Chapter 8: Missing
The next day, at first, Harry couldn't remember why he was that happy -- considering the situation he was in. And he couldn't explain his happiness until he remembered what he did the last evening. He was chosen to play for the English National Team at Quidditch!
But it wasn't that. It was his talk with Cho that made him that cheery. And Ron noticed the unusual mood of Harry's while they were going to the Great Hall.
"I haven't seen you that happy lately, Harry," said Ron, "But I am sure that if I was chosen to play for England I was just like you."
Harry just smiled thinking about Cho -- he wondered when he could have the occasion of talking to her again. He couldn't even think of trying to ask her, because he just didn't feel like doing it. The day before, it was Dumbledore the one who told Cho that she could come -- but why would Dumbledore want that? He couldn't know that Harry was feeling something for her, could he?
The first class he had that morning was Potions -- and another class with the slytherins was just the perfect thing to make him feel bad after a wonderful morning. They were continuing the Warmth Potins, and this time everyone managed to make the potion right -- well, obviously, except Neville. Even though Snape shouted at the Gryffindors five times per minute, he seemed pleased at the end of the class because they have managed, at last, to do the potions right.
His mood was becoming as bad as it was before the last days. Trelawney predicted his death in many different ways; her tragic face never seemed to leave her face when she looked at Harry. She even predicted once that Avery would come back and kill Harry, finishing his job for his Lord. That was, however, ridiculous, because a dead man couldn't be brought back to life.
"What a rubbish," Ron told Harry in the Divination class.
Harry didn't listen to most of the things Trelawney said, mainly because he was partly asleep by the warm, heavily perfume which was spread throughout the room by the fire, and second, he wasn't interrested in it, anyway. However, by instinct, and understanding the idea, he replied to Ron, "Yes."
Professor Trelawney had started teaching the students even more stupid things about crystal balls. She told them that ehere were many types of them, each with its own purpose. Harry couldn't avoid being sleepy, and his mood wasn't helping anything at all. The last days of the holiday came back to his mind...
Next day, when the post arrived, Hermione started reading her copy of the daily prophet. Harry saw that she was looking like stunned by something she read in it.
"What is it?" Harry asked her. "Not that Skeeter again?"
She didn't answer immediately, she first had to come back to her senses; and then he told him, "No." She handed the newspaper to Harry opened at a page where the title was 'Fudge is missing from Work'
Harry went to reading it.
This morning, writes Inklink Peter, Daily Prophet Reporter, Arthur Weasley, head of The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, tells us that the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge himself, is missing from his office. No one had seen him for a few days, and it is rumored that he was attacked by the Dark Lord or one of his servants, and taken away. The Ministry will be looking for him and we will write more as soon as we find out anything.
However, there was no Dark Mark floating over the Ministry Office, and everyone refused giving more information about this. Arthur Weasley did not want to tell us more things.
Harry stood there, thinking hard on who would be that stupid to attack Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself -- the entire Ministry would be looking for him from that day. Then, he decided to give the newspaper to Ron, to inform him on the very important news.
"I don't think it could be like that," Hermione told them after some minutes of thinking. "No one could have attacked Fudge without anyone noticing..."
"Well, it did happen," Ron told her, "If they say -- I guess they had to take him at night --"
"The reporters always modify the news to make them interresting," Hermione stopped Ron who shot her an angry look, "I doubt that Skeeter was the only one who did that --"
"But what could they modify? I bet that it's true --"
"Oh finish it!" Harry shouted at them and they both fell silent. "We'll find out later what happened..."
Harry understood that Ron was right. It couldn't possibly be the modification of a reporter who wanted audience, he would be punished for that -- Even with the Minister of Magic gone, someone would have noticed the mistake.
That day, he had a nasty feeling that Fudge's disappearance would make a lot of bad things for the entire wizarding world. As if all other things that were happening lately weren't enough! He had found himself one more thing to worry about. He thought a little about every unusual thing he had met lately -- first, Lord Voldemort had risen again... using his -- Harry's -- own blood to come back. Second, he had found out that Avery was trying to make him forget everything with a spell that had to be casted everyday...
That was all he needed... even if he didn't like Fudge too much, Harry felt quite bad about that... Fudge was a very important person after all, even if he was a little short-minded because he didn't want to believe at first that the Dark Lord had come back. He had surely believed that the Dark Lord was back when they took him... too late, though.
