Harry had been spending a lot of time with his friends and
trying his best to concentrate on the mountains of work that the teachers
deemed necessary for preparing for Owls, Hermione had been showing the strain
of all the work and it seemed nowadays that it was only Ron who could make her
laugh, unfortunately this was usually not on purpose and Harry constantly had
to reassure Ron that Hermione laughing at him wasn't something he should feel
bitter about but should simply accept as 'part of their relationship'.
Harry had been surprised by the change he'd seen in Ron,
but he had quickly come to realise that just as Hermione needed Ron around to
keep her sane, so Ron needed Hermione around to help him feel appreciated. Harry sometimes felt a bit excluded like an
extra limb that wasn't really needed despite Ron and Hermione's constant
attempts to prove otherwise.
He found comfort though in his newfound friendship with
Neville. He remembered the way that
Neville had told him about his parents and he never lost the sense of awe that
he'd felt that day. He respected
Neville highly and found that indeed Neville had a wonderful sense of humour
and was a lot of fun to be around.
That last day had been a hard one for Harry, Professor Inigma
had been reviewing their progress with the Nobis Scoli spell and had insisted
that they work harder and Professor Snape had been in an especially bitter mood
taking what had to be a record 180 points from Gryffindor in one lesson! Harry was feeling low because there didn't
seem to be anyone he could talk to, Hagrid had been sent back to the Giants
because some were becoming restless, Hermione and Ron had been arguing and were
in the process of 'making up' and Sirius had sent him a letter saying that he would
be busy for a few weeks on a 'special mission' and wouldn't be able to write to
him but adding that he mustn't worry about him. Of course he couldn't blame them for being busy, they had lives
as well, but Harry couldn't help but worry about the feeling of impending doom
he had, the memory of the terrible dream about Sirius, the strange warning from
Firenze. Everything seemed to be
heading for some climax, something terrible was bound to happen, and Harry shuddered
to think what it could be, he could only be sure of one thing, it would involve
both him and Voldemort.
Neville had noticed Harry's worried face and decided to try
and cheer him up, Harry was glad that Neville had come over to talk that
evening but he was reluctant to tell him about all his worries, after all,
although he liked Neville he still didn't really know him all that well. He instead allowed Neville to talk about his
Grandmother, a subject that Harry could relate to,
"My Gran never seems to trust me, you remember the
Rememberall that you saved for me in first year? Well, you really needn't have bothered, my Gran sends me one
every month, she's convinced that I loose them all." Neville pulled a face, "I've got at least fifty stashed away in
my trunk!"
Harry hadn't really been paying much attention but the
thought of Neville adding yet another Rememberall to his collection brought a
rare laugh out of him and when an owl flew in with impeccable timing delivering
the fifty first Rememberall Harry felt like his sides would split.
So it was that Harry went to bed for the first time in ages
with a smile on his face.
But he wasn't so lucky in his dreams,
Harry
was standing in the dreaded graveyard once more, he was alone, but he could
feel the presence of another, the only person who would have brought him back
here, Voldemort.
Suddenly
this feeling was justified as the cold, cruel, mocking voice rang in his ears
"Harry
Potter, I see you have managed to ignore my first warning, you always were one
to break the rules, you will regret being so carefree with the life of your
Godfather, or is it just that you don't really love him? I assure you that my silence has been for a
very good reason, you will be hearing from me soon Harry Potter, and you won't
like it. That is a promise."
There
was a flash of green light
Harry awoke with a searing pain through his scar and
untangled himself from his sheets. He
looked around the dormitory, everyone else was still asleep, he thought about
waking someone but decided against it, instead he scribbled down all that he
could remember on a piece of parchment on his bedside table before finally
drifting back to sleep.
The next morning Harry thought about whether or not to tell
anyone about the dream, at breakfast he watched as Ron and Hermione flicked
bits of toast at each other, he turned to look around the room, his eyes rested
on the head table. To his dismay
Dumbledore wasn't there, Professor McGonagall explained that he had gone to a
meeting with Minister Fudge for the day. Professor Inigma was talking to Snape
who didn't look too pleased about it, Harry looked swiftly away as the potions
master caught his eye. He went back to
his breakfast and didn't notice Neville watching him in concern.
Harry trudged to the first lesson feeling downcast, he couldn't
write to Sirius and warn him to be careful, but even if he could have he
wouldn't have known what to say, after all he didn't know what Voldemort was
planning. He felt totally useless and
the feeling of apprehension was getting stronger. When he got to Transfiguration he sat down heavily next to
Neville and got out his books without a word,
Professor McGonagall came in looking strained and worried
but pristine as ever, when she spoke she sounded tired,
"Right, so, can anyone tell me what we were doing last
lesson?"
The class exchanged confused glances, they hadn't been
expecting that, McGonagall was always so organised. Hermione however, ever automatically shot up her hand,
"We were transfiguring stones into snails Professor."
McGonagall nodded and seemed to consider something to
herself, "Right then, I think it's time we moved on to something more
difficult." I want everyone to turn to
page 300, we're going to look at self-transfiguration and Animagi."
The class buzzed with excitement,
"There's no point in getting too excited, after all I
wouldn't expect anyone would be ready to try anything major until next year,
but it's important that we look into the basics now."
The excitement died down a little but Harry couldn't help
thinking about his dad and the other marauders becoming animagi in their 5th
year.
The class were slightly disappointed to spend the whole
lesson writing notes but Harry thought that it would all be worth it in the end
if they got to try anything practical that year.
The rest of the day was spent idly by most of the Gryffindor
5th years as their care of magical creatures class had been
cancelled due to Hagrid's absence, Harry went out to the lake and watched the
water's surface dancing with rippled reflections of sky and cloud, he was still
thinking about the dream but another thought pushed into his mind, his parents.
His Dad had been an Animagi, a stag, he couldn't imagine
what it must have been like to master such a complicated piece of magic at the
same age as him. He felt the familiar
pang of loss that he always got when thinking of his parents, it wasn't much
but enough to remind him that they had died protecting him from Voldemort. They had died for him, but he often found it
hard to suppress the idea that they had died because of him.
He thought of all the consequences there had been of that
fateful night,
it was the reason that he had no parents,
it was the reason that he was famous,
it was the reason that Sirius had been imprisoned and was on
the run,
it was the reason that Voldemort had been forced into
waiting so long to regain his power,
but what bothered him the most was that he still didn't know
why it had
happened.
Why had Voldemort been after him that night?
Why had Voldemort been so anxious to kill him whilst sparing
his mother? Nothing seemed to sit quite
right, and Harry wanted desperately to understand it.
He was so wrapped up in thought that he didn't notice the
three friends that were making their way towards him talking nervously.
Okay, I'm sorry about that, I just really need to get this
bit done before we get to the real action…. The next chapter's gonna blow you
all away!!!!!
Ahem,
Anyway, I hope you guys liked that chapter, unlikely as
that may be….
Please review, I need all the help I can get.
Next Chapter features, an interesting confrontation between
Harry and Malfoy,
Hee hee hee, I'm going to get on with writing it now I
think…
Remember… REVIEW!!!!
Love 2 u all
Jona
xxx