Chapter 9: Who?
Harry woke up the next day, feeling very weak. The previous adventures slowly came back to his head. First, he just felt bad because of Fudge's mysterious disappearance, then he remembered the things that happened just the previous day (he didn't think that he was unconscious more than one day, even if he was used to it from his first year when he was unconscious for three days.) He had been attacked by someone while he was with Cho... From all the moments the attacker could choose, it was the one where he was talking with Cho, forgetting any worry he had(well, maybe except for the fact that maybe she didn't like him)... his mind was whirling, and he was just wondering who attacked him.
Soon, he discovered that he could open his eyes. Everything felt so heavy -- his arms, legs... his entire body... He looked around the room he was in -- he looked at the bed he was lying on... there was no confusing about the familiar hospital wing. There were a few people around him who he recognized even with his mind whirling.
They were Ron, Hermione, Madam Pomfrey and Cho. Ron, Hermione and Cho were sitting just near him, looking at his eyes. They suddenly became happier seeing that --
"He woke up!" came Ron's voice, echoing in Harry's ears until the brain managed to understand what Ron said. Madam Pomfrey left the patient she was sitting near, and walked to Harry's bed.
"Stand back," she told to the three, "Potter, do you feel, by any chance, better?"
He could barely speak in a low voice. "No... Bad..."
"Does it hurt?"
"No... it -- just... I am... weak..." Harry replied.
"Then, you should take a few of this potion." She took a bluish green potion which she drained in Harry's mouth. The effect was almost instant -- Harry was starting to feel better.
The next moment, the door slid open and Professor Dumbledore entered the room, looking straight at Harry and Cho. Were they going to be in trouble for being on the corridors in midnight?
"Harry," he said, "Are you strong enough to come to my office?"
Harry was feeling a lot better, he started feling his body; he was able to move it. The potion Madam Pomfrey gave his was showing its effect very fast. "Yes." He stood up, to Madam Pomfrey's annoyance.
"Dumbledore, it is not good for him --"
"This should be excused, because we need more information about what happened last night. Harry? Miss Chang?"
Cho stood up and looked at Dumbledore. By the look on her face, she had never been to Dumbledore's office before, because she was quite surprised. "Follow me."
Dumbledore lead them to the familiar -- at least for Harry -- way to the spiral staircase where the stone gargoyle was placed. "Canary Creams," Dumbledore told the gargoyle and it jumped, allowing the three of them to pass. They reached the circular office with pictures of the previous headmasters inside. Cho was looking all around the office, admiring the way Dumbledore placed everything. That office was the nicest-looking of all offices at Hogwarts, and Harry supposed that it was the nicest room in the entire castle.
Dumbledore went to his chair, and sat on it. He told Harry and Cho to take example and do the same, pointing to a few of the many chairs in the office.
"So, I bet that you are able to explain better now?" But they didn't say anything. "How did it happen?"
"We were walking -- on our way to out comon rooms," Cho told the headmaster nervously. Harry was sure that she was afraid that Dumbledore would ask what they were doing that late at night in the corridors -- but Harry knew Dumbledore enough to bet that he wouldn't be asking that. "And we heard someone..."
"It was a Death Eater, that was for sure," Harry continued, feeling that it would be better if he explained it and letting Cho take a breath. "I took Avery's cloak off and wanted to see who -- or what -- had made some noise. Then all I remember was seeing a white light hit me and I was out."
"Is that all?" Dumbledore asked, looking like he needed more information. What Harry said, certainly, wasn't enough.
"W - We knew nothing," said Cho, "we didn't expect to meet anyone -- and we don't know who he was... I couldn't see anything, he was wearing an invisibility cloak..."
Dumbledore looked at Harry.
"Miss Chang was good enough to bring you to me last night, and if she wasn't there I am sure that the attacker could hurt you more than that. It was just a special stunning spell, one of the Dark Arts. The dark version of the Stupefy spell, I guess. She told me what she saw, when we brought you to the Hospital Wing, and there is no mistaking it.
"Ron, Hermione and you two are the only ones who know about the incident last night. You should not tell anyone else about it because it may create panic and I don't want that in the school for nothing."
Harry knew that it couldn't be nothing, it was quite the opposite -- there was someone hunting Harry again in the school! And it could have been some new Death Eater, thinking that half of the Ministry disappeared... and Fudge wasn't there to help with the disappearances anymore. He was in danger, even worse than how he had been before the term started.
