Chapter 5: Dumbledore's Plan
A few hours later, Harry sleepily walked to the Great
Hall. He had not slept a minute
since his visit to Dumbledore's office. His nightmares
were always tiring
but the added lack of sleep made the dream's aftermath
far worse.
Ron, who was walking next to him, tried to lighten him
up but with no result so far.
Thus, Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table, yawning
and trying desperately to
keep his eyes open. Maybe he could snooze a bit while
everyone else was eating.
He did not really felt like having breakfast now.
He had only closed his eyes a few seconds when
something touched his right arm.
'I'll just pretend I didn't notice' he thought.
But in vain, because the something now grabbed his
shoulder and shook it, gently.
"Good morning, Harry. " Hermione's cheery voice said next to him.
"The table isn't the right place for napping,"
she said, after a pause.
"That's what beds are for, don't you
think?"
Harry mumbled something but still did not open his
eyes.
He heard Ron respond. "Don't, Herm. He had one of
those nightmares last night
and he went to Dumbledore afterwards."
Hermione let go of his shoulder
immediately.
But if Harry thought he was now safe from her,
he was wrong.
"Oh, Harry, I'm so
sorry. I didn't know." she addressed him again.
Harry sighed and finally opened his eyes.
"Yeah, well. Don't be. No harm done, really. Couldn't
have slept, anyway."
He rubbed his eyes and looked at Hermione and decided
he could as well start conversation.
"So, how did teaching the Firsties go?
Still as excited as last week?"
She beamed at him, obviously delighted that he had
asked.
"It's wonderful so far. Even if we aren't
allowed to brew many potions,
I am able to teach them the basics. And
they are so precious!"
Ron looked at Harry with a frown.
"Precious?"
Harry only shrugged. "As long as she can
cope with the annoying little rascals."
Now Hermione looked mad. "Cope with
them? They adore me!"
Ron had to suppress a laugh. "Well, if you say so. No,
no, only joking.
We're really happy for you, Hermione."
Harry nodded in agreement and with that Hermione
seemed to be satisfied because
she did not dig any deeper into the subject.
Instead, Harry decided that now was the
best opportunity to tell them about his dream
and the conversation with Dumbledore,
making sure they could not be overheard.
Fortunately, they had History of Magic first that day.
Harry was able to get some
of his well-deserved sleep while Professor Binn's
taught them the exciting events
of The Great Convention of 1535 where witches and wizards from all over the world
had met to discuss 'modern' ways of magic.
In fact, Harry was one of the few who left the ghost's
class more awake than before, which
proved to be vital because he had transfigurations
next and Professor McGonagall
gave them much work to do.
After class, she held Harry back, a slightly worried
look on her face.
"Mr. Potter, are you feeling all right? After last night... It was rather late,
after all."
"I'm fine Professor, just a bit tired, nothing more.
Thanks for your concern."
She eyed him for a few moments as if to make sure he
spoke the truth.
Finally, she went on.
"Well, I am glad to hear that. The Headmaster told me
to send you to him after
this class. He wishes to discuss something with you. I
have notified
Professor Sprout that you won't be able to come to
Herbology but I expect you
to ask your house mates what they've learned today."
Harry frowned shortly but nodded. "Yes, Professor.
Thank you."
McGonagall smiled and let him go.
As he went up to Dumbledore's office,
Harry tried to rub the rest of sleep out of
his eyes. Yawning a last time, he knocked
on the door.
"Come in, come in," came the Headmasters friendly
voice from inside.
Harry stepped into the room and stopped dead at once.
Dumbledore was not alone.
In front of his desk sat...
"Professor Lupin!" Harry almost ran to his former
teacher who smiled warmly at him.
"What are you doing here? I never knew you had come."
He turned to Dumbledore.
"Professor, why didn't you tell me last night?"
The Headmaster smiled. "Well, Harry, because I didn't
know he'd come by then
myself. It was arranged rather spontaneously. I asked
Remus Lupin a favour and he was
so kind as to respond to my request immediately."
Harry frowned shortly, then nodded slowly.
"It has to do with last night, with my
dream, doesn't it?"
Lupin nodded. "Indeed, Harry. Albus told me
everything."
"Then what are you here for? What does he
want you to do?"
Lupin only smiled faintly and it was Dumbledore who
answered.
"Do
you remember my calling you a genius, Harry? I bet you were a tad confused , weren't you?
The reason for Remus being here is that he is going to
visit Professor Snape in Azkaban."
