Author's Note: Once again, sorry about the delay, though I'm sure as you've all guessed by now this is going to become a regular thing with me. Once this summer comes (and believe me, this story will still be on by then) I'll have much more time to write and therefore, more time to update. Unless, of course, my computer decided to explode, (which it does seem to do quite frequently) when ever an important school project due date looms ahead the next day.
With out further ado, the ninth chapter.
Harry's P.O.V.
"Harry? Harry" I heard a voice whisper urgently and I opened my eyes, jumping as a familiar (and terrifying) face appeared suddenly in front of me.
I choked.
"Well Mr. Potter?" I managed to drag my gaze away from Hermione…who was sitting on a chair right across the table from me, to look Professor Trewlaney in the eye.
"Professor?"
"So, what did you see Mr. Potter?" She probed anxiously. I felt red coming to my cheeks as I stuttered, trying to form sentences as I realized the room was full of old classmates… and all eyes were in my direction.
CRASH!
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a blue blur streaking across the floor, and then witnessed one of the tables on the side of the room collapse with a resounding commotion.
Hermione winked at me, while discreetly slipped her wand back up into the sleeve of her robes, and as Professor Trewlaney hurried over to investigate, dropped it back into her pocket.
The bell rang and we hurried out of the divination classroom leaving the distraught professor moaning over one of her precious scrying bowls. Ron was too busy immitating Trelawney's hysterics to notice Hermione annoyingly shooting worried looks my way.
"Are you all right mate?" Ron asked quietly, finally picking up on Hermione's glances. Hermione put out a hand to stop us as soon as we reached a quite spot in the corner of a door way.
Hearing things no one else can, is never a good sign, even in the wizarding world...
"I'm fine," I lied with forced cheerfulness. "I was just dozing, she startled me."
Ron sniggered. I could tell he was relieved. Hermione however, I could see wasn't convinced for one moment. I decided to change the subject as I started walking again, and hoped she'd get the hint and not bring it up in front of Ron. The less people involved, the better.
"Well, what do we have next?"
"It's lunch time." Hermione replied, raising an eyebrow.
I pleaded to her to stay silent with my eyes, and she gave me the barest of nods.
"Come on, lets go drop our stuff of before we go get lunch. It was so crowded yesterday, and I don't fancy going crawling all under the Slytherin table again looking for my homework when that idiot Neville kicks my bag over." Ron suggested, a bit crossly.
"How about you go save us a spot or we'll never be able to eat." Hermione replied, "We can drop your stuff off for you."
"All right," Ron shrugged indifferently, and tossed me his arithmacy text book and parchment and depositing his tote bag with his quills and ink in it with Hermione . "I'll see you in a couple of minutes."
Leaving Ron behind on the third floor, we headed up towards the Gryffindor Dormitory, and as soon as we were out of ear shot from everybody, Hermione glanced around cautiously before pouncing on me.
"All right," she began heatedly," just what exactly did you not want me to say in front of Ron? What did you see in the divination room, that you couldn't even tell him."
"And don't lie." She glared.
"Look," I sighed, "this isn't exactly the right place to tell you."
"This is the perfect place, Harry. Take a look around! We're no where near the dormitory in case you hadn't noticed, and I see that you didn't, and if we did go there it'll be packed anyway. We're not the only people who go to drop off our stuff, so tell me what did you see that got you so bothered that you couldn't even form sentences properly?" She demanded in one long breath.
I stared at her, momentarily stunned by her sudden outburst. "It's complicated Hermione, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you."
"Just try me." She challenged, her eyes flashing. "Four years ago I would have considered you mental if you told me I'd be able to fly on a broom, pixies weren't just figments of my imagination, that I'd make friends with a werewolf and an escaped convict that's just misunderstood." She retorted smartly, "I've learned a lot here at Hogwarts and one of the biggest lessons I think we've all learnt is not to be so narrow minded towards things."
I decided to (wisely) give in.
"Right…well I don't know how to tell you this bu. . .I wasn't here. Well, I was, but I was in the future. Or at least, I saw what was going to happen in our future."
"That's not possible." She blurted out immediately, astounded.
"What were you just telling me…" I retorted lightly, despite the situation, causing her to blush.
"I'm sorry. Go on."