"Until we will decide on what to do, Harry... remember what the supposed Professor Moody told you? Constant Vigillance. That is what you should think of... and apply it. I must ask you not to walk at midnight as you just did this night."
"Yes, professor," Harry told him, and then he understood that the conversation was over from Dumbledore's final tone which he knew quite well by then. The three of them stood up, and Harry with Cho went down the stairs. The only question Harry had in mind was who tried to kill him this time... Last time it was Avery, but he was dead... Voldemort could have sent anyone to finish Avery's job... Harry just hoped that he would be able to cast another Crucuatus when he will need it.
With Fudge gone, the only person they had as a defense was Dumbledore (Even if Fudge didn't want at first to believe that Voldemort returned, he surely knew by then). If he was taken by the Death Eaters, and that was the only possible thing, they would have killed him, wouldn't they? That meant Fudge was dead... but was he?
Harry just couldn't see how they managed to take him.
Taking advantage of the day being Saturday, Harry just sat and talked with Ron, Hermione and Cho about what happened. They went into an empty classroom to not be heard by other gryffindors, because, as Dumbledore said, they shouldn't create panic. The first conclusion they reached was that --
"Harry is in great danger," Hermione said finally after talking about the last night. He and Cho had to explain how they met each other first...
"I am," said Harry, "And Professor Trelawney will be right this year with my death --"
"Oh Don't be that pessimistic," Ron told him again. "Just... hope for the best, will you?"
"Yea," Harry answered sarcastically, "the most unpainful death --" but he stopped seeing that all three around him gave him annoyed looks. "Well, then, what to do when the wizard almost everyone fears has me as his primary target?"
"Listen to Dumbledore," Cho gave her opinion, "and be in a constant vigillance... what else?"
"I am used to this by now," Harry said in a low voice. "Four years ago I have met Voldemort... and then an year after that, too... what to say about just three months ago? Meeting his is an usual thing by now..."
"But this time he is stronger," said Hermione, "so it won't be as easy as it was the last times -- now he has, er, Death Eaters..."
"Good, then let's eat them," Harry answered in his sarcastic voice. The effect of his words were that they made Ron laugh, put a smile on Cho's face and made Hermione even angrier.
"Then, eat them!" Hermione answered, "I'm really sick of this! If that's how you want to deal with them --"
"Hermione, he was just kidding!" Ron stopped her.
"You can't be serious even when we are talking about a life that's in danger? Then, I'll leave you on your own, to find the death eater and -- and... well... bye!"
With that, she hurried out of the classroom. That was all what Harry needed, to lose his friends, exactly at the time when the Death Eaters came back to Hogwarts...
"Wonder if the Death Eater is trying to use memory charms again, or if he had found a better idea..." Ron's and Cho's attention, which had been solely focused on the parting Hermione, now turned to Harry. "What?" he asked seeing how the two still left in the classroom were looking at him.
"You just made Hermione walk out!" said Cho, giving him a look of pity (though not as horrible as Trelawney's). "She's one of your best friends, yes?"
"'Course she is... but..."
"It was my fault, too," said Ron attracting both Harry's and Cho's attention. "She left when I told her that Harry was just joking..."
They paused to look at each other. Harry looked at Cho... he just couldn't imagine her liking him -- not after his fault for Cedric's death... and how she would think that his entire life is a danger.
"It's lunchtime," Cho broke the silence, and waking Harry up from his dreamy state, "Let's go."
"Oh right," said Harry, and the three of them set off towards the Great Hall. It was quite close to the classroom they were, so the journey didn't take long. They said good-bye to Cho, because she was going to the Ravenclaw table, and sat on the few empty seats. Hermione chose one where they couldn't sit near her, so they had no alternative than to sit at a quite far distance from her.
Analysing the situation now was even worse. All those horrible things planned by Lord Voldemort were as dangerous for Harry as possible, and, to make matters worse, Hermione didn't look like she was in the mood of talking to him.
He ate slowly, taking a lot of time for each chew. He didn't want to talk to anyone, and as he was looking around the full and noisy great hall, he saw everything fading slowly to darkness... his eyes were closing, the noise was disappearing...
