Once they got to the Leaky Cauldron, the rest of the day was pretty much
eventless. Oh sure, Hagrid got a little drunk, and Ginny spilled her drink
all over Harry and immediately became immensely embarrassed, but other than
that, nothing happened.
However, Harry was feeling a little uncomfortable. He was going to be starting his 5th year at Hogwarts (a/n: he's turning 15, not 16) and both of his friends didn't seem to be acting like themselves. Hermione kept spacing out during their conversation, and Ron kept giving off a mysterious aura, as if he was hiding something. Sirius, too, was being a little more protective than usual. He'd had four warnings of trouble in four days, and two of them were from Sirius. Obviously something big was happening again this year.
That night, when Harry slept, he had a dream. It was just a normal nightmare, or even a really messed-up dream. It was a Voldemort dream; the ones he had when Voldemort was feeling particularly murderous. He was in a room, and it seemed to be in the Riddle mansion. . .
"How is the student fairing?"
"He is weak, my Lord, but still breathing. There won't be much of a fight out of this one," a Death Eater replied. Harry could see a body lying crumpled on the floor. The face was hidden, though, and he couldn't tell who it was.
"Excellent. Now, are you prepared to do it?" Voldemort was obviously plotting again.
"Yes, my Lord. Shall I perform the spell now, or closer to the day at King's Cross?" The Death Eater didn't seem too eager to do "it", whatever "it" was.
"You may wait. However, I warn you once more, do not fail me. The consequences will be worse than you could ever imagine." Voldemort seemed to be getting tired of the Death Eater's stalling.
"Yes, my Lord." The Death Eater replied nervously.
(a/n: no Death Eater/Voldemort section this chapter since the dream really did happen)
Harry woke up, and glancing at the clock, it was about midnight. He was covered in a cold sweat, and the room seemed eerily quiet. 'Great,' Harry thought, 'now I won't be able to sleep for a while.' Grumbling to himself, Harry got up and put on his glasses. He tiredly made his way downstairs to see if he could find something to do down there. Or, he might g out for a run. Harry found a run strangely soothing, and the runner's high at the end always made him feel god. Now that he thought about it, a night run seemed like a good thing to do.
He was about to turn around and do back upstairs to change, when he heard a floorboard creak. Suddenly, Harry was alert and wide awake. Silently, he crept downstairs, all the while cursing himself for being paranoid. He crept around the corner, desperately wishing that he had his Invisibility Cloak with him. He turned the corner in time to see someone disappear into the sudden flames, muttering something incomprehensible to Harry. 'Obviously using Floo Powder,' Harry thought. Unnerved, Harry no longer felt like going out for a run. He crept back upstairs to Ron's room to tell him what he saw, but Ron wasn't there. Harry was suddenly very nervous. He normally would have gone off looking for him, but he had no clue as to where to look.
Sitting on his bed and deep in thought, Harry gradually feel asleep.
***************************************************************************
The Auror Flooed into Fudge's office. Fudge was always here at this time of night, worrying about something or sleeping. Scanning the office, the Auror noted several empty mugs, and a very small Fudge asleep in his chair. Angrily the Auror slammed its fists down on the desk. Fudge awoke with a start, coughing and sputtering. He looked dazed for a moment, but shook himself awake to stare the Auror in the eye.
"Can I help you?" he asked, seemingly annoyed and innocent.
"Why are you leaving me out? Voldemort-" Fudge cringed "-is obviously planning to attack Potter again this summer. Now, I've gathered sufficient evidence to know that you're planning something, too. I need to know what's going on at Hogwarts this year." The Auror stated forcefully.
"What makes you think that anything else is going on this year?"
"In the past 4 days, Harry has been warned 4 separate times to watch his step. That is way too much, even for Voldemort trying to psyche his victim out. Voldemort's style is to warn the victim several times, over a few months, in several different ways, to get them freaked out. Then, once they've convinced themselves that they're just paranoid and imagining it, he strikes. He always strikes when the fear is at its peak." The Auror stared at Fudge, as if daring him to question its statement.
Sighing, Fudge gave in. "There's going to be a competition at Hogwarts this year." He hurried on, as the Auror looked infuriated. "It's not the Triwizard Tournament, it's something new. Dumbledore's really trying to improve inter-House relations, and so he has decided to form groups of four according to year, with one member from each House. He's going to give them a set of challenges that will require team cooperation to get through. Each team will be scored depending on how well they complete their challenge as a team. He is hoping that this will increase the number of friendships between Houses."
The Auror glared. "And you didn't tell me this why-" but Fudge interrupted.
"I didn't feel that it was necessary for you to know."
The Auror was livid. "How is this not necessary for me to know? Potter could be put into great danger during this, especially if he is paired up with a bad one from Slytherin. No, you knew that I needed to know this. You were just by stepping my station because you thought your authority was being threatened."
"I didn't feel that my authority was threatened. You were challenging it-"
"Enough!" The Auror roared. "You're arguing semantics with me!" The Auror walked back over to the fire place, and just before stepping in, said, "I will have to report this Fudge. Doesn't it suck being a figurehead?" And with that, the Auror was gone.
********************************************
Harry woke up the next morning, and found that he hadn't slept too well. He looked and saw that Ron was in his bed now, sleeping. Frowning, Harry went downstairs where he was greeted by a very tired and grumpy Hermione. 'Strange,' Harry thought. 'Hermione is a morning person, and Ron never sneaks out at night here. There's nowhere to go, I remember him complaining about that once.'
Harry's thoughtful frown never really left him that day.
a/n: i updated!!! yay!! in case you haven't noticed, i have started other stories and done ok with them, but i had no idea what to do with this one. now i have a really good idea, and i know who the death eater in disguise is gonna be, and who the auror is gonna be. i'd tell u, but it would ruin the story. r&r!!!