In the History of Magic class, his mind slipped to Cho again and the butterflies in his stomach came back; he was thinking of everything he could do about it. But what was the best thing he could do? Should he tell Cho that he wanted to talk to her? He couldn't imagine himself doing it -- he didn't have enough dare for a thing such as that. Then, should he wait? He was sure that the idea of waiting was quite bad, but he still didn't feel like asking her anything.
He hadn't much eaten at lunch much. He just didn't feel hungry, and he couldn't explain why something in his stomach told him that things would turn worse -- maybe it was because if there was no Minister of Magic, there was no one to defend the wizarding world. And that was not the only wizard who disappeared -- many wizards from the Ministry had disappeared lately, he knew it because Hermione read some other things from the Daily Prophet.
The Hogwarts Students were in the Great Hall eating dinner. Harry was quiet, and even with all of Ron's and Hermione's tries to make him talk, he just wasn't in the mood.
"Harry! What bothers you that much?" Ron asked.
"Harry!! Oh Harry, come on! Say something!" Hermione told him, but he didn't do more than to shake his head saying no.
"What's up with you!"
"I hope it's not Fudge's disappearance," Hermione said gravely. "It's just not worth it... don't go sad because of that."
"Hermione, I think we won't be able to talk to him this day."
"Oh leave it to me!" she said, but then someone else entered the conversation --
"You'd better leave it to me, Mudblood!" Malfoy had just appeared at the back of Harry.
And Harry, even though his bad mood was making him to sit quiet, noticed something that he had never seen before -- Hermione seemed to get angry when Malfoy called her Mudblood. Ron was geting ready to jump off the chair, but then --
"Parrum lilitis!" Hermione said, and a jet of black light shot out of her wand, hitting Malfoy. The entire Gryffindor table sudeenly burst into a loud laugh, seeing what happened to Malfoy.
Yet again, his blonde hair disappeared; it just vanished, it was nowhere to be seen as it was when Harry cast the spell on Malfoy in the summer. And, Harry realized, the spell Hermione used wasn't the same one he used in Diagon Alley.
The victim didn't realize what happened at first, and he didn't know what Hermione did with her spell until another slytherin shouted, "His hair had vanished!"
Malfoy's face became scared, and he looked to be ashamed of being humilliated by Hermione, which he considered beneath him, because she was muggle-born. He had just ran back to the slytherin table, saying, "Mudblood, you're in big trouble... you just wait and see," in a slow threatening voice.
Then Harry's troubles were leaving his mind, and this new event started sounding worse than anything. Hermione should be in big trouble, because Lucius Malfoy was a Death Eater and Voldemort was lurking free in the world. Maybe Mr. Malfoy was going to get mad at that and try to seek revenge and -- Harry felt something hurt inside him -- kill her?
No, he should get rid of these dark thoughts inside his head. They just made him feel worse, and they were counted more with each passing day.
Harry still didn't want to eat anything -- even with all of his friends' tries.
He had spent the evening in the common room, watching Ron and Hermione playing chess. She rarely wanted to play it, because she always lost, and she didn't like to lose. That was the only thing she was not good at. Maybe she was doing it only to forget the possible things Mr. Malfoy could do to hurt her.
Harry went in a very bad mood to the gryffindor fifth year boys dormitory. It was empty because it was quite early for anyone to go to sleep. He hoped that the next day, things would become better. He hoped that Hermione wouldn't try to do anything bad to Draco, because what she did that day was enough to make all the Malfoys angry. Harry was afraid that Hermione could be hurt or something similar, but why was she that pleased? Did Malfoy annoy her that much? She was out of her usual self, she was quite far from her usual self. Harry knew that she never acted like that -- she usually didn't like to break the rules, not to say about attacking a student... especially Malfoy. She always thought before doing a thing -- but this time it wasn't like that. She just jumped on him, and attacked!
Time was passing in a slow manner, but Harry couldn't fall asleep. He thought it were only his dark thoughts, but it wasn't that; he realized why he couldn't sleep when he heard his stomach make a noise -- he hadn't eaten that day too much...
The other Gryffindor fifth year boys arrived in the dormitory, it had to be quite late at night. He decided to stay only a little more time, to be sure that everyone fell asleep, and then he pulled out the curtains, and looked around for his trunk. At the bottom of it he had an invisibility cloak...
