how to repair," he muttered, fixing them for
the second time that evening with a wave of his wand. He lay back down on his back and stared at the stars again. He let out a deep sigh.
"I guess they aren't so bad," he said to himself, watching them above him. He frowned as he got an idea, "I am SO stupid!" he cried to himself before he screamed, at the top of his lungs "JASNA! HELP!"
That was the second scream Jasna heard, and this time, it was definitely Harry.
"Harry?" she called, timidly. Was he alright? Was he captured again? Was Bob awake? The insane Death Eater? Was Harry being tortured? Jasna didn't want to think about it. She bit her lip. Time was passing and she didn't know if she was coming any closer to Hogwarts.
"Jasna stormed out on me," Hagrid told the four of them in his hut, "I told 'er I was sorry, but she didn' seem ta care."
"And that's the last you saw of
her?"
"I think I saw her arguin' with 'Arry, by the lake," Hagrid answered. McGonagall had that look again and Hagrid
noticed, "She ain't bad, Professor!
Really, she may 'ave a short temper, but she's a sweet lass." McGonagall
was not satisfied with Hargrid's words and her eyes expressed it.
"Professor Dumbledore, I really
think that, for the safety of the students, and for Jasna's own safety, we
should send her to a school in America."
"That didn't stop him at finding her before, Minerva," Dumbledore pointed out,
"He'll find her one way or the other, just like he found her before. And I don't want her changing schools
again." Hermione and Ron watched the argument in silence. It seemed the teachers had forgotten their
presence, at least Ron and Hermione hoped they had.
"I think she's comfortable
'ere," Hagrid said, "She seems to 'ave made friends easily."
"Did it ever occur to either of you that she's not as innocent as she seems?"
"Professor McGonagall, you have never questioned my authority before."
"You're right, Dumbledore, I haven't.
And this is probably the only time I ever will. Letting that girl in- the daughter of-"
"Minerva," Dumbledore interrupted, eyeing Ron and Hermione, "We will discuss
this later."
Ron and Hermione could barely hide their disappointment.
Jasna wandered in the woods. It was six o'clock now. She kept stumbling and falling and she still hadn't found Hogwarts… Or Harry. Her wand light was all she had to go by. It passed over leaves and tree roots. She marched onward, determination flaring in her eyes. She knew she'd get there eventually.
At six thirty, Harry thought of another thing that might bring help other than
screaming. He took his wand, pointed it
upwards, and sent out a jet of red sparks high into the air.
"I don't know what good it'll do," he said to himself, "It's not like anyone would be looking except Jasna."
With the help of Hagrid, Ron and Hermione (and some very bothered and tired Professors), Dumbledore and McGonagall searched the grounds four three hours. Finally, at eight o'clock, Professor Snape looked up at the forest and saw a figure leaving it, tired, her robes torn and still damp, her raven hair a mess. She looked up, sighed with relief and fell to the ground. Snape called out to the others and walked swiftly over to Jasna, panting on the ground, still damp from when she fell into the lake. Snape kneeled down next to her.
"Are you OK?" he asked her. She nodded, breathless, "Where's Potter?"
"In the woods," she gasped, and nodded back at the forest, "We… got in a… fight
and we… got separated." She hadn't realized how tired she was. Snape frowned.
"Why are you wet?" he asked.
"We fell in the lake."
"What?"
"Actually, that's not entirely true, we pushed each other into the lake."
"What?!" Snape cried. The other teachers soon joined them.
"Where've you been?" demanded
Professor McGonagall, "You've had us worried sick!"
"It wasn't our fault, Professor," Jasna said, "When we were in the lake-"
"When were you in the lake?" Flitwick asked.
"Let me finish," Jasna muttered, "We were fighting about who- well, it doesn't matter, but we were fighting and then there was pushing and we fell into the lake. Then we started laughing about it. When we were floating in the lake, someone came and took us and it was a mad Death Eater called Bob. He had us unconscious, see, and we were in the middle of the woods. And when Harry woke up, Bob was boring him telling him how much Bob would be honored when Lord Voldemort found out he had not only Harry Potter, but-" that was the only time in the story where Jasna paused. She realized that Ron and Hermione were also there.
"But what?" Ron asked.
"But he had two people important
for Voldemort. That's when I cursed him
and he fell unconscious. Harry forgot
who I was because of the potion Bob gave him so I had to hit him a few times
before he remembered. And then we
really got lost so Harry climbed a tree to find out where we were and then he
fell and broke his glasses. Then I told
him-" she paused again, "… I told him I was bipolar," she muttered, looking at
her knees. She then continued, "Anyway,
when he found that out we got into this deep intellectual conversation-
actually, it was more of a debate… OK, so it was a deep intellectual,
full-blown fight, but we got into this deep intellectual fight about love, or
something, and then I think I really blew it when I insulted him really hard
and he insulted me in much the same way.
That's when we decided we'd find our way back on our own. And now, I don't know where he is." There
was a long silence as all the teachers stared at her. Jasna looked around at the faces and saw most of them were
disbelieving. Dumbledore seemed
impassive. Jasna frowned.
"What?" she asked, "What is it?"
"Why don't you get along with Harry Potter?" one of the teachers asked. Jasna looked around for a speaker, but just
as she was about to reply, one said,
"How do we know you're telling the truth?" again, Jasna opened her mouth to say something and was interrupted.
"How do we know you're not lying? How do we know you're trust worthy?" Jasna was becoming angry. How dare they not believe her?!
"I'm NOT LYING! I have no REASON to lie! Why would I lie?" she demanded. But there was muttering among the teachers. Ron and Hermione watched her, warily. She looked around desperately for a kind face.
"Look!" she cried, halting the muttering, "Harry's still in there! I don't know what happened to him! I heard him call out but I couldn't find him! We have to look for him. When you find him, he'll tell you the truth!"
"How do we know you didn't turn him in? How do we know you didn't give him up to your father?" that was the last straw. Jasna stood up and pointed her wand at the small crowd.
"Don't you even MENTION him!"
she cried, "I don't even want to think about him right now! Leave him OUT of this! I would never betray Harry like that!"
"You're the child of a wicked man!" someone cried. Jasna looked around in despair, her eyes brimming with
tears. She looked at Dumbledore. Why hadn't he stopped these
accusations? Why hadn't he stood up for
her?
"You believe me, don't you Professor?" she asked. Dumbledore took a deep breath as if to say something, but sighed.
"If I do believe you, do you think it makes the slightest bit of difference to these people?" Dumbledore asked. Jasna was agape. Dumbledore had abandoned her. She couldn't believe it. She took a deep shuttering breath and ran off towards Hogwarts, plainly visible in the sunrise. Dumbledore watched after her with Ron and Hermione.
"Go after her," he whispered, "She needs condolence." Ron nodded and ran after the girl.
