/

Chapter fifteen

To school for the last time

/

On the morning of the first September, the house on Grimmauld Place was in utter chaos.

The previous afternoon, the Weasley husbands had come to check up on readiness of their children for the next school year and had already stayed there. In the evening, they were also joined by Bill, who had arrived to England for a vacation, so Mrs Weasley's plans to get everyone to bed early flew out of the window. Instead, they all started an end-of-summer-holidays party.

They went to sleep late and in the morning, it was quite a task to drag all Hogwarts students out of their beds. They literally wolfed down some breakfast on the move, as they flew up and down the stairs, tripping over each other. For the four compulsory ones by school, all the present adults were just getting in their way.

Harry was surprised to find out that he was missing his boots and winter robe. Ron could not find Pigwidgeon, who nestled in the attic right above Buckbeak´s favourite corner. Hermione was mad because Crookshanks had hidden her Head Girl badge somewhere, and Ginny was hastily cleaning up her make-up that she forgot in the bathroom.

Mrs Weasley scolded them that they should have prepared everything in advance and not pack at the last minute, Mr Weasley was constantly checking the clock by the door, Bill was gleefully mocking them, and Remus with Tonks... probably didn't care. They were standing nearby the cold fireplace, whispering something to each other´s ears. Harry was not surprised they seemed to be so close. He had long noticed the way they were looking at each other. And he was glad for Remus.

Finally, with their suitcases and cages, they all gathered in the hall, with Mrs Weasley persistently asking them if they had everything. Then she decided to take care of their luggage with Bill, which – in some mysterious way – were supposed to move directly to platform 9 and ¾, and the others finally scampered out of the house.

With Mr Weasley in the lead and Tonks and Lupin in the rear, they headed two streets away where the cars from the Ministry were supposed to come to pick them up. Scrimgeour, who was now trying to maintain good relations with Dumbledore at all costs, literally forced them to use their service.

The cars were already there waiting for them. They got in; Harry in the first one with Ginny who looked like she was going to stare out the window all the way and with Mr Weasley. Hermione with Ron and the new couple occupied the second car and they all rushed to the King´s Cross Station.

/

"Did you agree with Draco on the meeting spot? You know you should come together," Mary Rosier urged her daughter.

"Of course," Angela replied calmly, polishing her dark sunglasses. It was quite challenging to persuade the inspector from the Ministry to let her – for appearance´s sake – stay at the Malfoy Manor till the beginning of the next school year. It would be stupid to screw it up in the last moment.

"As I said, I won´t send you any letters. I'm sure they'll be checking the incoming mail for both of you," her mother continued. "You know where and when to come anyway, don't you?"

"Yes, Mum," she answered with a barely supressed sigh. "I'd better go," she headed for the door, where she already prepared her suitcase and the cage with her black owl Roxana.

"Angela?"

"What else?" she turned grumpily to her mother.

Mary was strangely silent for a moment, as if pondering over her next words.

"Don´t you want to tell me something before you leave? You won't have another chance later," she added finally with a rather strange expression.

Angela was stunned for a single long second, thinking that her mother must be on to something. Did she suspect her after all? Then she quickly recovered and risked it.

"No, Mum. Nothing," she replied, hoping she kept her voice calm enough.

Her mother's face did not reveal what she was thinking. She just looked at Angela and then she slowly approached her.

"Fine, as you wish," she said quietly, pausing again. After that, she placed both hands on surprised Angela´s shoulders.

"You are my daughter, Angela. My own blood, and even though I don't show it to you as much as you'd probably like, I care about you and I only want the best for you. Do you understand?"

Angela did not know what to say and stared at her mother stunned. Where did this come from all of the sudden?

"Go, then," Mary sighed and let her go. "Take care of yourself."

"Sure, Mum, I will," Angela assured her. "Bye."

She grabbed her wheeled suitcase with the cage attached to it and walked out the front door and on the street without looking back.

After her departure, Mary Rosier stared blankly at the closed door for a long time…

/

At the station, the entire company from Grimmauld Place trotted to the familiar counter, behind which they unexpectedly found themselves in an unusual queue. Each young wizard or witch passing through the magical partition had to be checked by two Aurors on the other side. Several people from the Ministry also stood nearby, carefully examining each face. Apart from them, there were a number of Aurors wandering around the entire platform, peering intently everywhere, so that you never knew who they were looking at. Security measures had really tightened up. They had even rummaged through all the suitcases.