But this time it wasn't his dad's. That one once belonged to Avery. Harry felt something that told him to go and seek his father's cloak, but he knew that it could be anywhere and that he had no chance to find it. Not to mention how stupid it was to go and seek something that may be even in the enemy's hands...
And he was very hungry, so it didn't matter whose cloak was hidden in his trunk; he should have been pleased because he still got one, and he didn't have to die of hunger. He took Avery's cloak silently and wore it; then he left the dormitory trying not to wake anyone.
The castle was always quiet at nighttime. Very rarely could you see a teacher, and just when they were needed, and Harry was one of the few students who was going on highttime strolls -- Maybe he was the only one. He went slowly and carefully to not be heard by a teacher, walking on the stairs slower than ever -- he couldn't remember ever going that slow in his cloak -- not even when he had to share it with Ron and Hermione.
As he walked down the staircases, he heard a low sound coming from nearby. Frightened because of the thought that a teacher found him, he stopped like petrified, looking around him -- but no, there was no one in the entire hall... It should have been only him imagining things.
After he was sure that there was no one, and that he was wearing the invisibility cloak properly so that no one could see parts of his body, he headed again to the kitchens. But then --
Someone let out a quite loud noise, and he felt himself touching something -- it should have been something invisible. He was thinking only at three words. "Not a teacher." Trying to summon more of his courage, he stood frozen in the place where he was, and after a few seconds that person touched him again.
That time, he acidentally said a "What...". Maybe it was a Death Eater again, it wasn't a long time since he met Avery in his invisibility cloak. Was he -- or another Death Eater -- back? Harry just couldn't forget the times when he met Avery.
No, the voice he heard before seemed a female voice -- maybe there were female Death Eaters in Voldemort's ranks, too? Harry recalled when Voldemort said that the entire Lestrange family was kept in Azkaban.
"Er," he said.
"What --"
"Who --"
"-- happened?"
"Who are..."
"Harry?"
Then he realized who it was. It was no need to guess, because that voice was on his mind for the entire summer.
"Cho?"
"Yes, it's me," Cho said, and then Harry could see her very pretty face. He took off his invisibility cloak as well, feeling the butterflies in his stomach again. He was looking forward to meeting Cho these days, and it had just happened!
They were both surprised and Harry was still scared of hitting a teacher or a Death Eater in an invisibility cloak. When they got familiar with the situation, Harry was curious about what Cho was doing out at night.
"Cho?" he asked, "W - What were you doing out of bed this late?" he asked, and after a second of silence, he added, "We are not allowed to --"
"Remember that you were out, too," Cho answered, laughing. and then something broke the conversation --
"WHO'S THERE?" they could hear a shouting voice in the distance.
"Oh, no," Cho said, looking downstairs, "It's Filch... Put on your invisibility cloak and stay around until he passes."
But Harry was already invisible by the time she said those words. "See you after Filch goes away," Harry whispered.
Filch came into sight, his eyes were looking around for every possible source of the noise. "Come out, you can't hide!" he said, passing the staircase Harry and Cho were on. His cat, Mrs. Norris, was looking at Harry, who still was asking himself if cats could see through invisibility cloaks. If not, they could definitely smell through them, because they only tricked the eye, not the nose... "Come, My sweet," Filch continued, and then he was out of sight, heading upstairs to the Gryffindor Tower.
Harry wanted to take his invisibility cloak off, but then he was stopped by an invisible hand. "Don't", Cho told him in a whisper, "He will be back soon."
And after a few minutes, which passed quite fast, Harry saw that Cho was right -- Filch went back to his office, with a very angry expression on his face. Harry had nothing to say against that, he surely was angry because he hadn't found the students walking out at night... maybe he thought it was one of the teachers and he just returned angry on himself.
"That was close," Cho told him taking her cloak off.
"Yeah."
"So what were you doing here?"
"Oh," Harry paused a bit to think, "I was hungry..."
"Going to the kitchens?"
"Yes... been there several times --" but then he decided to not say anything more, it just wasn't a very bright idea to tell her about his past rule-breaking experiences, even though his heart was telling him what to say instead of his brain.
"Yes, me too, that's where I was going, too."
"Oh... Then... let's go," Harry told her, a little more nervous than he thought. "You don't mind, right?"
She gave him a look that reminded him of the one she gave him when he reminded about Cedric. Then, they started walking nervously to the kitchens.
