Thanks to my wonderful reviewers:
Amerz
Lord R—I like the painting, too. ^^
Black Rose
kagemusha
Phoenix Tears Type 6
TheSilverLady
Geministarz—Hey, he's for comic relief.
Katy 999
Phoenix Flight
Tigergirl
WittchWay
t.a.g.
SatanSaphire
Sati—Borrow away!
Do you want to know who's watching Harry? You'll just have to keep reading. Oh, and send me your guesses!
Disclaimer: I'm broke, I'm a college kid, and I'm barely old enough to vote in American elections. Do you honestly think I could ever own Harry Potter? ^^;
Please review. My ego needs inflating. All flames will be crumpled up and tossed to the samurai kitties to bat around. They could use the entertainment.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Harry strolled his way down the corridor. He had just finished dinner in the kitchens, and was on his way to the Griffindor common room. Dobby the House Elf had been quite glad to see Harry, and had attempted to stuff him like a holiday turkey for nearly an hour. And then Dobby insisted that he try some trifle. Frankly, Harry was astounded that he could even walk.
Harry eventually made it to the portrait of the Fat Lady, having only seen four empty suits of armor walk into a classroom. Upon his arrival, Harry realized that he had a problem.
"Well, hurry up already and say the password."
"Er . . ."
"Well?" The Fat Lady glared expectantly at the boy.
Harry hesitantly said, "I don't know the password. Can you let me in anyway, seeing as I'm the only Griffindor here . . ."
"I'm sorry, child. It's against school policy. I can only let you in if you tell me the appropriate password."
"I don't suppose you could just tell me the password?"
The Fat Lady stared reprovingly at the boy.
"All right. Is there any way for me to get the password?"
"Your prefect should have given it to you."
"Er . . . It's the holiday. There aren't any prefects here."
"Then you'll have to ask your Head of House."
"Oh. Er, do you know where she could be?"
"What do I look like? I don't keep track of you people!" Harry left as the Fat Lady began her tirade. "Honestly, with students barging in at all hours and slamming my frame, it's a miracle that . . ."
'This is going to be a long night.'
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Harry trudged his way through the main corridors, hoping to come across a professor. He had been wandering for at least twenty minutes, and no such luck. 'Come on . . .'
"Potter!"
Harry spun around. He wanted to find someone who could help him. He did not want to be scared out of his wits. "Yes, Professor?"
"What, pray tell, are you doing? I should think you'd be in your common room." Snape sneered.
A scream. Then silence.
"How do like it, my pet?" A high-pitched voice chuckled. "There is always more where that came from."
A man shivered on the stone floor. Bizarre implements and tools adorned the walls of the medium sized square room. Two such implements where held by the one who was standing.
The man on the floor had one imbedded in his left hip.
Harry stood frozen for a moment, blinked, and then launched into an explanation. "Well you see sir, I don't know the password into my dorm. I'm looking for Professor McGon—"
"Wandering the corridors without permission, Potter? I'm sure you have a better explanation than that. Lockhart was to tell you . . . " Snape paused, and Harry stared. "This way, Potter."
Blood was on the ceiling.
"Stop fighting me and this will end."
Silence. Then a groan. "Accio—"
"Hurry up, Potter." Snape snapped. Harry focused on the walk.
Two lefts, a hidden passage, and a right later, they arrived at an innocuous floor cabinet, the kind Filch used to store his cleaning supplies. It was a dull gray, and would not have looked out of place in a muggle office building. Snape walked up to the cabinet, stood a little straighter, then proclaimed, "Catnip."
'Catnip?' Harry began to wonder if the Professor was feeling all right, then saw that the cabinet was growing. When it had enlarged to the size of a standard door, Snape rapped his knuckles smartly against it, paused, and knocked again.
They stood in front of the oversized cabinet for a minute, and Harry was curious about Snape's actions. He was about to ask when he received his answer.
"Severus! What is the meaning of this?" And out came Professor McGonagall, dressed in a fluffy blue bathrobe and a hairnet. She didn't look especially tired. When she caught sight of Harry, her frown actually increased. "Mr. Potter, what are you doing here?"
"Er . . ."
"It seems that Lockhart" Snape appeared to be disgusted with the man's very name, "neglected to give Mr. Potter the password into the Griffindor common rooms."
McGonagall nodded in understanding. She turned to Harry. "Fiddlesticks."
"Professor?"
"The password. Fiddlesticks."
"Oh . . . Thank you, Professor."