When they finally got through this checkpoint, they only said goodbye to the Weasleys and Lupin as Tonks was escorting the Hogwarts Express as one of many guards.

It was already five minutes after eleven, when they boarded one of the last wagons. For the very first time ever since Harry had been commuting to Wizarding School, the train was late. And it seemed it would take a while longer before they could depart. Certain students were spotted by the group in ministerial robes and were searched more thoroughly than others were. The trio and Ginny even saw one such scene from the train aisle.

Not far from the magical partition, the purple robes surrounded two seventh-year students and were not about to let them go easily. Even from that distance, Harry recognized Angela and Draco Malfoy. They were arguing with the wizards rather angrily about something. Their suitcases were already open and scattered, and one of the inspectors even sniffed inside their owls' cages.

Ginny, who also recognized them, went to look for a free compartment instead, but the others stayed. Malfoy looked haughty as always, but Angela was extremely upset and sputtered angrily at the Aurors, while they kept loudly contradicting her.

In the end, Malfoy grabbed her arm and seemed to calm her down. Angela nodded surrendered and, just like Draco, reached into her pocket to pull out her wand. With a menacing expression, she handed it to one of the Aurors and slammed her suitcase shut. Malfoy next to her, whose wand had also changed its location, did so a little more calmly.

The Aurors cleared the way for them and were already on the lookout for another victim. The pair robbed off their wands disappeared from the trio's sight, so they quietly followed Ginny, who was already waving at them from one of the coupes. Sullen Harry was the last to enter it and saw that someone had already sat in it before. It was Daria Prescott smiling slightly at them.

He sat down across from her a little awkwardly. Fortunately, it did not look like she wanted to blame him for anything regarding her parents´ death. After a while, Angela rushed past their compartment without looking around, followed by Draco Malfoy, who only gave them a fleeting, completely unreadable glance. It was clear that they settled in the coupe next to them, as the movements of the heavy suitcase made rather loud bangs.

"I despise those morons!" they heard Angela's pissed voice, and then the door of their compartment closed.

Ginny was staring intently out the window, which now seemed to be her usual favourite activity.

The sky was slowly beginning to darken with dark clouds when the train finally started moving. It even looked like they were in for a great downpour with menacing thunderstorm. Shortly, Hermione walked away to her Head Girl´s duties and Ron willingly escorted her. Harry remained alone in the compartment with Ginny and Daria.

The girls finally started talking, although at first it looked like Ginny would rather bite her tongue and Harry thoughtfully watched the landscape pass by outside the window as it slowly darkened. Somewhere in the distance, there came a heavy thunder.

Their coupe´s door opened. It was still early for Hermione´s and Ron´s return, so Harry's first thought was of Draco Malfoy, although he had skipped the traditional mocking last year, but it was Angela.

"Hi, sorry to bother you, but could one of you lend me a wand?" she asked with an apologetic smile but also with a very annoyed look on her face. She was clutching a Muggle audio player in her right hand. "They wrapped the train with so much magic it doesn't even play here anymore," she explained why she needed it, as she lifted the Discman up.

"Yeah, sure," Harry immediately stood up and pulled his wand from the back pocket of his pants.

Ginny was already looking upset again and looked like she wanted to get up and leave.

"Just sit still. I won't be long," Angela uttered toward her as she took Harry's wand. She smiled gratefully at him and he winked at her. Ginny crossed her arms in protest and Angela had to restrain herself from snickering.

She's acting like a little kid, she thought, tapping her Discman twice.

"Waxirate magic," she hummed quickly and returned the wand to Harry, inconspicuously soothing his fingers along with it.

"Why did they even take your wands?" Daria asked curiously, ignoring the hostile look from Ginny.

"How do you know that?" Angela wondered.

"We saw it," Harry answered for her. "With Ron and Hermione from the train."

The Slytherin girl sighed. "Well… You can probably imagine. Draco is Malfoy. Both his parents are currently wanted Death Eaters. I am Rosier and my mother is a recently resurrected Death Eater as well. They don't need any other reason, even if they can't accuse us of anything. We represent a potential threat," she added with a cynical smirk.

"That's exactly what I thought," said Hermione, who was just coming back with Ron.

Angela turned to them: "Hello, Hermione," she greeted the all-knowing Gryffindor. "I wouldn't expect anything else from you."

Hermione grinned at her.

"But you will get your wands back at Hogwarts, won´t you?" asked Ronald.