"Master," he could hear from the darkness, "Harry Potter is almost dead..." That was Wormtail's voice. "The man you sent does his job in a perfect way... you will be pleased of his work, Master..."
"Yes, Wormtail, I know..." replied a cold voice which Harry identified as Voldemort's. It was another of his dreams about the present... He had many dreams like this last year. He had to pay attention, because they were true...
"My Lord, I think your second in command isn't trustworthy enough..." came an unidentified voice, which Harry had never heard before. Everything was black, there was nothing to see. For Harry, it was like he couldn't see anymore... like if he was blind...
"Now, now, don't be so sure about that... I know who I choose for everything... Who did you think that I will choose as a second in command to kill that Potter, a Lestrange like you? No... you are faithful indeed, but that's not enough... The skill matters a lot at this..."
The one who Voldemort was talking with was Lestrange... Harry heard about him when the day when the Dark Lord came back, he said that the entire family was in Azkaban.
"But, even if Avery failed my task, I am sure that there is no one better than the one who I sent -- very good of him to join us... Even I couldn't choose my second in command better -- and he just came to me... I am thankful..."
"And what's my task, Master?" asked Lestrange.
"Nothing... just... guard Wormtail until he will be needed," he said.
Still Harry couldn't see them, he only heard them talking. What he had just found out was very bad: Voldemort had just sent another Death Eater, he had sent his second in command, to kill Harry... and because it wsa the second in Voldemort's command, he had to be very powerful...
The last thing he could hear before the dream stopped was something like "Extra docere" and then the image of the Great Hall was coming back. Hermione was looking at him worried, at least she wasn't upset with him anymore -- at least he hoped she wasn't -- and she was not the only one looking at him like that. Many students gathered around him, and he realized that it was the first time he had a dream with everyone in Hogwarts seeing him.
"Harry!" came Ron's voice. "Not another -- dream?"
The crowd was making it impossible for Harry to talk to Ron anymore. That was until Dumbledore told them to be quiet, and to leave slowly to their Common Rooms -- it was saturday and they had no classes.
Mostly everyone listened to Dumbledore, and there were only three persons who hadn't left. Ron, Hermione and... Cho. He thought a moment about what happened with her; did she enter their group? She seemed to spend a lot of time with Harry, Ron and Hermione that day -- well, everything started because she had found out more about Harry's situation than most of the Hogwarts students.
Harry, thankfully, was feeling a lot better by then -- he was almost back to normal.
"I think we all want to know what happened," said Dumbledore, taking a seat at the Gryffindor table. "I haven't sat at this table for a very long time... It reminds me of my time at Hogwarts..." Then, the headmaster turned back to Harry.
"It was another dream. Voldemort was talking to one of the Lestranges," Harry answered.
"The Lestranges were in Azkaban... well, yes, the dementors joined Voldemort only a few weeks ago..."
Cho put her hands to her mouth in horror. "WHAT?"
"Yes, they did..." Dumbledore continued.
"Hagrid told us," said Harry. "Well, this Lestrange was there with his Lord again... talking about his second in command who was -- was sent to... to kill me."
However, there was only one very strange thing. He had a very strong feeling that his brain was fuller than before. He seemed to know a few things he didn't know until he had dream, and it weren't Voldemort's words... It was the strangest feeling he had since his memory was wiped out for a few hours... he couldn't think what it was...
"Something wrong?" Dumbledore asked seeing Harry's confused face.
"Something... strange, professor," he continued, "I feel like I know lots of new things that I have never heard of..." All four persons around him looked curious to understand what Harry had to say, and feeling that they wanted to know it, he started concentrating on those new things things that he had never heard of before, but they were printed in his mind perfectly -- it felt like he knew it all his life, but that couldn't be true. He tried to pick up these memories, and said, "Something tells me that I am a Dark Wizard."
Harry felt that he had to leave the conversation. At the same moment, he looked at the enchanted ceiling and saw that it started to rain.
Everyone except Dumbledore looked terrified. "Oh, Harry," said Hermione, "You'll never..."
"I just feel that I know that... Oh, there are lots of other things... I know all of the Death Eaters except one, the second in command after Voldemort..."
He felt like something was controlling him, something like an Imperius... but that wasn't an Imperius, he knew how it felt... he felt something that told him to leave, again, but where, he didn't know.
