Chapter 14
Hermione rolls over in her bed, the sunlight filtering in through the window. She glances at the old grandfather clock in the room which now says it's 10:35 a.m. "Ten thirty-five!" she exclaims, "I must of slept in!" She springs out of bed, let's go a tiresome yawn, gets dressed and heads down into the Common Room to find Ron sitting alone by the ashes of last night's fire.
"Have you been waiting long?"
"No, just woke up five minutes ago. I'm not hungry, I'll wait until lunch. Should we go see Harry?"
"Yes, let's go."
The two head off in the direction of the hospital wing.
"Can we see Harry now?" Hermione politely asks.
"Very well," Madame Pomfrey replies reluctantly.
They go and sit by Harry's bed and close the drapes behind them. Despite the fact that Harry was unconscious, they were surprised by his state. Normally, Harry would come back with scars, or a few bruises and scrapes, at least some that Madame Pomfrey couldn't cure immediately. But there he lay, as if sleeping, not a scratch or broken bone in sight.
"Hermione, what do you think happened? Harry never comes back like this."
"He who must not be named must have n-not wasted any time t-try-trying to k-ki-kill him." They sit there staring down at their beloved friend, knowing how unfair the world is. "Come on Hermione, let's go have lunch."
****
"WHAT!" the members of the order roar as Dumbledore explains in detail what they saw last night. "You must be kidding, how can that be? He can't conjure a spell he doesn't know yet, but why would he want to to- you know"
"My, do we ever like to jump to conclusions, don't we?" Dumbledore says, not exactly mad, but not too enthusiastic about the reaction of Britain's' most powerful wizards. "I am simply telling you what we saw and that we'll have to wait until he wakes up."
" How long will that be?"
"Days, weeks, months. It is impossible to tell. This is quite serious."
"Dumbledore, what will happen when He Who Must Not Be Named finds out-"
"Do you mean Voldemort, Sirius?"
"Yes."
"You should all start using his proper name, you all know why so I will not repeat it, is this understood?" They all nod in agreement. "As you were saying, Sirius?"
"What will happen when V-Voldemort finds out that Harry is alive?"
"I don't know, but I bet he won't be happy about it, we'll only find out when the time comes."
With that, everyone stands up to leave.
****
Walking through the crowded halls of Hogwarts, Ron and Hermione make their way to the Great Hall without failing to notice the gossip spreading the school.
"Did you hear about Harry?"
"Yeah, he's sick or something?"
"Yes, he's been in the hospital wing since supper."
As they near the Great Hall, the stories are a little closer to what they know what happened.
"Yeah, he went into the storm last night."
"Well, why?"
"No one knows why, and I've heard he hasn't returned to his Common Room yet."
"Is he back in the castle?"
And then, there were some really weird explanations.
"He got attacked, I saw it all."
"How?"
"Well there were so many werewolves and a bunch of creatures from the Forbidden Forest that came and jumped him. I did my best to get them off him; a few the spells worked like a charm to make them leave. I think I might tell Dumbledore my part in it."
"Oh you should, you were so brave."
Hermione and Ron, almost threw up when they heard this, it made them sick. Not caring to hear anymore that and other crazy stories, they enter the Great Hall for lunch, their stomachs now growling for food. They sit next to an unusually quiet Fred and George.
"So did anyone see out that window last night?" Hermione whispers in the twins' ears.
"No, no one saw but they did find out that Harry was gone."
"Good, so then the Prefects listened?"
"Yeah, when they found out they understood partially why no one was allowed out."
"Good."
"H-How is he?"
"He's alive, but unconscious."
"Alive?"
"Yes."
"But how could that- whatever, do you have any idea what happened? "
"No, no ones said anything yet."
"Strange," mutters Fred as he returns to his plate, but in a much happier state than a few minutes before. Ron and Hermione finish eating and head off for the Hospital Wing once again.
Seeing that Madam Pomfrey was busy in her office, the two sneak in silently and go sit next to Harry.
After several silent minutes, Ron bursts out "Urggh, I can't take this anymore!"
"What is it, Ron?"
"Don't you think it is a little odd that no teacher has said anything yet? At the end of last year, what happened was bad enough and they told us what was going on, why not now?"
"Ron, how are we-"
"Miss Grange, Mister Weasley, I should have expected you here," McGonagall's voice is heard from behind them, "Follow me, the Headmaster would like to speak with you both."
The two follow their professor down the halls up to the gargoyle statue. Muttering the word 'Sugar Quill' the gargoyle moves aside. They walk up the spiral staircase to Dumbledore's office. McGonagall raps twice on the door and a faint 'enter' is heard.
"Ahh, so I see you've found them?"
"Yes sir, they were in the Hospital Wing."
"I see, well no surprise there. Thank you Minerva, you may go. Have a seat you two."
The two sit down in front of Dumbledore's desk. They wait for him to begin, but he doesn't speak. He simply lays back on his chair, let's out a sigh, and simply well, waits.
"Er, sir?"
"Why yes, Ron?"