"Wouldn't it be a better idea if we put our cloaks on?" Harry asked, "We may be spotted."
"Oh," Cho answered, surprised, "Yes, right... Forgot..."
Then Harry had the absurd idea to be covered by the same cloak as Cho was -- because they could see each other, but how would that sound if he told Cho something like that?
"What should we do to not -- er -- lose each other?" Cho asked, and that was something very similar to what Harry was thinking. But what should he answer?
"Dunno," he said, and he covered everything except his head with the cloak. Cho did the same. "Well..."
"We should stick -- together," Cho said, pulling her invisibility cloak over her head, too. "Let's --" but she didn't say anything after that.
"Cho? Are you there?" Harry asked after a few seconds of complete silence in the stair hall.
"Yes... Come, we will check if we are near each other from time to time. Now, let's head to the kitchens."
That was the best idea Harry heard that evening -- or better said, night. Even if he had a strange desire to do as he thought before, something stopped him, and that was his fears. What if she didn't feel for him like he felt for her? He knew very well that he liked her...
After a short journey they reached the kitchens. They were relieved to be able to get rid of the invisibility cloaks at last, and as they reached the kitchens, several house-elves came hurrying towards them. One of the house-elves was Dobby, the house-elf Harry saved from the Malfoys in his second year after the Chamber of Secrets incident.
"Harry Potter sir! Dobby is pleased to see you again sir!"
"Hello, Dobby! Nice to meet you, too!"
Every house-elf looked at Dobby as Voldemort told Dumbledore that he wanted to join the good side. Harry knew that house-elves were not to be polite with, because they would consider themselves insulted.
"Now this is a strange house-elf," Cho told Harry, "He always wears clothes..."
"And he has a paying, and holidays..." Harry continued. Cho was astounded to hear that, it was known that house-elves didn't like to be paid by humans, and that it was in their nature to be -- as Hermione would say -- slaves. However, that was not one of Dobby's characteristics.
"How do you know that?" Cho asked him.
"Dobby was saved by Harry Potter!" Dobby continued what Harry had to say. "Master was the one who helped me get out of the Malfoy house. Great man, Harry Potter."
"You worked for the Malfoys?" Cho asked surprised.
"Dobby did, Miss."
Then, several house-elves were eyeing Dobby again, and when he noticed that, he continued, "What should we give you, sir and miss?"
"Er --" Cho started, not knowing what to ask to eat; and then she looked at Harry.
"D'you like chicken?" Harry asked her, and then she nodded. "Bring --" but the house-elves already left, and after a few seconds, they were back with plates full of tasty food. "Thanks!" Harry told the house-elves, many of them felt insulted. After all, not all house-elves were Dobby...
They ate a lot, mainly because Harry was hungrier than ever after not eating at lunch nor at dinner. They left the house-elves("Dobby was pleased to see you, sir and miss," Dobby told them) and they put on their invisibility cloaks.
They went quietly upstairs, talking in whispers while wearing their invisibility cloaks. Harry told her that the cloak he currently wore wasn't his, and he started telling the entire story of his father's invisibility cloak. He paused everytime he had to say the word "dad" or "father", because he missed them so much. After he had finished, she said that she had her cloak inherited from her mother, and that she used it for quite some rulebreaking -- still not as much as Harry did.
"Once, in my third year, you know, with all the chamber of secrets stuff happening," she said, "I took the invisibility cloak to follow the teachers around and search for Black myself." Harry thought about Sirius... he was not allowed to tell her about his godfather, because he was still searched by the dementors, and everyone except a few people knew about his innocence. "As I was walking --"
Something could be heard behind them. They both heard the sound and turned back, but there was nothing to be seen in the dark corridors around. They continued their walk quietly, because someone may have heard them talking -- and being invisible was a very odd moment to talk when someone could have heard you.
It was the second time when they heard something when Harry took off his cloak. "Harry!" said Cho, "What do you think you're doing?"
But Harry had no time to answer Cho -- someone was following them. Cho took off her cloak as well, trying to make Harry turn back, but with no success. "Harry! Don't do something as stupid as this --"
"Quiet," Harry told her, and, seeing that he couldn't be stopped, she did as she was told. Then Harry heard some muttering, and then he was surprised to see a white light closing his eyes --
And then the light hit his head. He felt himself falling on the floor, and that was the last thing he knew before blanking out.