"Well, I was in the future. It was horrid Hermione, VoldemortHe was back. And he'd killed Ron, and Remus, and most of the Weasley's…and he'd captured us. Right in the summer after the Tounament. It was horrid Hermione, so real…and god, you know Hermione, I just wanted to die there! I was Voldemort's. . .slave, and so were you. I know it wasn't just a dream, it can't have possibly been. I can tell you right now ever single event that led up to it, every single detail is still etched clearly in my mind. No dreams are like that, are they?
"Not usually," she replied slowly, after a moments thought, "normally they seem to make sense at the time, but then, when you wake up they seem to miss parts, or things that happened couldn't have possibly happened. But Harry, what you're saying is, well, extreme! Surely you're going to go to Professor Dumbledore about this?"
"No." I replied firmly.
"Why ever not? If you think Voldemort's coming back…" She let the sentence hang in mid-air, unfinished.
"How can you forget Hermione, Voldemort is back. How could you forget the TriWizard Tournament...Cedric. Telling Dumbledore my dream...it's not going to make a difference anyway." I argued.
"What are you talking about? You shouldn't even threaten things like that Harry!"
"Like what?" I finally stopped to take a breath and gazed at her openmouthed. She couldn't have surprised me more then if she had suddenly sprouted six more arms. Come to think of it, I'm willing to bet that that wouldn't even have surprised me any more.
I had a sudden horrid thought, causing my stomach to churn rapidly, and my skin to prick. Shivering, I forced myself to swallow. "Hermione….what's the date today?" I asked slowly.
"May 14th."
"And what year are we in…" I prodded her reluctantly, not wanting to hear the answer.
"Third. Harry, are you sure you're all right?"
"No,Hermione, I don't think I am…" I slowly replied, my mind in a state of shock. This couldn't be happening…what was going on!
"Perhaps you should go to the hospital wi-"
"No." I snapped even before she could get her sentence out..
"All right, there's no need to bite my head off!" she retorted. "Look, we'd better hurry up to the dormitory then, and drop of our stuff, otherwise Ron is going to get suspicious. And I need some time to think. Come on."
She turned around and opened the portrait, and sudden the noise level increased by a few decibels. She clambered in ahead of me and was greeted by a pie smacking her in the face.
"Pphrag!" She growled loudly, and attempted to pull the pie of her face. The pie clearly wasn't helping, it was clinging for dear life to her nose.
Fred dared to come strolling over to us, trying to avoid the food fight that was going on around him, tears nearly streaming down his face. "How do you like our newest invention Hermione?" He managed to choke out between laughs.
He paid dearly for that remark as she replied by pulling it off her nose slamming it into his face.
"Hey, 'mione!" he exclaimed, and fumbled around in his pocket for his wand. Giving it a tap, the pie went limp and cherries splattered all over the rug as it fell to the ground. Fred chose to ignore it.
"Chomping Cherry pies." He announced proudly. "Fred bought some of those biting teacups from Zonkos a while back and it gave us the idea." I took a closer look and realised I'd, once again, mixed up which Weasly twin was which.
"What exactly did you do…" Hermione glanced around, rather taken aback. "And just where is Percy? I thought he'd be after you by now."
"Already downstairs having lunch. If we've timed it right, we'll all have disappeared just before the pompous git gets back." George grinned evilly. "It wasn't our fault. I couldn't resist trying one on Katie, and she turned on me. I couldn't just ignore her declaration of war now could I?"
"I'm sure."
"Hey Harry!" Neville hollered to me from the other side of the common room. "I've got your Care of Magical Creatures text book!" He stumbled over a chair on his way over and as he came to a stop he slid on the pie at George's feet and went slipping head first into the entrance way, straight into Percy, who was just coming in through the portrait.
"JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE ALL DOING?" Percy shrieked as he glanced around the room. A final pie flew through the air, thrown by one over-excited first year, and as if everything was in slow motion, smacked Percy hard, right in the middle of his face.
The common room went deathly quiet as the pie fell limply to the floor, leaving a whip cream and cherry covered Percy
Hermione tugged on my arm as Percy went stumbling past, tripping over Neville who was still lying dazed on the floor, to land face first into another pie, which latched itself firmly on to his nose. We quickly left as inconspicuously as we possibly could in the chaos.
Once out of the corridor she burst out laughing, and then quickly shut up so we could hear Percy chew Fred and George out.
"Bugger!" I exclaimed as we were half way down to the Great Hall, "I've forgotten to drop my stuff off. Look, you go on ahead, I'll meet you down there in a couple of minutes."