However, Harry was feeling a little uncomfortable. He was going to be starting his 5th year at Hogwarts (a/n: he's turning 15, not 16) and both of his friends didn't seem to be acting like themselves. Hermione kept spacing out during their conversation, and Ron kept giving off a mysterious aura, as if he was hiding something. Sirius, too, was being a little more protective than usual. He'd had four warnings of trouble in four days, and two of them were from Sirius. Obviously something big was happening again this year.
That night, when Harry slept, he had a dream. It was just a normal nightmare, or even a really messed-up dream. It was a Voldemort dream; the ones he had when Voldemort was feeling particularly murderous. He was in a room, and it seemed to be in the Riddle mansion. . .
"How is the student fairing?"
"He is weak, my Lord, but still breathing. There won't be much of a fight out of this one," a Death Eater replied. Harry could see a body lying crumpled on the floor. The face was hidden, though, and he couldn't tell who it was.
"Excellent. Now, are you prepared to do it?" Voldemort was obviously plotting again.
"Yes, my Lord. Shall I perform the spell now, or closer to the day at King's Cross?" The Death Eater didn't seem too eager to do "it", whatever "it" was.
"You may wait. However, I warn you once more, do not fail me. The consequences will be worse than you could ever imagine." Voldemort seemed to be getting tired of the Death Eater's stalling.
"Yes, my Lord." The Death Eater replied nervously.
(a/n: no Death Eater/Voldemort section this chapter since the dream really did happen)
Harry woke up, and glancing at the clock, it was about midnight. He was covered in a cold sweat, and the room seemed eerily quiet. 'Great,' Harry thought, 'now I won't be able to sleep for a while.' Grumbling to himself, Harry got up and put on his glasses. He tiredly made his way downstairs to see if he could find something to do down there. Or, he might g out for a run. Harry found a run strangely soothing, and the runner's high at the end always made him feel god. Now that he thought about it, a night run seemed like a good thing to do.
He was about to turn around and do back upstairs to change, when he heard a floorboard creak. Suddenly, Harry was alert and wide awake. Silently, he crept downstairs, all the while cursing himself for being paranoid. He crept around the corner, desperately wishing that he had his Invisibility Cloak with him. He turned the corner in time to see someone disappear into the sudden flames, muttering something incomprehensible to Harry. 'Obviously using Floo Powder,' Harry thought. Unnerved, Harry no longer felt like going out for a run. He crept back upstairs to Ron's room to tell him what he saw, but Ron wasn't there. Harry was suddenly very nervous. He normally would have gone off looking for him, but he had no clue as to where to look.
Sitting on his bed and deep in thought, Harry gradually feel asleep.
***************************************************************************
The Auror Flooed into Fudge's office. Fudge was always here at this time of night, worrying about something or sleeping. Scanning the office, the Auror noted several empty mugs, and a very small Fudge asleep in his chair. Angrily the Auror slammed its fists down on the desk. Fudge awoke with a start, coughing and sputtering. He looked dazed for a moment, but shook himself awake to stare the Auror in the eye.
"Can I help you?" he asked, seemingly annoyed and innocent.
"Why are you leaving me out? Voldemort-" Fudge cringed "-is obviously planning to attack Potter again this summer. Now, I've gathered sufficient evidence to know that you're planning something, too. I need to know what's going on at Hogwarts this year." The Auror stated forcefully.
"What makes you think that anything else is going on this year?"
"In the past 4 days, Harry has been warned 4 separate times to watch his step. That is way too much, even for Voldemort trying to psyche his victim out. Voldemort's style is to warn the victim several times, over a few months, in several different ways, to get them freaked out. Then, once they've convinced themselves that they're just paranoid and imagining it, he strikes. He always strikes when the fear is at its peak." The Auror stared at Fudge, as if daring him to question its statement.
Sighing, Fudge gave in. "There's going to be a competition at Hogwarts this year." He hurried on, as the Auror looked infuriated. "It's not the Triwizard Tournament, it's something new. Dumbledore's really trying to improve inter-House relations, and so he has decided to form groups of four according to year, with one member from each House. He's going to give them a set of challenges that will require team cooperation to get through. Each team will be scored depending on how well they complete their challenge as a team. He is hoping that this will increase the number of friendships between Houses."
The Auror glared. "And you didn't tell me this why-" but Fudge interrupted.
"I didn't feel that it was necessary for you to know."
The Auror was livid. "How is this not necessary for me to know? Potter could be put into great danger during this, especially if he is paired up with a bad one from Slytherin. No, you knew that I needed to know this. You were just by stepping my station because you thought your authority was being threatened."
"I didn't feel that my authority was threatened. You were challenging it-"
"Enough!" The Auror roared. "You're arguing semantics with me!" The Auror walked back over to the fire place, and just before stepping in, said, "I will have to report this Fudge. Doesn't it suck being a figurehead?" And with that, the Auror was gone.
********************************************
Harry woke up the next morning, and found that he hadn't slept too well. He looked and saw that Ron was in his bed now, sleeping. Frowning, Harry went downstairs where he was greeted by a very tired and grumpy Hermione. 'Strange,' Harry thought. 'Hermione is a morning person, and Ron never sneaks out at night here. There's nowhere to go, I remember him complaining about that once.'
Harry's thoughtful frown never really left him that day.
a/n: i updated!!! yay!! in case you haven't noticed, i have started other stories and done ok with them, but i had no idea what to do with this one. now i have a really good idea, and i know who the death eater in disguise is gonna be, and who the auror is gonna be. i'd tell u, but it would ruin the story. r&r!!!