he was here.
in my room.
over my bed.
with a knife…
I still can't believe I'm alive…
He may still be in the castle somewhere….
Oh please for the love of all that is magical, dear sir… THE PASSWORD!!!!!!
SIR RON
He was here!
He was in my room!
Standing over my bed!
And that knife!
SIR! Please what is happening?!?!
I told you! I was almost killed!
In your bed, with a knife, I caught that part… but by WHO? What happen, sir?
What are you, daft? Who the hell do you think? It's not like the countryside is full of crazed murders trying to break into Hogworts!!!!
Well I…
BLACK, SIRIUS BLACK!!!!!
No!
No, you're right I'm just kidding it was the other one. YES it was Black! He broke into our tower and he tried to kill me!!
What! But—But why would he do that?!?!?
What part of criminally insane do you NOT understand? He was after Harry, okay. How hard is that to figure out? Sirius Black wants to kill Harry Potter, Harry Potter sleeps in the Gryffindor tower, Sirius Black breaks into kill Harry Potter and gets me instead!
But how is that possible? How did he get in? I know you said he made it to the tower door and once before, but one would have thought that after that incident the school would be more prepared, especially with the Dementors shudder…
Neville. Neville Longbottom. Silly prat wrote out the whole weeks worth of passwords to the tower and left them laying around! All Black had to do was read them off 'til he got to today's password. That stupid painting let him right inside!
Silly child! Doesn't he realize that people's lives are at stake here? Doesn't he know—Hey! Lay off Neville, alright? There's no way he could have known that Black would find that list. It's not like Neville ever plans on forgetting things. Besides, I kinda felt sorry for him after McGonagall got ahold of him. I thought she was gonna curse him on the spot!
And rightly so! In my day acts of foolishness such as those that put the lives of others in such peril would be dealt with through discipline. He would learn the gravity of his decisions—
I said lay off!
Yes, sir.
Dear me… I think I'm still in denial! Are you alright?
Oh yeah I'm just peachy! I mean why wouldn't I be? Oh that's right, I almost forgot… I WAS ALMOST MURDERED IN MY SLEEP!!! My hands Won't quit shaking, every time the fire pops I nearly jump out of my skin, and if that doesn't get me I think I might just pass out anyway, because my heart won't. stop. pounding!
I understand that you'd be upset, sir. It's not everyday that someone is fortunate enough to survive an encounter such as this. But I must say, master Weasley, the way you talk… you do have more such days than the average individual. If it was possible for a journal to develop gray hairs…
Are you blaming this on me?!?!
Absolutly not! I was merely trying to calm the topic with conversation—
Well stop it! I'm not in the mood for you to calm me down! Is it something about being dead that keeps you from understanding what it's like to almost be killed?
Sir you are going to help anyone by panicking—
Bloody hell! Who am I helping?!?! When I checked, I was the one in mortal danger!
I understand that… Sir, one thing still bothers me.
Only one thing! Would you like to see my list of the things that bother me right now?!?!
Understandably sir, I meant no offense it's just that one thing bothers me more than most. How did you escape?
Escape! You think I could escape from him? He's mental! Ask Peter Pettigrew's mum if there's any escape…
Peter who? Pettigrew? But still you must have gotten out alive somehow? What did you do?What do you think I did? I'm not bloody stupid. I screamed! You would too if you'd seen what I saw… I DON'T want to think about it! I mean…! Do you ….! I could have…! He could have…!
Alright, alright, dear boy, calm yourself. You ARE alive and apparently well—You still don't get it do you? This is no ordinary mass murdering psycho! This is a… a… What's worse than a mass-murdering psycho?
I wouldn't have the slightest idea sir?
Pettigrew!
Pardon?
Pettigrew! Let me tell you what Bill told me about Peter Pettigrew. Then maybe you'll understand.
Well you can try—
Zip it! Alright, twelve years ago, when Black betrayed Harry's parents, he wasn't counting on Harry defeating You-Know-Who. So when the Dark Lord fell, Black snapped. The Potter's other friend, Peter Pettigrew tried to seek out revenge for the betrayal. You know what happen to him, do you?!?!
No, sir, I haven't the slightest—
Black killed him! He didn't just kill him; he blew him to bits, literally! The biggest piece they found of him they send to him mother… in a box. Do you know what that was?
I shudder to think sire—A FINGER. A single bloody finger, and the Order of Merlin, but that doesn't seem like much when some crazy who you thought was his friend just blew your son to little bits, does it?