"Yeah, at least that´s what they said," Angela confirmed. "Well, I'd better go now."

"But why?" Harry tried to use the opportunity. "Stay here with us."

"Um, uh, rather not," Angela cleared her throat, looking at him apologetically. "Just… Daria, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure," her friend stood up quite eagerly.

"See you for now," Angela said goodbye with the last warm look at Harry and disappeared in the aisle with Daria.

Hermione glanced over at pouting Ginny, as she settled down next to his boyfriend and suppressed a sigh.

/

Angela dragged Daria a little further to the window, on which the first drops of rain were already falling.

"So? How was the final of your summer?" she asked curiously, as soon as they were out of earshot of the open coupe.

"Well… I don't even know how to describe it," Daria looked thoughtful.

"Stop it," the brunette laughed softly, poking her in the ribs. "Come on, tell me."

"Okay, in one word, it was unforgettable," her friend breathed out happily.

"Really? No kidding?" Angela provoked her.

"I´m serious, you officious lady," retorted Daria.

"Don´t worry, I believe you. I´ve noticed Draco is kind of dreamy," she grinned. "And suspiciously accommodating."

Daria copied her expression. "And what about you?" she tossed the question to her side. "Speak and brag."

"It was perfect," Angela stated, almost as happily as Daria.

The other girl nodded: "I can imagine that quite well."

Angela leaned in as close to her as possible. "So you slept together," she whispered with a knowing smile.

"You are mistaken, dear Angela. We made love," replied Daria also in a whisper. "And not just once," she added again in that dreamy tone.

Four meters behind the happily chatting girls, the door of another compartment opened and Draco peered out into the corridor. He noticed giggling Angela and Daria, as they teased each other and frowned slightly. He could imagine quite well, about what the two of them were talking. He leaned his back against the open door and cleared his throat. The girls turned to him.

"That giggling of yours echoes throughout the train. Wouldn't you like to stop annoying the others for a while?" he suggested haughtily.

Angela snorted something incomprehensible at his address and turned back to Daria. They talked shortly about something else, but then she parted with her.

"We'll definitely talk later, okay?" Angela escorted Daria to her coupe, where another object of her interest was located. Of course, she took advantage of it and winked subtly at Harry through the glass.

"Sure," Daria nodded, looking at Draco, who was still standing in the doorway.

"See you then!"

Angela pushed past Malfoy into their compartment. Draco gave Daria a soft smile, which she returned happily, and the doors of both coupes closed again.

/

A few minutes later, the roof of the train was being pounded by torrents of rain. Angela was carefully selecting the most suitable from her decent stack of CDs, and was flamboyantly ignoring Draco. Sometimes, he could really annoy her with his needless comments.

By now, two Aurors had already passed by their compartment, eyeing suspiciously inside, and there was a loud thunder twice. Since Draco clearly was not up to it, Angela stood up and closed the still open window. Then she sat back down and put the small headphones firmly in her ears. She felt Draco watching her, but she did not look up.

After a while, the first notes of the song by her favourite group began to rumble in her head. She sat contentedly on the seat and looked out the window at the darkened landscape.

The express train had been heading toward its destination for some time, when Draco broke the silence in their compartment, until then disrupted only by rain and laughter from the next door.

"Angela?"

Nothing. The young witch did not even blink.

"Angela, can you hear me?"

Again no response. Angela continued to stare absently out of the window.

This Muggle stuff, he thought grimly. I'm surprised she hasn't gone deaf yet.

After a moment, he shrugged to himself. Why not…

"Sometimes you seem like a complete stranger to me," he began quietly, even though he knew well that she would not hear a single word of what he was about to say. He just had to get it out. "I thought I knew you, but now…"

He paused. Angela was still staring intently outside. Draco did not notice her index finger, which was slowly turning down the volume on the Discman.

"What are you going to do when it really comes down to it?" Draco continued in his gloomy musings. "You've been acting so strange lately. If I should be honest with myself… I think you're going to betray," he stopped for a moment, surprised at his own words. "It´s clear that you don´t give a shit about what your mother wants. You will do whatever you want; I've known you long enough for that. It's just that our engagement probably spoiled your plans a bit… Are you going to cut it all and run anyway?"

Draco paused for the second time, a little dumbfounded. To whom was he actually talking? To his inner side, who was scared of being left behind?