"Sure," she nodded, and as she hurried of down the hall, I doubled back the way we had just come.
I stopped as I got to what I recognized as the fourth floor landing and look around nervously. This hadn't been the way we'd come…I took a turn down a new corridor and decided to cut through the library, I knew of a passage way on the other side which went up to my floor.
Even during lunch time the library was packed, and I snickered as I overheard a small group of first years scrambling to get their potions theory homework done that they had neglected to do the previous evening. They'd soon learn! Nobody likes spending quality time with Snape during detention.
As soon as I reached the Fat Lady's portrait I decided it was in my best interest to turn right back around and head to the Great Hall. From the sounds of hoarse yelling and the occasional mysterious fizz, it sounded like I'd have been risking my neck if I entered into the war that was still going on between Percy and the twins. From comments ranging from "Put me down!" and "Change it back!" to "Are you insane? You'll blow up the fire place!" (from Percy) I assumed the argument had rapidly progressed from simply being a small verbal dispute between the Weasly brothers.
"You didn't drop your things off." Hermione eyed me suspiciously as I sat down across from her.
"Fred, George and Percy were still fighting when I got back. Sounds like they'd managed to get world war three started in our Common Room. Thought it's be best not to interrupt them."
Ron snorted. "Wise Harry, very wise. Last year when he pissed them off they tried to put a charm on him that would make him sing whenever he opened his mouth." Ron shuddered. "Thank goodness they missed, have you ever heard Percy sing in the shower? Bleeding racket, sounds like cats are dying, but anyway, they hit mum's teapot instead. Don't know what's worse, Percy or mum and the teapot. Damn thing wouldn't shut up for months and it made the tea go all white and frothy, not to mention mum was harping on about it for ages."
I started loading my plate up with food that I felt like I hadn't eaten for ages; sausages, peas, bubble 'n' squeak roast beef and gravy and the best of all…Yorkshire Pudding .
"Harry, did you even think to go to Professor Lupin about your-"
I kicked her under the table, having a good idea of what she was going to say. She shot me a death glare as she finished. "I was going to say about your Care of Magical Creatures homework? I mean, magical creatures that seems to be what he specializes in and all."
"What Care of Magical Creatures homework?" Ron butted in, panicking slightly. "Care of Magical Creatures is next class!"
"Dere wasfent any honewok," I reassured him through a mouthful of potato before swallowing, "There was just a question I had and Hagrid didn't know the answer."
"Look, he's not at the Head Table, that means he should be in his office about now." Hermione persisted, "You should go ask him."
"Fine." I sighed gazing longingly at my half eaten dinner.
"Men." She huffed. "All you think about are your stomachs."
"See you later," I called out and got up and left, leaving a scowling Ron to calm her down.
"And there you have it," I concluded to the Professor.
"That sounds like quite an adventure Harry." He frowned over his cup of tea "Are you feeling all right?"
"Why does everybody keep asking me that?" I sighed.
He gave a bemused grin. "All right, I was only checking. You must admit Harry, it does sound a bit far-fetched, even for in the wizarding world. But," he continued, "A dream with that extensive details. . .there must be some sort of meaning in it for you, even if it's as simple and stupid as remember to brush your teeth."
"I do brush my teeth," I muttered. "So, you don't just think I should forget about it?"
"Quite the contrary. In fact, I don't think you'll be able to forget it. I believe it'll keep reoccurring until you resolve it, in one way or another."
"So, basically you mean until I die." I stated bluntly.
"Not necessarily. You're giving up to easily Harry, that's not like you."
"Professor, you know what Voldemort was like. He was alive when you were my age, and he caused so much pain and destruction and then he was human. Now. . .he's some kind of monster."
"You've fought monsters before Harry. What makes him so different?"
"With all due respect Professor, would you really be treating the matter like this if Voldemort was really alive?"
"Probably not." He admitted, sighing softly, and rubbing a sleeve across his eyes.
"Look, the best advice I can give you is this," he began after a long pause, "Stop thinking that you have to do all this alone. Take the day we fought the boggart for example. By yourself, the boggart is a formidable opponent for any wizard, because it has one great advantage, and that's to use the person's fear against them. But, once you add in a friend. . .well, suddenly the battle became that much easier."
"But the boggart can't kill people. Voldemort can." I protested.