"Good night Potter, Severus." She went back into her cabinet, which returned to its original size, a lock of her hair coming out of its net.
"I trust you can find your way back." Snape said, looking as though he thought Harry incapable of any such thing.
"Yes, Professor."
"Good." Snape stalked off to do whatever it was that he did on summer nights, leaving Harry alone.
Harry worked his way back to the hidden passage, only to find that it had moved. He sighed, then murmured, "Great. Just great." He began his long walk back towards the portrait of the Fat Lady. This was going to take a while.
A small shadow trotted its way around the corner. It slowed when it saw the boy, and followed him silently.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Fiddlesticks."
The portrait swung open with a slight creak. Upon entering the common room, Harry sighed in relief. The common room looked downright cozy, even though there wasn't a fire in the fireplace. Then again, it was the middle of July. A fire would make such a red room stifling hot.
Harry climbed the stairs to the sixth year boy's dormitory. Presumably, that would be where he'd be expected to sleep. 'If it isn't, McGonagall will tell me in the morning.'
He opened the dorm door and saw the five beds. A change of clothes later, Harry slid under the covers of what he thought was his bed. He sighed "Finally!" and allowed his mind to drift to sleep. It only took a couple of minutes.
The one watching the portrait of the Fat Lady sat in the shadows for about half an hour, then left.
There were other places to watch.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Over the next four days, Harry developed the habit of wandering the halls in the morning, then going to the kitchens for lunch, working on summer homework in the afternoon, and then doing whatever it was he felt like for the rest of the day. He could not have felt any more bored. He even went to bed early because there was nothing to do.
Harry stood upon completing his Divination assignment. He was to define the meaning of astrology in a ten-inch essay using references from the text. Then he was to use the information in the essay to predict the actions of five famous people. And these five people had to be both alive and members of the wizarding world.
"Glad that's done." Harry grumbled. He didn't know how students living with muggles, like he had been, were supposed to complete the assignment. After all, it's not as if they could just turn on the radio and listen to WWN for information on singers and celebrities. Information about the wizarding world didn't come easily in the world of the muggles. So how else were students supposed to discover the birth dates of famous people?
Harry opted to leave his finished assignment on the table. Since he was the only one in the dorms, he though the parchments and books would survive just fine without his constant presence. Stretching, he opened the portrait and left.
As he wandered through the corridors of Hogwarts, Harry wondered what exactly he would be doing with himself for the rest of the summer. He didn't consider boredom a viable choice.
Harry walked into Professor Flitwick as he wandered closer to the Great Hall. "Oh, I'm sorry, Professor. I guess I wasn't watching where I was going. I'm sorry."
"That's all right, Potter." Harry helped the diminutive professor stand up, then helped collect all the books and parchment on the floor. The stack that Flitwick had been carrying was taller than him, and Harry hadn't been paying any attention to his surroundings, so their collision wasn't all that surprising.
"Oh, no . . ." the tiny wizard squeaked. With a sigh, he gathered all the parchments they could find and made a small stack. He then started organizing the books into their own stack.
"Can I help you, sir?"
"Hmm? Oh. Could you hand me the larger books please?"
Harry did so and helped Flitwick stack the books, biggest to smallest, on the floor. Flitwick picked up the parchments and pointed his wand at the books. "Thank you, Harry. Wingardium leviosa."
The professor continued on his way, keeping the levitating stack on his right so that he could see anyone else coming.
Harry continued on his walk.
A pair of eyes followed his every move.
As Harry strolled into the Great Hall, a tall man in billowing black robes glided his way out the doors, not sparing the boy a glance. Harry turned to blink at the retreating figure.
A dirty, ragged, underfed man lay sobbing on the stone floor. He had no shoes, and his bloodstained robes barely covered his body. His black hair was matted, and his fingernails were torn. He didn't even move when another man with a silver arm entered the room.
The second man shook as he left a bowl of some lumpy gray substance on the floor near the sobbing figure. Then he ran out of the room and slammed the door. The man on the floor didn't get up, but he did stop crying when he heard the lock turn.
He looked at the bowl, then placed his head on the floor. Severus Snape was a wreck.
He blinked slowly, but did nothing else.
Harry stood rubbing his scar for several minutes before he decided to keep moving. This decision was accentuated by the sound of Lockhart's voice. Harry had no desire to be anywhere near that man.
He barely managed to get away in time.
A small figure glared at the loud blond, then followed Harry.