"I don't want you to do that," he finally whispered dejectedly. Angela blinked. "Then I'll be left alone. No one but you will ever understand me. Not even Daria. And who knows if the Lord will believe me that I didn't notice anything. Rather not, I guess," he chuckled bitterly.

Then Draco finally noticed that the muffled hum from her headphones was no longer reaching him, but he did not let it shown on his face. Once he had started this, he would follow it through.

"Before, you used to have a crush on me… Do you still have any feelings for me now that you have your darling Potter? You are more than a friend to me. You are my companion. Do you even know that?"

Angela's hands gripped the Discman tighter. Draco watched her intently.

"What are you so afraid of?" he asked directly, now that he was sure that Angela was listening to him the whole time.

She just swallowed hard.

"Are you finally going to answer me or will you keep pretending you didn't hear anything?" he snapped loudly.

Finally, she looked at him unhappily. There was helplessness and pity in her shiny eyes. However, she did not say anything.

"Even silence can be considered an answer," Draco assumed coldly.

Wordlessly, she kept looking into his eyes for a long time, apparently hesitating. But then her expression hardened. She turned up the music again and turned away from him.

With a sigh, Draco decided to let her be for the time being. At least now, Angela knew what he thought of her and maybe… Maybe it would make her stay on his side.

/

With the constant heavy rain accompanying the journey of their train, Harry went quiet and let the others enjoy themselves. The closer they were to Hogwarts, the more those feelings that he had managed to suppress in the last days of the holidays – mainly thanks to his Angela – came pestering him.

The weight of responsibility, the gloom over the needless deaths of so many people, the rage at the escalating cruelty of Voldemort's actions and his own impotence. In fact, he was not any wiser than last year when it came to standing against the Dark Lord. His only progress was joining the Order of the Phoenix, which the gilded bracelet on his hand constantly reminded him, and just like Hermione and Ron, he never took it off.

Thoughts circling around that cursed prophecy that put him in an unenviable situation still stuck in his head like an insistent mosquito. Now, he was really glad to finally share this secret with his best friends. They treated him the same as before, although they were certainly much more worried about him.

He pushed away the memory of Professor Trelawney's hazy outline and glanced at Ginny who sat silently across from him. He wondered when she had changed so much. She was always a cheerful and pleasant girl, even though she moved on from one boyfriend to another faster than Chaser on the broomstick, but from a certain moment, she behaved strangely. She was obnoxious, brooding, and incredibly rude to Angela.

Could she be jealous?

Harry knew very well that Ginny was in love with him once. Maybe she had not gotten over it yet. But it had been so long already… The truth was she had been acting strangely ever since Angela showed up, to whom he basically paid all his attention. It was a bit hard to admit to himself that he focused on his love only and forgot about being friends with Ginny. Could this be his fault? Maybe he should try talking to her about it sometime…

Ginny noticed that Harry was watching her and looked at him questioningly. He smiled apologetically at her and rather looked away to the window again.

/

When they got off at the station in Hogsmeade last year, there was only a strong wind. Now it was pouring and thundering right over their heads, as if the storm was marching inexorably northward with them and increasing in strength.

Harry, Ginny and Ron with Hermione holding his hand tightly, made their way through the crowd of students to the carriages. At the same time, he noticed that there were a far fewer future first-years than usually standing chillingly around Hagrid.

He looked for the nearest free carriage and helped Ginny into it, who smiled gratefully at him. Then their couple in love followed them. After some time the carriages set off in the direction of the castle, the windows of which dimly shone through the ropes of rain into the evening darkness.

They were drenched to the bones by the time they finally made their way into the Entrance Hall in a swarm of other black robes. Harry did not mind though. He looked around the familiar hall and looked up the stairs. He could totally feel that old familiar sense of security creeping inside him. He liked it here the most places of all. As if Hogwarts was his home.

He ran a hand through his wet hair, which ended up dishevelled even more in response and followed Ron's red head. With muffled murmurs, students poured into the warm and brightly lit Great Hall. As seventh graders this year, they had the right to the seats farthest from the professors on the edge of their House's desk by the entrance door.

Ron settled there with immense satisfaction, scanning the other younger students with the expression of an experienced senior. Hermione sat right next to him and Harry across from them. Ginny went to sit with Daria just a little further away.

"I'm no longer surprised that all the brothers praised the seventh year. These places are impeccable," Ron stated.

"You're kind of forgetting what's awaiting us at the end of this year, Ron," Hermione reminded him.