"You're mistaken Harry. The boggart can kill. Just as the boggart uses a person's fear against them, Voldemort can now do the same. The mere mention of his name has such a negative connotation coupled with it that... well, you've seen what it can do to even the most courageous of teachers, such as Professor McGonagall. But if you learn to just let everything go, all your fear and apprehension, and just learn to not care, then suddenly, Voldemort has lost his one big advantage over you. Guaranteed, he does still have tremendous amounts of power, but he too does have his weaknesses. He can be defeated. Maybe not alone, but I'm sure that's no problem from the sounds of it."
"But if more get involved, more people will die." I protested weakly.
"Harry, death is inevitable in all wars, for war is death. Yes, people will be murdered, and some of them will be close to you, but skirting around the issue won't do any good, for then suddenly you lose all motivation and concentration on the problem. However, face it head on, and you have a huge advantage. Suddenly, you're not fighting reluctantly, but with determination, and passion, and that can be a colossal difference in the final outcome. It could mean the difference between winning, and losing."
"You sound like you are speaking from experience." I replied quietly.
A wistful, distant look appeared in his eyes, and his voice went rather husky. "Yes, it does come from experience. I've lost many people close to me in that war, your parents for one. Sirius. And it doesn't just come from the people we lose, it comes from the future we can now never have."
A shudder quickly raced up my spine.
"Another example," he pressed on, obviously trying to get off the subject of the Maurders, "take me being a werewolf. If I were to skirt around it, ignoring, even denying the problem, I could hurt people. I could lose myself totally into my wolf side. But, chose to face it head on and suddenly, I can live like a normal human being the other twenty-seven days of the month. I don't live in terror of the 'what ifs' and the 'maybes', and the 'why me?' anymore."
"That's what you think?"
"Used to think." He corrected. "Your father helped me see the... positive way of looking on the issue."
"Look, what I've been trying to get across to you is, put simply, this; feel the fear and do it anyway. Weigh the possibilities; what do you have to lose and what could you gain. Ultimately, only you can make the final decision. And what ever one you make, it's sure to be the right one, because you truely are a good person Harry. You're so much like your father, it's astonishing and I know he'd make the right decision."
He glanced at a clock on his wall, and gave a start. "I've made you late for class." He rustled around in his desk and, after briefly wrestling with a draw (who was determined to take off one of Lupin's fingers) he emerged with a piece of parchment and a quill.
"What class should you be in now?"
"Um…Care of Magical Creatures, I think." Hopefully Ron didn't get his schedule mixed up at lunch.
"Right, that makes it easier. Hagrid will understand," he muttered to himself, as he hastily scribbled a note.
"Here." He straightened up, handing me the note and walked me to the door.
"Thanks for listening Professor."
"It's no trouble at all, Harry. Don't hesitate to come and talk again if you need to."
I grinned gratefully and exited the door, hurrying rapidly down the corridor.
"Harry, don't take this the wrong way or anything, but," I groaned silently. There was always a 'but'.
"…the worst that could have happened is that you die."
I snorted. That was sure unexpected. That's exactly what Professor Lupin said. "Oh yes, that's the worst that could happen all right. But you know, I happen to like living Hermione."
I received a few curious and bewildered stares at that last statement from a few of my classmates sitting closer to me, and I lowered my voice further as my Knarl bit me on the finger.
"I perfer you living too Harry. You said yourself though, that it's just a dream. But since it's so important to you….look, Voldemort isn't a god. Maybe it seems like it, but he does have his weaknesses, just like any mortal creature. If he didn't, he never would have feared Professor Dumbledore. If he didn't…he just may have managed to destroy the wizarding world twelve years ago."
"Hermione, we don't even know if he's mortal anymore!" I cried. This was so infuriating, not knowing.
"Yes, we do Hary! If he wasn't, he wouldn't be hiding behind other people, getting them to do all his dirty work. He wouldn't need them to, because…" She trailed off, not having to finish the ending.
She didn't have to. I knew only too well what she meant.
I froze.
No, not just for something to say, or out of fear, I mean, I literally froze. I couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't alert Hermione, couldn't even bat my own eyelids for crying out loud!
When I didn't reply she looked at me curiously. "Harry? Harry? Are you all right?"
She went blurry…
"Harry!"
No…
"Bloody hell, come on Harry! Wake up!"