No…. sire… it does not. Very cheap indeed. I wonder if it's possible for journals to feel ill.
Oh but that's not all!!! When he blew Pettigrew to bits, he also took the rest of the street with him. And you know what he did then?
Do I truly want to know sir?HE LAUGHED! They say he was laughing like a lunatic, after killing thirteen people! So why should he care to kill me?!?!?
oh… my…
Yeah. Now you get it… HE COULD HAVE DONE THAT TO ME!!!!!
I'm sorry I was ever skeptic of the seriousness of the situation. You're right this man is beyond the bounds of insanity.
Finally! Something we can agree on! They're turning the castle on it's end right now… I hope they find him. If they don't… I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to sleep again…
Well, noble sir—
Hang on! McGonagall's coming back!
~*~*~
SIR RON
He escaped.
The madman is on the loose again?
'Fraid so.
Don't fear young master, I'm sure they'll catch him…. Eventually. After this last incident, the Ministry cannot possibly leave any stone unturned, the consequences are becoming far to grave—
Yeah, right.
Sir Ron, are you well? I know that it must be hard to deal with the fact that there will be no retribution this time, but the criminal WILL be punished. You must have faith.
Why! Why should I believe that they'll catch him next time? They didn't catch him this time, and they didn't catch him the time before. The man is like a bloody ghost! He goes wherever he feels. Who knows what kind of dark magic You-Know-Who taught him! …Rupert? What if he comes back?
Please, sir, you must not think like that. He failed to kill you, and was almost caught. He must know that next time he will not be so lucky to escape. If there is even a next time. I'm sure he will be apprehended long before then. The scoundrel will know better than to threaten your life again, noble, brave, sir.
Who are you kidding? We both know what he's after! Harry. And because of me, he almost got him too…
Now, now! Had I hands I think I would be forced to slap you… respectfully… sir.
What!
You did what was necessary. You did what was natural. And because of it, he fled. And yet you speak of yourself as if you were a traitor. I cannot hear this.
IT'S TRUE!
I fail to see how.
I… blinked….
I'm afraid I don't understand.
It's something Charlie told me. When he's working with the dragons… He says he has to always be on his guard; always aware of what going on, he has to see everything and react even before he sees it almost, and that's why he made such a good Seeker. He once told me the biggest mistake he could make on the job would be to blink, to hesitate; that's when he'd get fried. I figure being Harry's friend is kinda like working with dragons, you have to always be on guard, you can't blink. And I did.
Master Wea—
Shut up and listen! I hesitated and it could have gotten me killed. More than that, it could have gotten us all killed. Harry was right there, not three meters away! And once he killed Harry, he would have gotten what he wanted. Then there'd be no stopping him, and who knows how many people he would have taken out before he was done. He once killed twelve innocent muggles to get to one wizard—
I must interject! You didn't fail. You didn't hesitate. You screamed, which was a perfectly natural reaction.
Yeah, but—
No but's. You screamed and he fled, correct?
Yeah, but—
And isn't that what you wanted?
No, Rupert, I was really hoping that he would stick around and use me as a pincushion. Yes, I wanted him to run. But I didn't really think he would. And you don't understand—
No. You are brave, sir, and no matter—
OH, SHUT IT YOU BLOODY GIT! I'm trying to tell you what happen here!
But you already told me—
~*~*~
SIR RON
Well that was completely uncalled for… Not only the slamming, but did you have to throw me?
Yes. You are just like everyone else! You think you've got me all figured out. "Can't be THAT hard, it's only Ron Weasley, he's rather simple-minded anyway…" Well you're wrong! You're almost as bad as Hermione, she never listens to me either! She thinks I'm wrong or that she knows better than I do before I ever open my mouth. This time people have to listen to me! I was the only one there! I was the only one who saw it! The great Harry Potter doesn't know the story and "the cleverest witch in our year" CAN'T have the answers. And still, no one believes me! They won't even hear me out!
Oh, dear me….
I'm sick of it! Oh, but don't feel too bad Rupert, lemme introduce me to my brother Percy; I'm sure the two of you would get along just fine. He didn't believe me either, you know. He thinks I'm just that silly one who comes after Fred and George and gets in trouble all the time. Black comes after me with a knife and he tells me I'm dreaming and that I need to go to bed! You should go be his journal, you can try and tell him how brave and noble I am, but then he'd set you right. He could go on all day about how I never understand responsibility and I'm always getting into things I shouldn't. Yeah I like that idea!