"But please, it's still a long way to go," Ron waved off Hermione's allusion to NEWTs.

"Yeah, and you'll be telling yourself this until May. Like I don't know you," Hermione sighed.

The noise around them slowly died down as they settled down. The last students were already heading to the Hall. Harry, who had a view of the door, finally caught a glimpse of Angela. Draco was walking right behind her, running his fingers through strands of wet hair with a disgusted expression. However, Harry was not the only one who noticed their arrival.

A few of the Slytherin students registered the young Rosier´s presence as well, and before long, there were whispers all over their table. Students of the other houses were also looking at her. Almost everyone at least once glanced at Angela or Draco, as they sat down across from each other.

Harry realized why they were attracting so much attention. Newspaper articles did do their job as always. He knew this very well from his own experience.

Angela noticed all that attention of course, but she preferred to pretend she did not see anything, even though it did not make her feel any better. And Draco… Well, he was kind of used to it.

"Looks like we have some missing numbers not only as comes to the first years," Hermione commented as she turned to follow Harry's gaze.

She was right. There were some empty seats at the Slytherin table, and not only there. It was not too hard to guess why these students were gone.

Ron was already tapping impatiently on the wooden table, making Hermione laugh as his stomach rumbled loudly, earning several amused looks.

"So, where are those freshmen kids?" he hummed grumpily. "They´re somehow late this year."

"Not really. It´s just your stomach is getting more impatient each year, Ron," Harry replied.

Then Professor McGonagall finally walked into the Hall at the head of a group of drenched students who lined up in front of the professor's desk. The Head of Gryffindor House then brought out a three-legged chair and the Sorting Hat as usual, and the students fell silent in anticipation of the new song…

/

When barely sixteen students were sorted into their houses and seated with their new classmates, Professor Dumbledore stood up from his seat, with all eyes now focused on him. Although Harry was sitting quite far away, he still could not help but notice that the Headmaster looked tired and much older than he remembered. His robe was hanging on him and his face was very pale. Deep in his soul, Harry was stung with concern for the old wizard, who was like his guardian and maybe something more.

After a short pause, when Dumbledore looked around the faces in front of him, he took a breath for his usual speech, but delivered it in a weaker voice than usual.

"Welcome! Welcome, everyone, to the new school year, which will be the last for some of you and the first for others. The wizarding world has been going through tough times lately, as most of you have probably experienced it from the first hand. That's why it's all the more important to stick together, help each other and try to learn as much as possible to be able to survive."

Most of the younger students looked at each other in shock. Harry understood them quite well. Dumbledore's speech was not very encouraging.

"We, your professors, will try our best to help you with this, and if you need anything, you can always go to any of us."

Harry smirked. He seriously doubted that counted for any professor.

"The good news for the new school year is that the Defence Against the Dark Arts position has remained occupied by the same professor. I hope you are pleased with the completely unexpected presence of Professor Shiernov, which will finally silence the superstitions that this job is cursed," Dumbledore added conspiratorially.

A few students laughed briefly.

"Like every year, I repeat that the list of prohibited items hangs in the office of our caretaker, Mr Filch. I also emphasize to everyone that entering the Forbidden Forest is strictly prohibited. You all know that the protective border of our castle against Apparition ends there, which will also be guarded this year, but even so, entering the forest can have a nasty consequences. Of course, this warning applies to all students," Dumbledore emphasized again. "And finally, a piece of good news. As you all know, we have decided to organize a Masquerade Ball for you this school year on All Saints' Eve, during which masks will be mandatory. I hope you like this idea. For those who did not get a costume during the holidays, there is a newly opened store in Hogsmeade, so you can buy it there. I won't delay you any longer, because you must all be hungry by now. So, go for it!"

As always, an outrageous amount of food appeared on the tables, but the Hall was eerily quiet for some time after Dumbledore had finished before the students started to eat somewhat bewildered by his speech.

/

Angela kept nervously glancing at the distant professors´ desk, and she had not eaten much yet.

"What's wrong with you?" Draco could not stand it anymore.

"Nothing important… I just…" she put down her fork. "He's still staring at me," she whispered gruffly.

"Who? Today, everybody is staring at us."

"The Bat," she replied, somewhat uncertain.

Inconspicuously, Draco looked for Snape among the teachers, and then turned back to Angela.

"Yeah, you're right, he´s staring at you," he agreed mischievously.

"Thanks for encouragement," she smirked.

