HARRY POTTER AND THE MARK OF GRYFFINDOR

By Geena

Chapter 5 : The Cover Up

Over the next few days, the trio awaited Hedwig's return anxiously, but much to their disappointment, a week had passed and still no news from Sirius had arrived.

Then a small notice on the board in the Gryffindor common room distracted them temporarily. It read: "Quidditch trials coming up the Saturday before Halloween."

Later that day, Harry was asked to go up to Professor McGonagall's office where she gave him some more news.

"As Head of Gryffindor, I have decided to name you Team Captain, Potter. I'm convinced you will lead the team as well as our previous Captain, Mr Wood, did."

Harry stood slightly baffled, just in time realising his Professor would like to hear a reaction from him.

"T-Thank you very much, I will do my best not to disappoint you, Professor." 

"I'm sure you will, Potter. Now, since there were no Quidditch games last year due to the Triwizard Tournament, you are in desperate need of a new Keeper. That is why I organised the trials. We will also be looking for reserve Beaters and Chasers, since all our current players are graduating this year. I will ask you to sit with me and Professor Hooch to judge the trials."

Once again, Harry expressed his gratitude for the confidence placed in him before he returned to his friends, who already seemed to know most of what he had learned from Professor McGonagall.

"I'm going to try out for Chaser." Ron enthusiastically signed up.

Harry smiled encouraging, but hoped he wouldn't have to let his best friend down if his skills didn't live up to expectations.

The Quidditch trials were the talk of the day. It looked like the other Houses would be holding their trials on the same day and much to Harry's dismay he found out that Draco Malfoy had also been named Team Captain. The parallels in their lives were starting to bother him. Was he never going to be able to escape the white haired Slytherin ? First he was made a Prefect and now Team Captain. If this continued, Harry would be spending more time with Malfoy in meetings than joking around with Ron.

Speaking of Prefects, it was the Gryffindors' turn to make the rounds after curfew this week. At eleven o' clock, Harry looked up from the book he was reading and started to put on his cloak. Strange, normally Hermione would be dragging him with her by now, but she was nowhere in sight.

He was about to climb the stairs to the girls' dormitories when she came in, looking absolutely terrible.

"Harry ? Would you mind waiting a few minutes before you go ? I want to pass by the infirmary first, I think I'm coming down with something." She whispered.

"Why don't you go to bed and have a good rest and I'll go ask Madam Pomfrey to bring you something. It's on my way."

"No no, I can't let you go on your own." She protested, but she sounded weak and looked paler by the minute.

"What? You think Voldemort is going to kidnap me while I'm doing curfew rounds ? Come on, Hogwarts is the best protected place in England, you said so yourself."

"But … but …"

"No buts. You're going back to bed and that's it!" Harry pushed her firmly towards the door she had come through, gave her a peck on the cheek and turned around to start his rounds.

When he walked around Hogwarts' passages, he absentmindedly rubbed his scar. It had been bothering him again tonight, but not as bad as at the end of the holidays. Then he remembered seeing Snape clutch his left arm earlier that night after dinner. He had his mark there. Voldemort probably called another meeting, but wasn't doing anything vicious in particular, otherwise Harry wouldn't be able to walk around so calmly.

After dropping by the infirmary, he headed towards the greenhouses. It was a very popular meeting place for romantic souls, and he wanted to make sure none of them would have to bear the humiliation of being discovered by Snape. Then again, if he had indeed been summoned, he wouldn't be handing out any detentions this evening. Harry almost hoped it could have been different.

He checked the greenhouses twice, all the plants and bushes made it difficult to see whether anyone was hiding in there.

On his way back to the castle, he noticed a dark figure on the front lawn, not far from the outskirts of the Forest.

His heart missed a beat as he took off towards the shadow on the ground, knowing very well who it had to be.

When he arrived by his side, Professor Snape had managed to get up on all fours, tried to stand up, but his legs trembled and he collapsed again.

"Professor Snape! Be careful. Let me …"

Harry held his arm under Snape's to support him, but instead of rising with him, Snape pulled him down, took his head in both shaking hands and brought his mouth to his ear.

"The Leaky Cauldron. Tonight. Albus. Now." He whispered, catching his breath as if he had been running a marathon.

"Erm, I … er…" For a moment, Harry was unsure of what to do next. Here he had an obviously wounded Professor Snape, though nothing near the state he had been in only a few weeks ago, and at the same time he was being urged to leave him alone. Shouldn't he help him first ?

"Go Potter. NOW!" Snape croaked and loosened his grip on Harry, his arms falling limp against his body that now laid stretched out on the ground.

"Good. Good boy." Was the last thing Harry heard him murmuring and now he wasn't so sure of the lightness of the injuries anymore. Maybe he had suffered brain damage ?

He no longer hesitated and ran in record time towards the castle. He burst in, slammed the door against the wall, and sprinted in the direction of Dumbledore's office. It was late, but somehow he thought the Headmaster would still be up.

The gargoyle leapt aside and Harry jumped up the stairs, not waiting for the moving spiral to take him to the door.

The door was opened the same moment he reached the last step and a very alarmed looking Dumbledore let him in.

"Prof-professor Snape. He's lying there." He waved his arm towards the walls while catching his breath. "Asked me to tell you." Another short breath. "The Leaky Cauldron. Tonight." Some more panting. "I don't know what that means, but he's hurt. Not too bad I think. Hope." He wanted to reassure Dumbledore, clearly recalling the tears he had seen running down the old wizard's cheeks the previous time Professor Snape had been hurt.

"Right." Was the only answer he got.