"Do you have something to say?"
"No."
"Then why'd you call us here?"
A twinkle passes through the headmaster's eyes as Ron asks his question. "Well, do you have any questions you would like answered?"
"Well, er, yes."
"Well, you're sitting there with a head full of questions, and I'm sitting here with the answers." The headmaster's eyes twinkle so much as he reply's that even though he is not, it's as though those deep blue pools were. As Ron figures out that he just suggested why they were there, Hermione already starts to ask a question. "Sir, what did happen last night, Harry isn't scarred up or anything."
As soon as they appeared, the twinkle left Dumbledore's eyes, almost as though he was just reminded of an awful tragedy of centuries before. "Well, Hermione, Professor Snape figures that he was fretting over Cedric's death again. Have you noticed anything strange in Harry's behavior lately?"
"Well," she began, "After the Quidditch try-outs he just stayed in his dorm until supper, and he was a little late for that."
"Yeah, and he stayed a little later at the Pitch to see why there were more people filing in," Ron adds.
"I see, I'll have to talk with Madam Hooch about that, but I do believe this will prove Severus's point," Dumbledore says, more to himself than the other two. "It was that Ravenclaw's try-outs after the Gryffindors, I know that," he thinks, "Severus hasn't said who it was that did it, but it had to have happened from the time Ron left Harry until he got to the castle. But is 'who' really important to know?"
"You already know what Harry did from after supper until the time you told us, but by the time we got to him, he was already sprawled on the bed, the deed already been done."
"Where?"
"In the Shrieking Shack. Voldemort or a Death Eater was there, for they had to have conjured the Dark Mark, but the last spell Harry conjured was the killing curse."
"WHAT! But how can that be? He doesn't't know how to cast it, so how could he do it? Harry, did he use it in defense or in-in-"
"Hermione, calm down, we don't know. As for the fact about conjuring the spell, it is possible that he did- no don't say anything, I know you don't believe it possible, but it is. As for everyone, since everyone has jumped to that conclusion, do you, the people who know Harry for being Harry, do you think he would have really tried to hurt himself?"
"No, sir, I can't see him doing it. But I can't see him using an Unforgivable curse either, for any reason."
"I'm glad you have some sense, it's what I believe also."
"Do you think he was tricked or something?"
"Tricked? It is a possibility that I must say no one else has ever thought of yet, but very possible but how?"
"I don't know sir."
"Me neither."
"Oh but you do Albus, you know that it could have been the Imperius curse, now that you stopped to think about it," the wise old man thinks to himself, understanding now how whoever Harry met in the shack most probably took advantage of the situation. He wasn't in any state to fight the Unforgivable curses. "We'll have to wait until Harry wakes up to know what happened for sure."
"How long will that be?" Ron asks.
"I don't know, days weeks, months? Now you may go now, unless you have another question?"
"Well," Ron begins, "What about the- Ow!"
Hermione elbows Ron in the guts and interrupts him, "No sir that is all." She drags Ron outside, back into the hallway.
"Ahh, so they do know, but don't want me to know they do. They are quite clever, those three can be."
"What?" says Ron.
"You were going to spill about the Order of Phoenix," Hermione whispers. "And I don't want to say anything until we have more information."
"Why we already know it is a group of wizards who fought the Dark Lord, what more do you want to know?"
"Well for starters, who was on it, some things that they did, and why it was called the Order of Phoenix. Don't you think it's odd that the leader of the group just so happens to own a phoenix?
"A coincidence, maybe?" Ron retorts.
"Coincidence? I think not."
****
Sitting down for supper that night, exhausted from a day's search in the library, Ron and Hermione felt like their brains were made of Jell-O. After the hours spent in research, they were unable to find much more information. After awhile, not for the first time that year, Dumbledore stands to address the school. "As many of you may know, one of our number is not with us right now-"
"Did you hear?"
"Harry Potter is unconscious-"
"I heard that too-"
"Yes," Dumbledore says hearing the whispers of the students. "Harry Potter is lying in the Hospital Wing and it is not because of some illness. It is believed that Voldemort performed his first attack- yes Voldemort, that is his name," Dumbledore repeats, ignoring the way most of the students flinched at the mention of his name. "I am telling you this so you know the truth, you are old enough now not to be hidden from what is happening around you. Voldemort or one of his supporters were present and we think they attacked Harry. Also, no one is allowed outside past 9:30, although not too many people are at that time." Dumbledore sits back down in his seat and continues eating as if he just announced that there was to be a spare tomorrow afternoon.
The Hall falls silent as they let the realization sink in. Voldemort has indeed risen, and Harry was attacked while at Hogwarts.

A/N- There, next chapter done! Hope you like. Thanks go out to all my reviewers, your support is unbelievable, it is you guys that inspire me to continue. Hope you like and please review and tell me what you think…Can you guess why Harry was able to partially correctly conjure the spell? Well I do! *Duh, of course you should, you're writing it* she mutters. If you got a complaint just say it! I appreciate honest criticism, it can be helpful!
Later~didihoulio