The next day, at first, Harry couldn't remember why he was that happy -- considering the situation he was in. And he couldn't explain his happiness until he remembered what he did the last evening. He was chosen to play for the English National Team at Quidditch!
But it wasn't that. It was his talk with Cho that made him that cheery. And Ron noticed the unusual mood of Harry's while they were going to the Great Hall.
"I haven't seen you that happy lately, Harry," said Ron, "But I am sure that if I was chosen to play for England I was just like you."
Harry just smiled thinking about Cho -- he wondered when he could have the occasion of talking to her again. He couldn't even think of trying to ask her, because he just didn't feel like doing it. The day before, it was Dumbledore the one who told Cho that she could come -- but why would Dumbledore want that? He couldn't know that Harry was feeling something for her, could he?
The first class he had that morning was Potions -- and another class with the slytherins was just the perfect thing to make him feel bad after a wonderful morning. They were continuing the Warmth Potins, and this time everyone managed to make the potion right -- well, obviously, except Neville. Even though Snape shouted at the Gryffindors five times per minute, he seemed pleased at the end of the class because they have managed, at last, to do the potions right.
His mood was becoming as bad as it was before the last days. Trelawney predicted his death in many different ways; her tragic face never seemed to leave her face when she looked at Harry. She even predicted once that Avery would come back and kill Harry, finishing his job for his Lord. That was, however, ridiculous, because a dead man couldn't be brought back to life.
"What a rubbish," Ron told Harry in the Divination class.
Harry didn't listen to most of the things Trelawney said, mainly because he was partly asleep by the warm, heavily perfume which was spread throughout the room by the fire, and second, he wasn't interrested in it, anyway. However, by instinct, and understanding the idea, he replied to Ron, "Yes."
Professor Trelawney had started teaching the students even more stupid things about crystal balls. She told them that ehere were many types of them, each with its own purpose. Harry couldn't avoid being sleepy, and his mood wasn't helping anything at all. The last days of the holiday came back to his mind...
Next day, when the post arrived, Hermione started reading her copy of the daily prophet. Harry saw that she was looking like stunned by something she read in it.
"What is it?" Harry asked her. "Not that Skeeter again?"
She didn't answer immediately, she first had to come back to her senses; and then he told him, "No." She handed the newspaper to Harry opened at a page where the title was 'Fudge is missing from Work'
Harry went to reading it.
This morning, writes Inklink Peter, Daily Prophet Reporter, Arthur Weasley, head of The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, tells us that the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge himself, is missing from his office. No one had seen him for a few days, and it is rumored that he was attacked by the Dark Lord or one of his servants, and taken away. The Ministry will be looking for him and we will write more as soon as we find out anything.
However, there was no Dark Mark floating over the Ministry Office, and everyone refused giving more information about this. Arthur Weasley did not want to tell us more things.
Harry stood there, thinking hard on who would be that stupid to attack Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself -- the entire Ministry would be looking for him from that day. Then, he decided to give the newspaper to Ron, to inform him on the very important news.
"I don't think it could be like that," Hermione told them after some minutes of thinking. "No one could have attacked Fudge without anyone noticing..."
"Well, it did happen," Ron told her, "If they say -- I guess they had to take him at night --"
"The reporters always modify the news to make them interresting," Hermione stopped Ron who shot her an angry look, "I doubt that Skeeter was the only one who did that --"
"But what could they modify? I bet that it's true --"
"Oh finish it!" Harry shouted at them and they both fell silent. "We'll find out later what happened..."
Harry understood that Ron was right. It couldn't possibly be the modification of a reporter who wanted audience, he would be punished for that -- Even with the Minister of Magic gone, someone would have noticed the mistake.
That day, he had a nasty feeling that Fudge's disappearance would make a lot of bad things for the entire wizarding world. As if all other things that were happening lately weren't enough! He had found himself one more thing to worry about. He thought a little about every unusual thing he had met lately -- first, Lord Voldemort had risen again... using his -- Harry's -- own blood to come back. Second, he had found out that Avery was trying to make him forget everything with a spell that had to be casted everyday...
That was all he needed... even if he didn't like Fudge too much, Harry felt quite bad about that... Fudge was a very important person after all, even if he was a little short-minded because he didn't want to believe at first that the Dark Lord had come back. He had surely believed that the Dark Lord was back when they took him... too late, though.