"No, Hermione, I'm—" Hang on, there we go…"Hermione?"
"Bugger off Harry, do I really look like I'm Hermione?" An indignant voice spoke up. "Open your eyes, mate."
I groaned as I sat up stretching my legs, and opened my eyes. Only to come face to face with Bill.
"Ahh!"
"That's not the reaction I'd like." Bill joked, though still looking a bit worried as he smoothed a hand over the stubble beginning to appear on his face. "You all right?"
People seem to be asking me that a lot today.
"I'm fine," I croaked, and struggled to sit up properly on the chair.
"Uh huh." He gave me a strange look. "It's settled then, we're about ready to go. Dumbledore's just waiting for Professor Snape." His brow furrowed slightly as he mentioned Snape's name.
"What?" I asked warily.
"Nothing." Bill shook his head. "It's just…Snape was acting really strange during the meeting. He looked like he was dozing at first, didn't seem like he was paying any attention to the meeting at all. Then all of a sudden he just shot up and mumbled a small apology to Dumbledore and fled the room."
"What did Dumbledore have to say to that?" I inquired, astounded.
"Didn't even seem to phase him." He shook his head. "Anyway, we're supposed to meet everybody in the Great Hall so you can show us where this tunnel is."
We started off down the hallway, and all I could think was…
We were no where near Gryffindor Tower and suddenly, the entrance was right behind us. Fred and George didn't start their business until fourth year. . .and why Hermione didn't think it strange when I mentioned the Tri-Wizard Tournament and how she knew about both Sirius and Lupin, even before the incident at the Whomping Willow had even happened!
It was a dream. My god, I'm so sorry…Hermione and Ron…Lupin…
It was just a dream.
Bill's P.O.V
"No!" I heard a distraught yell coming from Professor Snape followed by a deafening crash reverberating throughout the eerily silent library.
There he was. In the library of all places. It couldn't have hurt him to tell us where he went to. Even when Harry showed us the tunnel, he was aggitated, couldn't stand still. Unnerved most of us.
I hesitated at the doorway to the library and peeked around the corner slowly. No able to see him directly, I decided to creep quietly towards the back of the large room, stopping just out of his line of sight, in between a row of bookcases. . .just what the hell was he up to? I blinked my eyes blearily and peered down at my watch, the face just visible in the dull moonlight let in by the windows.
Three twenty-one a.m.
I edged closer until I could just see Snape's head disappear behind a pile of books located in front of him. He emerged again shortly, with a sweep of his arm brushing all the other books off the table and slam one big volume down that he had just retrieved off of the floor.
That must have been the crash, my tired mind managed to piece together, none to quickly. I shook my head, forcing myself to wake up.
I stood in silence, watching with fascination. . .Snape had never seemed like the anxious type, but now he had opened the large tome and was frantically flipping through the pages. The book looked ancient, the cover shimmered slightly, signifying that it had been fixed many a time with countless spells, and clouds of dust filled the air as he turned each new page and I could see he was struggling to draw in a breath.
"No!" He choked. "No, it was here. . .it was. . ." He broke of into a fit of coughing, and I glanced around nervously. If he wasn't careful he'd wake up the whole damn wing! This mission was suppose to go on in complete secrecy. . .he knew that!
"Ah ha!" Even from where I was standing, I shuddered. The haze of dust began to settle, and I watched as his finger skimmed quickly down the length of the book.
He looked up as the last of the dust disappeared, his face had a snarl across it and his eyes flashed in the flickering candle light emitted by the lantern, with a fierce, almost predatory look.
"I have the answer. . ."
Author's Note: And there we have it. As usual, I have left it at a cliff hanger, though this one isn't too major is it? devilish grin New twist in the plot, so that means, instead of this being the last chapter as planned, I still have about another three at least to go.
As usual, comment, questions, mistakes, let me know. I'd really like to know if you think this is starting to drag along a bit. chews on lip thoughtfully
Huge thank-you goes out to Googlepuss for pointing out the tunnel bit, however, that wasn't the tunnel I meant. Also, thanks for a much wanted piece of constructive criticism.
Also arigato, gracias, merci, obrigada, etc etc. to all the new readers reviewing, and LOL at the reader BOB who gave what is possibly the shortest review I have ever received.
Over and Out,
Dalamar
1- Yorkshire Pudding isn't actually a pudding for those of you that don't know. It is part of the main course and it's delicious!