She preferred to turn away as much as possible to the other side and absentmindedly dig into her food. Then she noticed that the front door was ajar and raised her eyebrows in surprise. After all, they always closed them for the gala dinner. She shrugged and was about to put it out of her mind. But then she heard a terrified scream from a female student, followed by two others.

Everyone gradually turned toward the commotion and other girls started screaming. Angela stood up like most of the others to get a better view and saw a long slender body gliding down the centre aisle between the two desks toward the professors. She gasped in surprise. It was a greenish snake at least three meters long.

The students who were sitting closest to him ran to the other side of the table and the professors jumped out of their chairs. The snake was hit with several spells in no time, but that did not stop it in any way, and it squirmed merrily on.

Angela noticed that Harry had jumped over to the other side of the Gryffindor table. Hermione tried to stop him, but Ron grabbed her arm and shook his head.

Harry purposefully outran the snake and stood directly in its path. She was about to scream, but stopped at the last moment and just clenched her nails in her palms. Draco was watching him intently as well.

With wand in hand, Professor McGonagall took a breath to save Potter from his frivolity, but Snape stopped her as he placed a hand on her arm and whispered something urgently.

Harry opened his mouth, but instead of normal speech, only a vague hiss came out. Although most of the people present knew of his ability to speak in Parseltongue, many horrified looks observed him. The snake's head rose above the floor to Harry's eye level and several of the girls screamed again in horror.

Harry stared intently into the snake's eyes with narrow black pupils and waited tensely.

"You mussst be Harry Potter," the snake hissed, bringing its head even closer to Harry.

"Yes, how do you know?" Harry asked. He ignored how everyone was staring at him, focused just at the snake.

"I wasss told you are the only one here who underssstandsss usss."

"I don't even have to ask who told you," Harry realized very quickly who else could have sent the snake with instructions.

"I wasss sssent with messssage," the snake continued.

"And from whom?" he asked sarcastically.

"Of courssse that from the Dark Lord, you ssstupid human cub," the snake hissed insultingly. "It belongsss to the headmassster of thisss ssschool."

"And what is the message?"

"Sssometimesss an enemy appearsss asss a friend, but only to thossse who are blind to their betrayal. But you will sssee through too late to ssstop them."

Harry frowned. Why would Voldemort send this reptile with some stupid riddle?

"Is that all?" he asked.

"Yesss," replied the snake.

"Then get out," Harry snapped.

"Yesss, I sssee you are all afraid of me," the snake hissed contentedly.

"As far as I know, you must listen to anyone with Parseltongue," snapped Harry. "So, beat it."

"Yesss… I'm leaving," the snake bowed its head and slowly turned and headed out the door.

Harry watched him until he was out of sight. Then he turned on his heel and strode briskly to the professors´ desk.

"What was the point of that endless dialogue, Potter?!" Snape snapped at him from his chair as soon as he stopped, but Harry ignored him.

"I need to speak to you, Professor," he addressed unsurprised Dumbledore, relieved that he was talking normally.

"Of course, Harry. We'll go to my office," Dumbledore nodded his head.

"Shouldn't I be coming with you, Headmaster?" Snape asked slyly.

"No, Severus, thank you. I suppose Harry wants to talk to me alone," the headmaster refused.

"Exactly," Harry agreed with a scathing undertone.

Snape looked behind them with an unreadable expression as the other professors were trying to calm down the agitated students. Angela was also watching them and did not even dare to guess what the snake wanted here.

/

"What do you think that means, Professor," Harry asked after telling the headmaster his entire conversation with the green snake.

"It means our Tom likes to enjoy himself," Dumbledore replied thoughtfully. "This snake was harmless, simple animal, that´s why the protective barrier did not stop it. It was just a provocation. Voldemort wanted to scare us."

"I don't think so," Harry countered. "It can be taken as a clear threat. A hidden warning."

"And who do you think it would be about, Harry?" Dumbledore glared at him from behind his half-moon glasses.

"You know very well about whom," he replied stiffly. "But you still don't want to listen. Why?"

The Headmaster was silent and Phineas Nigellus in his painting at the wall snorted in outrage at Harry's insolence.

Harry sighed. This was useless.

"Fine… I'd better get going, Headmaster," Harry announced, standing up. Dumbledore did not contradict him. "Good night."

For the first time ever since Harry had been visiting Dumbledore's office, the headmaster did not answer him and let him leave in silence.