In the History of Magic class, his mind slipped to Cho again and the butterflies in his stomach came back; he was thinking of everything he could do about it. But what was the best thing he could do? Should he tell Cho that he wanted to talk to her? He couldn't imagine himself doing it -- he didn't have enough dare for a thing such as that. Then, should he wait? He was sure that the idea of waiting was quite bad, but he still didn't feel like asking her anything.
He hadn't much eaten at lunch much. He just didn't feel hungry, and he couldn't explain why something in his stomach told him that things would turn worse -- maybe it was because if there was no Minister of Magic, there was no one to defend the wizarding world. And that was not the only wizard who disappeared -- many wizards from the Ministry had disappeared lately, he knew it because Hermione read some other things from the Daily Prophet.
The Hogwarts Students were in the Great Hall eating dinner. Harry was quiet, and even with all of Ron's and Hermione's tries to make him talk, he just wasn't in the mood.
"Harry! What bothers you that much?" Ron asked.
"Harry!! Oh Harry, come on! Say something!" Hermione told him, but he didn't do more than to shake his head saying no.
"What's up with you!"
"I hope it's not Fudge's disappearance," Hermione said gravely. "It's just not worth it... don't go sad because of that."
"Hermione, I think we won't be able to talk to him this day."
"Oh leave it to me!" she said, but then someone else entered the conversation --
"You'd better leave it to me, Mudblood!" Malfoy had just appeared at the back of Harry.
And Harry, even though his bad mood was making him to sit quiet, noticed something that he had never seen before -- Hermione seemed to get angry when Malfoy called her Mudblood. Ron was geting ready to jump off the chair, but then --
"Parrum lilitis!" Hermione said, and a jet of black light shot out of her wand, hitting Malfoy. The entire Gryffindor table sudeenly burst into a loud laugh, seeing what happened to Malfoy.
Yet again, his blonde hair disappeared; it just vanished, it was nowhere to be seen as it was when Harry cast the spell on Malfoy in the summer. And, Harry realized, the spell Hermione used wasn't the same one he used in Diagon Alley.
The victim didn't realize what happened at first, and he didn't know what Hermione did with her spell until another slytherin shouted, "His hair had vanished!"
Malfoy's face became scared, and he looked to be ashamed of being humilliated by Hermione, which he considered beneath him, because she was muggle-born. He had just ran back to the slytherin table, saying, "Mudblood, you're in big trouble... you just wait and see," in a slow threatening voice.
Then Harry's troubles were leaving his mind, and this new event started sounding worse than anything. Hermione should be in big trouble, because Lucius Malfoy was a Death Eater and Voldemort was lurking free in the world. Maybe Mr. Malfoy was going to get mad at that and try to seek revenge and -- Harry felt something hurt inside him -- kill her?
No, he should get rid of these dark thoughts inside his head. They just made him feel worse, and they were counted more with each passing day.
Harry still didn't want to eat anything -- even with all of his friends' tries.
He had spent the evening in the common room, watching Ron and Hermione playing chess. She rarely wanted to play it, because she always lost, and she didn't like to lose. That was the only thing she was not good at. Maybe she was doing it only to forget the possible things Mr. Malfoy could do to hurt her.
Harry went in a very bad mood to the gryffindor fifth year boys dormitory. It was empty because it was quite early for anyone to go to sleep. He hoped that the next day, things would become better. He hoped that Hermione wouldn't try to do anything bad to Draco, because what she did that day was enough to make all the Malfoys angry. Harry was afraid that Hermione could be hurt or something similar, but why was she that pleased? Did Malfoy annoy her that much? She was out of her usual self, she was quite far from her usual self. Harry knew that she never acted like that -- she usually didn't like to break the rules, not to say about attacking a student... especially Malfoy. She always thought before doing a thing -- but this time it wasn't like that. She just jumped on him, and attacked!
Time was passing in a slow manner, but Harry couldn't fall asleep. He thought it were only his dark thoughts, but it wasn't that; he realized why he couldn't sleep when he heard his stomach make a noise -- he hadn't eaten that day too much...
The other Gryffindor fifth year boys arrived in the dormitory, it had to be quite late at night. He decided to stay only a little more time, to be sure that everyone fell asleep, and then he pulled out the curtains, and looked around for his trunk. At the bottom of it he had an invisibility cloak...