Dumbledore quickly threw some powder in his fireplace and called out:

"Jessica! Severus is outside, injured, can you take him to the Hospital Wing ? I'm sending young Harry down, he will point out the exact location. I'm heading off now."

As soon as the green flames had died out, he threw some more powder into the fire and stepped inside this time.

"Harry, go downstairs and meet Professor Palmer, she'll tell you what to do next. Don't worry." And he was gone.

Harry, still a bit in shock, obeyed silently and ran downstairs, though not with the same speed as he had come up with.

Professor Palmer was already standing outside the front door, fully clothed, when Harry came down.

"Where is he Harry ?" Her voice sounded calm, but the wringing hands and flickering eyes betrayed her fright.

He took her to the place where he had left Snape. The Potions Professor was barely visible now the moon was obscured by a cloud. When they reached him, Professor Palmer conjured a stretcher, hovered the unconscious body onto it and did a quick examination.

"There doesn't seem to be any severe injuries, but can you go up to the infirmary and warn Madam Pomfrey I'm bringing her a patient ?" Relief sounded through her voice and Harry was more than happy to be of assistance.

When he finally got back to Gryffindor Tower, he found himself dead-tired and fell asleep before he even had the chance to undress.

The next morning held a few surprises in store. The first was by far the most pleasant one, in the form of a fully recovered Hermione. She was as cheerful as ever and after hearing Harry's story, she heartily agreed with Ron that Harry seemed to be having all the excitement on his own this year.

"Last night was one excitement I'd be more than happy to share." Was Harry's comment.

"Yeah, but you have to agree these things only seem to happen to you, don't you think Hermione ? Hermione ?" Ron repeated when their friend seemed to be lost in thought.

"What I think ? Well, right now I'm wondering how Snape was able to obtain the information."

If she had landed a bombshell she couldn't have made them look more flabbergasted.

"Meaning ?" Ron was the first one to recover.

"Voldemort knows he's a spy, right ? Then, how come he suddenly has come into the possession of some vital information ? Who gave it to him ? Does this mean Snape isn't the only spy or are we missing something ?"

"Er …"

"Maybe he listened in on a conversation ?" Harry suggested.

"Maybe." But Hermione didn't seem convinced, judging by the thoughtful look on her face.

Snape was sitting in his usual seat at breakfast, as if last night had only been a bad dream, but Harry noticed Professor Palmer shooting worried looks at her colleague.

Dumbledore was nowhere in sight and Harry hoped he was alright.

Then mail arrived.

Ron grabbed his copy of the Daily Prophet to scan for the news on last night's events.

There was nothing spectacular on the front page, neither on page two, three, four and so on.

Finally, after they had all but given up, Hermione pointed out a small article at the bottom of the last page. It titled: "ROW IN PUB"

The short paragraph reported about a fight in the Leaky Cauldron between a few intoxicated wizards. There was some material damage, but other than a couple of black eyes, nobody had been injured.

"What ?" Harry gasped.

"That doesn't sound like something Dumbledore would rush off to." Ron remarked.

"And he seemed to be expecting it." Hermione added.

"Yeah." Harry was still too astonished to say more.

"Do you think someone tricked Snape into delivering the wrong information ?" Ron asked.

"Does Snape seem easy to trick to you ?" Hermione responded.

Not knowing what to think about the lack of news in the paper, they quietly left the Great Hall and walked outside for their first lesson of the day, being Care of Magical Creatures.

When they returned for lunch, they saw two familiar faces heading their way, two freckled familiar faces.

"Bill! Charlie !" Ron called out to his brothers. "What are you two doing here ?"

Harry looked at the eldest Weasleys and noticed their dishevelled appearance. Bill's robe was torn in different places, Charlie tried to cover up a bandage and they both seemed to be lacking sleep.

"You came back with Dumbledore, didn't you." Harry interrupted the fraternal reunion.

"Huh ?" Charlie seemed to be looking for an excuse, but Bill smiled, winked at Harry and nodded.

"Yes, we did."

They walked a bit further away from the school so they could not be overheard while Charlie and Bill told them about the previous night.

"There was a Death Eater raid on the Leaky Cauldron. We barely managed to get there in time. There were quite a few casualties."

"Tom ?" Harry was almost afraid to inquire after the owner.

"He will be fine, only a few cuts and bruises."

"We looked in the Daily Prophet, but there was only a minor reference to some kind of bar brawl." Harry said.

"Why wouldn't there be anything in the paper about a Death Eater attack ? They love getting a good scoop." Ron asked.

"We know. That's why we were still here. Dumbledore wants us to spread the word, but it's a lost cause if you ask me. There's only a hand full of us and we're up to our necks in hunting down the bad guys and preventing attacks, there's no way we can reach the entire wizarding world if Fudge goes out of his way to cover it all up." Bill sounded bitter.

"But that's dangerous! People will think everything's alright and won't be on their guard." Hermione squeaked.

"Maybe Fudge doesn't want them to panic, but he's reducing them to sitting ducks. Voldemort will be laughing his head off." Harry didn't notice Bill and Charlie cringing when he used the Dark Lord's name, but Ron and Hermione were used to it by now, they even had stopped saying 'you-know-who' themselves.

"We better be off now, mum will be worried if we don't get home soon." Charlie waved goodbye before the both of them took off towards Hogsmeade.

"We have to go to Dumbledore and tell him we know." Ron stamped his foot angrily.

"And then do what ?"

"You're right Harry. Dumbledore already knows what's going on and he doesn't need us nagging at him."

"Then what are you suggesting ?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes as if she was concentrating very hard. "I think it's time we called a few favours. One big favour to be exact." She answered mysteriously.