Sir? Oh please, sir. Master Ron, I'm frightfully sorry. I didn't mean to offend you in any way. I apologize for my behavior. It was wrong of me to contradict or interrupt at all. It's just… well… to be honest, noble sire, I'm a bit afraid…
What the bloody hell do YOU have to be afraid of?!?!
I fear for you safety, master Weasley. I fear for it every time you close my covers, every moment that I don't feel your quill scratch across my pages. The things you've told me, dear child, well… I've never known someone to face a life of such perils with such ease. There are madmen at your bedside, Dementors at your gates, and a seemingly endless stream of perils winding beneath your feet—
Oh, come off it! It's not quite that bad. I mean sure this business with Black was nasty but it's not like it happens every day…
Exactly! You take them all of that with a nonchalance I can't even begin to fathom. It is for that reason that I fail to accept any derogatory words about your young character… even from yourself. And, perhaps, partly because I fear that each new thing you confide in these pages will be the last of what I can handle before I send myself to a second death by worry.
Good grief, Mum.
Well there's no need to call names—
Argh… Quit it! I 'm not in the mood. I forgive you, okay? I'm sorry I got mad at you earlier, kinda. (I promise I'll put Spellotape on that corner later.) It's just that… For once I feel like I've got something I need to say, and I can't tell anyone here, they'll think I'm mental. And I'm starting to feel like you don't want to hear it either.
Oh but I do sir. I cannot apologize enough for earlier. I forgot my real duty to you, and I will try to make up for it. Let me make amends, help me understand. Why do you feel as though you have let your friends down? When, the incident has already passed, and other than being thoroughly shaken, you are all still intact.
I told you, I blinked.
How so? I was lead to believe you reacted quickly and accordingly to how anyone would in your, unique, situation.
It wasn't exactly quickly.
Beg pardon?
I didn't react quickly. I didn't scream as soon as I saw him.
Then what on earth did you do?
I stared at him.
Excuse me? You stared at him?
That's right. Mental ain't it? Madman in my bed and I just look at him.
Not to mention a madman with a knife…
Well, I didn't see the knife at first… He was standing down by the foot of my bed and he had curtains all torn down around him, I didn't see the knife. In the dark I could barely tell I was looking at man. Even though… even if I'd seen him in the light, I'm still not sure I would have recognized him as a man. Still, that's no excuse. I let them down.
Sir…What.
Well, please don't get angry, but I still can't construe your actions as a failure on your part. Perhaps it was just shock that made you hesitate?
No. It wasn't shock, not really. It was more like… well… it was his eyes.
His eyes, young master?Yeah, his eyes. I swear, as long as I live I will never forget those eyes… I think I would rather snog with a Dementor than look at that face again.
Oh don't say that, fair sire! The most terrible fate in the world awaits those who receive the Dementor's Kiss!
What are you talking about?
The mere presence of one of those foul creatures is enough to drive sane men to the ends of their wits, but to kiss one… That is their final blow; that is their last attack. When a Dementor "kisses" you, they do in fact steal your soul. Leaving the victim a shallow shell of flesh, from which there is no recovery.
Oh man… Then the other day… when Harry said…
What? What did Mr. Potter say?Well the papers said that if the Dementors ever catch Black then that's what they are going to do him. And Harry made the comment that it was the least that he deserved… I think he understood what it meant but I didn't ask him about it because… well I'm almost afraid to bring up Black to him, after what we found out at Christmas…
Quite understandable.
But why would Harry wish that on anyone? What Black did was bad and all but…
You don't think he deserves it?Of course I do! I mean… I think I do. What he did to Harry's parents, how could he not deserve it? But still… Rupert, I know they'd probably pack me off to the nut house if anyone heard me say this, but to look at him, to see those eyes… Well I'd almost bet they'd already done it, that those Dementors had already stole his soul.
Master Weasley, please correct me if I'm wrong, but it almost sounds as though you feel sorry for the vile creature.
Feel SORRY for him! He helped You-Know-Who MURDER my best mate's mum and Dad! He was a traitor and a spy! He killed thirteen people, and then LAUGHED about it! He ripped the Fat Lady to shreds, and do I really need to remind you that he came after ME with a KNIFE!!!!!
I recall all of that quite clearly sir. I was just making an observation, much like if I was to say that it sounds like you're trying to convince yourself that he's a bad person more than you are trying to convince me—
Are you nuts!! There's no convincing necessary, he is a bad person, he's the worst kind of human to ever exist. He's worse than Malfoy (but not by much). So who cares that for less than half a second I kinda, sorta, a little bit, felt bad for the guy. It's not like I'm gonna invite him over for tea! I was probably just still half asleep. Yeah that's it, what you were saying earlier, about shock, that's what was wrong with me!