But this time it wasn't his dad's. That one once belonged to Avery. Harry felt something that told him to go and seek his father's cloak, but he knew that it could be anywhere and that he had no chance to find it. Not to mention how stupid it was to go and seek something that may be even in the enemy's hands...
And he was very hungry, so it didn't matter whose cloak was hidden in his trunk; he should have been pleased because he still got one, and he didn't have to die of hunger. He took Avery's cloak silently and wore it; then he left the dormitory trying not to wake anyone.
The castle was always quiet at nighttime. Very rarely could you see a teacher, and just when they were needed, and Harry was one of the few students who was going on highttime strolls -- Maybe he was the only one. He went slowly and carefully to not be heard by a teacher, walking on the stairs slower than ever -- he couldn't remember ever going that slow in his cloak -- not even when he had to share it with Ron and Hermione.
As he walked down the staircases, he heard a low sound coming from nearby. Frightened because of the thought that a teacher found him, he stopped like petrified, looking around him -- but no, there was no one in the entire hall... It should have been only him imagining things.
After he was sure that there was no one, and that he was wearing the invisibility cloak properly so that no one could see parts of his body, he headed again to the kitchens. But then --
Someone let out a quite loud noise, and he felt himself touching something -- it should have been something invisible. He was thinking only at three words. "Not a teacher." Trying to summon more of his courage, he stood frozen in the place where he was, and after a few seconds that person touched him again.
That time, he acidentally said a "What...". Maybe it was a Death Eater again, it wasn't a long time since he met Avery in his invisibility cloak. Was he -- or another Death Eater -- back? Harry just couldn't forget the times when he met Avery.
No, the voice he heard before seemed a female voice -- maybe there were female Death Eaters in Voldemort's ranks, too? Harry recalled when Voldemort said that the entire Lestrange family was kept in Azkaban.
"Er," he said.
"What --"
"Who --"
"-- happened?"
"Who are..."
"Harry?"
Then he realized who it was. It was no need to guess, because that voice was on his mind for the entire summer.
"Cho?"
"Yes, it's me," Cho said, and then Harry could see her very pretty face. He took off his invisibility cloak as well, feeling the butterflies in his stomach again. He was looking forward to meeting Cho these days, and it had just happened!
They were both surprised and Harry was still scared of hitting a teacher or a Death Eater in an invisibility cloak. When they got familiar with the situation, Harry was curious about what Cho was doing out at night.
"Cho?" he asked, "W - What were you doing out of bed this late?" he asked, and after a second of silence, he added, "We are not allowed to --"
"Remember that you were out, too," Cho answered, laughing. and then something broke the conversation --
"WHO'S THERE?" they could hear a shouting voice in the distance.
"Oh, no," Cho said, looking downstairs, "It's Filch... Put on your invisibility cloak and stay around until he passes."
But Harry was already invisible by the time she said those words. "See you after Filch goes away," Harry whispered.
Filch came into sight, his eyes were looking around for every possible source of the noise. "Come out, you can't hide!" he said, passing the staircase Harry and Cho were on. His cat, Mrs. Norris, was looking at Harry, who still was asking himself if cats could see through invisibility cloaks. If not, they could definitely smell through them, because they only tricked the eye, not the nose... "Come, My sweet," Filch continued, and then he was out of sight, heading upstairs to the Gryffindor Tower.
Harry wanted to take his invisibility cloak off, but then he was stopped by an invisible hand. "Don't", Cho told him in a whisper, "He will be back soon."
And after a few minutes, which passed quite fast, Harry saw that Cho was right -- Filch went back to his office, with a very angry expression on his face. Harry had nothing to say against that, he surely was angry because he hadn't found the students walking out at night... maybe he thought it was one of the teachers and he just returned angry on himself.
"That was close," Cho told him taking her cloak off.
"Yeah."
"So what were you doing here?"
"Oh," Harry paused a bit to think, "I was hungry..."
"Going to the kitchens?"
"Yes... been there several times --" but then he decided to not say anything more, it just wasn't a very bright idea to tell her about his past rule-breaking experiences, even though his heart was telling him what to say instead of his brain.
"Yes, me too, that's where I was going, too."
"Oh... Then... let's go," Harry told her, a little more nervous than he thought. "You don't mind, right?"
She gave him a look that reminded him of the one she gave him when he reminded about Cedric. Then, they started walking nervously to the kitchens.