Harry frowned again.
"But you told me he wasn't allowed to receive visits
from anyone except Fudge's men. How-"
He stopped as it dawned him.
"Of course! Professor Lupin will not go to Azkaban as
himself."
He looked excitedly at Lupin. "You'll be in disguise
as of
one of the ministry men, won't you?"
"Yes, Harry, I will. Severus will get quite a shock
when he realises who I am."
He grinned at the thought of it. Then he looked at
Dumbledore.
"Honestly, Albus, I am surprised you
didn't think of this before. Polyjuice is
a very useful tool as I am sure Severus
would tell you if you'd asked him."
Dumbledore shrugged and sighed.
"I
am an old man. Old men have a tendency to overlook things."
At this Lupin snorted. "Of course, Albus.
Old man indeed!"
Harry grinned as he watched the two men.
Despite his white, long beard the Headmaster
looked anything but old. Quite the
contrary.
"I am sorry to interrupt your interesting
conversation," Harry said, still smiling.
"When is Professor Lupin to go to
Azkaban?"
"Well," Dumbledore began. "That depends on Fudge.
First, we have to find out when he
will send his man to Severus. We have to plan the
entire 'operation' carefully.
Cornelius mustn't notice anything. Simply going there
in disguise won't help.
He would know something's up. I am afraid we have to,
ehem, take his man to a kind
of outing while Remus takes his place."
Harry nodded, understanding. Well, with
Dumbledore and Professor Lupin, it should be an
easy enough plan, shouldn't it?
"So all you're waiting for is the schedule
of Snape's interrogator, isn't it?"
Lupin nodded. "Yes, Harry. It may take some time but
that's all we need to get started.
Since it was your idea we felt obliged to tell you of
our plan. Let's just hope you can
take a rest now and won't have to deal with these
events any further."
His face changed into a more serious one - though
Harry could tell it was partly faked.
"You have to take your O.W.L.'s after all."
Harry groaned. "Now you sound like Hermione. But
thanks."
Lupin smiled as did Dumbledore, who rose from his
chair.
"Well, Harry, that's it for now. I promise to inform
you as soon as we've found out
anything. But now I better leave the two of you alone.
You haven't seen each other
for quite some time and I believe now is just the
perfect opportunity to catch up on
everything, don't you think, Remus?" The Headmaster's
eyes twinkled.
Lupin only smiled. "Thank you, Albus."
Dumbledore winked at Harry and left his office.
Almost an hour later, Harry went back to
the Great Hall. Lunch had just started
and he took his usual place next to Ron
and Hermione, looking extremely cheerful.
Hermione eyed him curiously. "My, Harry, what happened
to you? Last time
we saw you, you were desperately trying not to snore
off in Transfiguration and now
you look like Christmas is close."
Harry grinned at her. It was true - being with
Professor Lupin had evaporated any
tiredness from him.
"Well," he began. "Let's just say Dumbledore found me
the perfect cure to insomnia."
Ron groaned. "Oh come on! Don't let us die stupid.
What did he do to you?"
Again, Harry grinned.
"Ok, I'll tell you. Guess who's been with
Dumbledore...
Professor Lupin! Yes, it's true. We've been talking
for almost an hour until he had
to leave. He told me about Snuffles. He's safe at
Lupin's. Everybody seems to think
Remus got himself a dog."
"Great!" Ron slapped Harry on the back. "That's good
news. No need to worry about him."
Hermione, on the other side, seemed to be interested
in something else.
"Did Dumbledore say anything about... well, your
dream? About his plan?"
"Yes. He'll send Lupin to Snape. Disguised, of
course."
Hermione nodded, obviously impressed. "Brilliant.
Simple and yet efficient. I knew
Dumbledore'd come up with something like that."
"Hey," Harry protested. "It was my idea! At least
partially."
At this, Hermione rolled her eyes and returned to her
plate.
Harry looked at Ron who only shrugged.
As it turned out, Lupin had been right. The next days
went past without any further
strange or fearsome events. Having a great time with
his friends, Harry was glad
he had someone like Professor Dumbledore to help him.
Now that he no longer had to
deal with Snape's arrest, he truly
felt like a normal boy - his only worries being
homework and house points.
However, he could not know this was only the calm
before the real storm…
TBC...
There
you have it. No cliffhanger this time.
Even
better – the next chapter is already written and mostly beta-read.
I
will wait for a few days to release it, though. Just to see you guys leave some
reviews asking for more…
;-)
CJ