I see… I'm sure it was the shock, dear sir. I wouldn't worry about it too much. May I ask though, sir, why you think you felt sorry for chap?
I don't know… like I said he had those eyes, you know. I've never seen anything quite like that, really… empty. Like I said I would've believed he'd already had that Dementor's…
Kiss.
Yeah, that. That's a rather sick name for it, don't you think?
Yes. But I find everything about those demons of the night rather unsettling. But, please sir, continue.
Oh, right. Well, like I said he was standing at the foot of my bed. He was throwing the covers everywhere, like he was expecting to find Harry hidden in my bed sheets or something. Really he must be truly off his nut or something.
What can you expect, my lad, all those years in Azkaban can't be good for one's sanity.
Good point. So anyway that when I woke up, and then well… He looked at me, and I looked at him, and I was just kinda… frozen. Really I thought I was dreaming, or at least having one killer nightmare. It's not impossible, I mean his face is posted everywhere, I could have been imagining it.
Quite possible.
But then I knew I wasn't dreaming those eyes. Looking at them is like standing near a Dementor, it makes you go cold…
Sir?
Are you still there?
Yeah I'm here, I just can't stop thinking about it, gives me the shivers…
Try taking your mind off of it. Try to forget about his eyes, noble sir, tell me about the rest of him.
That's not much better. The rest of him fit his eyes, you know. He looked like a skeleton, really thin and brittle. But his hair was long, and hanging over his face. My brother Bill has long hair, but I think he'd go bald before he let it look like that. It was tangled with all kinds of twigs and leaves in it… And that smell! You know what he reminded me of?
What's that?Have you ever smelled a wet dog?
I remember it vaguely, rather nasty as I recall.
Exactly! There used to be one that came round the Burrow all the time, he was nice and all but Dad had to run him off because he was afraid he'd bite one of us. Hey Rupert, can I ask you something?
But of course!How completely bonkers would you think I was if I told you that when were standing there, looking at each other, I would have sworn he looked, almost, well… sorry for me. How nuts is that?
I can't even begin to imagine…I knew I was mental! But that's when I saw the knife and then… well…
The screaming?Yeah…
Do you feel better, sire, now that you have this off you chest, so to speak?Not really. I still can't figure out why those eyes bother me so much… there's almost something… familiar? about them…
Sir, I am truly beginning to worry about you… Even beyond what has happen this evening, I am beginning to fear for your health. First you tell me that you felt sorry for a murderous beast, then that you think he felt sorry for you, and now that you think you might recognize his eyes?!?! Maybe you should venture to the hospital wing—
No! I'm not making this up and I don't need to see Pomfrey! I swear I recognized that look! I don't know where but I know I did… it looked like… OH BLOODY HELL!!!
What?!?! What is it? Sir? Master Ron, please answer me—I know where I've seen that look…
Where?I'm looking at it right now…
WHAT!!! Is he back? He can't be!Not Black…
Sir, I'm dying here… again! What is going on?Dead… blank… angry… and yet… so… I can't ever describe it… I seen it before and I didn't even realize it!
Please, sire! What are you talking about?Harry.
What?!?!Christmas, after we found out the truth about Black… Harry had that look. That…
Haunted?Exactly! And now… he's sitting over there, by the window, he was looking right at me, but at the same time… not!!! Oh, Rupert I can't believe I didn't see it! Right there in front me! What's happening to him?
I wish I could explain to you the things that your friend must be experiencing… the wounds of deceit cut to the bone, quite frankly. The hollow hatred can be consuming. But I have never heard of anything like this happening to one so young—
He shouldn't have to at all! Harry's a good person! He doesn't deserve this!
We've been through this before, young master. The cruelties of fate know no boundaries, nor age, nor character. Once again all I can tell you is to be there for him—
Like I was this time? Harry'd be better often relying on Neville!
Please, don't be so hard on yourself, sir, you have been a good and loyal friend—Sirius Black was right there! Looking for Harry! I had a chance to do something, to protect him, and he never even crosses my mind! I told you I wasn't going to let anything happen to him, and at the first test… I failed…
Nonsense! Is he not alive? Did the perpetrator not flee? How can you say you're a failure?
He's not right Ruppert, and I missed it… I'm gonna go take care of a mate.
But, Master Weasley, you were the one who life was threaten—~*~*~