"Wouldn't it be a better idea if we put our cloaks on?" Harry asked, "We may be spotted."
"Oh," Cho answered, surprised, "Yes, right... Forgot..."
Then Harry had the absurd idea to be covered by the same cloak as Cho was -- because they could see each other, but how would that sound if he told Cho something like that?
"What should we do to not -- er -- lose each other?" Cho asked, and that was something very similar to what Harry was thinking. But what should he answer?
"Dunno," he said, and he covered everything except his head with the cloak. Cho did the same. "Well..."
"We should stick -- together," Cho said, pulling her invisibility cloak over her head, too. "Let's --" but she didn't say anything after that.
"Cho? Are you there?" Harry asked after a few seconds of complete silence in the stair hall.
"Yes... Come, we will check if we are near each other from time to time. Now, let's head to the kitchens."
That was the best idea Harry heard that evening -- or better said, night. Even if he had a strange desire to do as he thought before, something stopped him, and that was his fears. What if she didn't feel for him like he felt for her? He knew very well that he liked her...
After a short journey they reached the kitchens. They were relieved to be able to get rid of the invisibility cloaks at last, and as they reached the kitchens, several house-elves came hurrying towards them. One of the house-elves was Dobby, the house-elf Harry saved from the Malfoys in his second year after the Chamber of Secrets incident.
"Harry Potter sir! Dobby is pleased to see you again sir!"
"Hello, Dobby! Nice to meet you, too!"
Every house-elf looked at Dobby as Voldemort told Dumbledore that he wanted to join the good side. Harry knew that house-elves were not to be polite with, because they would consider themselves insulted.
"Now this is a strange house-elf," Cho told Harry, "He always wears clothes..."
"And he has a paying, and holidays..." Harry continued. Cho was astounded to hear that, it was known that house-elves didn't like to be paid by humans, and that it was in their nature to be -- as Hermione would say -- slaves. However, that was not one of Dobby's characteristics.
"How do you know that?" Cho asked him.
"Dobby was saved by Harry Potter!" Dobby continued what Harry had to say. "Master was the one who helped me get out of the Malfoy house. Great man, Harry Potter."
"You worked for the Malfoys?" Cho asked surprised.
"Dobby did, Miss."
Then, several house-elves were eyeing Dobby again, and when he noticed that, he continued, "What should we give you, sir and miss?"
"Er --" Cho started, not knowing what to ask to eat; and then she looked at Harry.
"D'you like chicken?" Harry asked her, and then she nodded. "Bring --" but the house-elves already left, and after a few seconds, they were back with plates full of tasty food. "Thanks!" Harry told the house-elves, many of them felt insulted. After all, not all house-elves were Dobby...
They ate a lot, mainly because Harry was hungrier than ever after not eating at lunch nor at dinner. They left the house-elves("Dobby was pleased to see you, sir and miss," Dobby told them) and they put on their invisibility cloaks.
They went quietly upstairs, talking in whispers while wearing their invisibility cloaks. Harry told her that the cloak he currently wore wasn't his, and he started telling the entire story of his father's invisibility cloak. He paused everytime he had to say the word "dad" or "father", because he missed them so much. After he had finished, she said that she had her cloak inherited from her mother, and that she used it for quite some rulebreaking -- still not as much as Harry did.
"Once, in my third year, you know, with all the chamber of secrets stuff happening," she said, "I took the invisibility cloak to follow the teachers around and search for Black myself." Harry thought about Sirius... he was not allowed to tell her about his godfather, because he was still searched by the dementors, and everyone except a few people knew about his innocence. "As I was walking --"
Something could be heard behind them. They both heard the sound and turned back, but there was nothing to be seen in the dark corridors around. They continued their walk quietly, because someone may have heard them talking -- and being invisible was a very odd moment to talk when someone could have heard you.
It was the second time when they heard something when Harry took off his cloak. "Harry!" said Cho, "What do you think you're doing?"
But Harry had no time to answer Cho -- someone was following them. Cho took off her cloak as well, trying to make Harry turn back, but with no success. "Harry! Don't do something as stupid as this --"
"Quiet," Harry told her, and, seeing that he couldn't be stopped, she did as she was told. Then Harry heard some muttering, and then he was surprised to see a white light closing his eyes --
And then the light hit his head. He felt himself falling on the floor, and that was the last thing he knew before blanking out.