"Love is in the Air"
Chapter 5
"Dumbledore is missing," Sirius said with a sigh.
"Oh no..." Ron replied, terror sweeping across his face.
Cho reached down and grasped Harry's hand tightly.
"It was only time before he made his move Harry. He is a patient man, considering he devised that whole plan with the Tournament. He could have got you even easier, if he wanted to, I'm ashamed to say."
"It wasn't your fault Sirius, there was nothing you could have done; you couldn't have known what was going on."
"What exactly is he up to anyways? All that I've noticed is people falling in love all over the place, out of nowhere. Like Hermione and Draco..."
"Don't remind me," Ron said with a huff, then mumbled a few curses under his breath.
"That wasn't very nice Ronald," Remus Lupin said shaking his head at a surprised Ron, "Did you forget already that I'm a werewolf? Sensitive hearing is part of the whole package."
"Oh yeah..." Ron said with a smirk.
"To be perfectly honest Harry, I have never heard of Voldemort doing anything like it before. He was never one to even know what love was. It's not exactly his style, you know, he's more into just blowing stuff up."
"It doesn't make sense, but I'm positive Voldemort is behind all of this."
"I hope you're wrong, Harry...cause if you aren't, then Voldemort has figured out how to get into Hogwarts..." Lupin said with a frown.
"How long do I have to stay in this bed?"
"That's up to Miss Pomfrey...Poppy?"
"Yes, Professor Lupin?"
"Can Harry leave now?"
"If he feels like it, there isn't anything I can do to help him really. None of my magic works on that blasted scar of his."
"I think I can go now, I'm feeling much better, thanks."
"Well, Lupin and I better be heading off. We have a few things to investigate. Owl us if anything else happens. Anything at all," Sirius said stepping into the hall. Lupin walked out and followed him, now a large black dog, down the hall. They stopped by a large statue and walked into a secret passage.
"Come on Ron, Cho, let's get out of here!" Harry said, jumping out of the bed.
He took Cho's hand and they walked toward the great hall. It was dinner time. Walking in, they found it very quiet. Everybody was staring at another. People were holding hands and kissing and giggling all over the room. Harry looked over at Ron. He was staring across the room at a girl at the Ravenclaw table. It was Padma Patil. She was staring right back at Ron.
Harry looked over at Cho, who was staring at him contently. He smiled and they sat down together. Cho sat through the whole meal, hardly ever taking her eyes off him, and he her. After dinner Harry got up and walked back to the Gryffindor common room. He saw Hermione and Draco lying together on the couch, her head in his lap, looking toward the ceiling. He was running his fingers through her long curled hair and smiling down. Harry was shocked merely to see Draco smiling about something other than Harry being tormented.
Across the room Neville and Ginny were sitting next to each other looking through a book of poems. Neville was a poet, it turned out. Harry was amazed at the skill in his writing. Yawning, Harry walked up his room and saw Hedwig waiting on his bed. Attached to her leg was a letter.
In very messy handwriting, Harry immediately identified it as Hagrid's, was written.
Olympe and me are getting married, ain't it great. I was wondern if you might could be my best man. Send Hedwig back with your answer. Hope to see you when we get back from Norway. Can't tell you why we was here, but you'll notice it soon.
Your friend,
Hagrid
Hagrid and Maxine were getting married? This wasn't exactly weird, but he thought Sirius would like to know about it anyways. Pulling out a quill he scribbled a "yes" on the letter and reattached it to Hedwig's foot.
"Wait a second, can you stop by Sirius's and give him this letter I'm writing on your way?" Harry said to Hedwig's just as she was about to take off. She gave him a look and clicked her beak, which Harry took as a yes.
Dear Sirius,
You told me to write if anything happened. Well I just got a letter from Hagrid. Him and Madame Maxine are getting married. Other than that, everything seems to be just fine around here. Haven't noticed anything weird yet. Talk to you soon.
Harry
"Here you go, Hedwig," he said, attaching the second letter to her leg, "No, that's it Hedwig, I don't have any more letters for you to deliver."
Hedwig took off through the window. Harry noticed her grab a spider as she flew out the window.
"I have owl treats, you silly bird," Harry said with a laugh. He walked over to the window and poured a glass of water. It was quite cold from the night air, and quenched his thirst immediately.
He looked around the room. It was totally empty. Nobody except himself was there. Everyone must be studying he thought as he got into his pajamas. I hope tomorrow goes a lot easier than today...
***************
Cho walked across the Ravenclaw common room and spotted Herman Yule. His eyes were fixed on her as she walked across the room. She smiled at him and continued walking up to her room. She gasped at what she heard through a door as she ascended the stairs. Her eyes widened as she listened in and she thought she made out the name 'Ron' in between screams. It was the 5th year girl's room. She shook her head at the girl's irresponsibility and continued up the stairs, not wanting to see what she was imagining in her head.
Stopping outside her door, she checked the handle. It was locked. That was weird. Somebody must be changing or something. She knocked twice on the door. There was no response so she pulled her wand out.
"Alohomora!"
The door unlatched and swung open slowly. She peeked inside. It appeared empty. She walked in and shut the door. She went to her bed and pulled her robes off. She looked at herself in the mirror before pulling a nightgown on. She had never really liked her body. She thought her breasts were too small, and her hips weren't rounded enough. She knew Harry would never agree with her about it, though. She hopped up into her four-poster and pulled the curtains closed. She brought her diary out and began writing about what had happened that day.
Right as she wrote "Harry thinks He-who-must-not-be-named is at Hog" she heard a footstep across the room. Quickly throwing her diary under her pillow she popped her head out the curtain.
"Who's there?"
There was once again, no answer.
Must have been the wind or something. Then she heard it again.
"Hello?" she grabbed her wand off the table next to her bed, "Let me warn you, I'm armed..."
Suddenly she saw a flash of orange and shot a blast of white light across the room.
A small ghost appeared where the light hit. He was grinning ear to ear and had bright clothes on.
"PEEVES! Get out of the my room! I'll shoot you again if you don't listen."
"Peeves was just leaving. Doesn't want to look at ugly old you anyway."
She watched him fly through the door and after a few minutes she pulled her diary back out.
January 25th, 2003
I'm so very worried about Harry. His scar was bugging him all day. He thinks He-who-must-not-be-named is at Hogwarts. And it turns out that Sirius Black, the Azkaban convict, is Harry's godfather. He's not so mean now that I've met him in person. Quite the opposite, in fact. Very kind and helpful, caring only for Harry's well-being. Plus Professor Lupin came back to visit Harry as well. I think he knows Mister Black. Well, I think I hear Heather coming up the stairs, talk to you tomorrow.
"Good night, Cho, I'm exhausted," Heather said, before collapsing onto her bed and falling straight to sleep.
"Night Heather..." Cho said as she felt her head bounce lightly off the feathers in the pillow. Closing her eyes she saw Harry smiling and smiled back. "Good night, Harry..." she said to the wind, falling asleep.
Suddenly in the shadows came a chuckled and sounds as though someone were walking over to the door. It then opened as if by magic and closed a few seconds later. "You will be mine, Harry Potter! Just you wait..." a voice in the air said, slowly fading away as it descended the stairs.