"I've got to go," he said.
"Why?" asked Cho.
"Where?" continued Hermione.
But they didn't get an answer. Harry's legs controlled him and he felt like he was forced to go -- even though he still didn't know ehere his legs were carrying him... He didn't want to leave them there... not at that dark time... but he couldn't do anything about it --
Up the staircases, he was walking on the seventh floor... He was heading to the Common Room, and he suddenly knew why. Something told him that he should read the Dark Book of Dark Arts more... it just came to his head as mysteriously as the other things did...
Not at a long distance in his back, Cho, Hermione, Ron and Dumbledore were following him... He saw them and yelled as loud as he could, because he wanted them to hear him, "HELP!!!"
Something inside him lead him to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Avery!" Harry automatically said and the portrait slid open, making way to the dormitories, where Harry hid his Dark Book of Dark Arts -- the book Hermione gave him for his birthday.
He took the mysterious book, and held it tightly. He didn't know why exactly he wanted to do that, but he felt that he had to read something. Then his mind continued to work by itself, and he opened the book at page sixty-seven, at chapter fourteen.
He could hear the pleasant sound done by the rain outside. It made the situation look quite sary, but it was a thing he immediately forgot. He heard that the door to the room seemed to lock suddenly, and after a moment, his attention was captured by something else... he had seen the chapter title the book was opened at. It seemed to be exactly what he wanted to know...
Dark Arts: Memory spells
Through the multitude of Dark Spells, the most complicated to cast, and the most powerfull of all, are the Memory Spells. Being very complicated, they are cast very rarely, and only the strongest Dark Wizards manage to cast them. Their power is unthinkable for some people. It may not seem much, but a person can add something to someone's memory. That's a considerable advantage towards the normal Obliviate spells, which can only erase memory.
Besides of having the power of modifying the memory, the caster is able to tell his target what he has to do -- something like the Imperius Curse, but much different -- the target thinks for itself, so the caster does not have to concentrate all the time on what he wants the victim to do. The actual effect is to print in someone's memory that he has to do a thing, and for him, it is just like any other decision he made.
While reading that line, Harry heard that the locked door was hit from the other side. His friends did many tries to unlock the door, but all of them were failed. Harry had to read that chapter -- it explained the things he was facing... so he just continued...
The victim may be forced to do many things, but the spell has limited powers, making Imperio better sometimes. Besides of the concentration and energy needed to perform the spell, the things the victim is forced to do must have a connection to the things added to the person's memory, or else the brain would get confused and not do anything. Only one of the spells doesn't need to have this rule, and it's almost impossible to cast -- there were only two wizards who ever did it since year 715 BC. We do not know if it was used before this time.
The more Harry read, the more it made sense. Someone added to his memory these things like the Death Eaters' names, the fact that he was turning evil... he felt that there were many new things added to his memory, but he couldn't make difference between the things he knew before the spell was casted. He was forced to go and read the book to be able to understand what was happening. But, why would the Death Eater want Harry to understand what was happening to him?
The persons outside were still trying to open the door, but there was no chance. Even though he felt quite scared, having a feeling that someone was in his room, Harry's attention was focused on the book too much, he couldn't just go and help them enter the room... so he continued reading...
However, if the target is a strong wizard, the caster may have a few problems in controlling the spell. The victim is still acting on its own will, but he just feels that he has to do what the caster told him. However, if the victim is good enough, he may manage to fight it, and he would be able to make difference between the normal things he has to do and the new ones. He would eventually understand that someone was modifying his memory, and concentrate harder on ignoring the spell's effects, if possible.
The door to the bedroom was hit many times, and even though their efforts were huge, hoping that they would eventually break it, they had no chance -- that was another thing Harry just knew... he knew that they couldn't open the door until Harry finished reading the chapter in the Dark Book. Thinking of that feeling, he saw a thunder out of his window... the rain was making a quite loud noise. Still, he continued reading...
There are many different spells for these kinds of memory-modification spells. One of them is Addictus memoriae, and it is the most powerful spell of this kind. The victim is able to be taught every possible thing, and the 'i must do' thoughts don't necessarily need to be connected to the new additions to the target's mind. It is harder to fight than other spells, too.
The second is Extra Docere. It has almost the same effects as the Addictus memoriae, and the only difference is that the things the victim is forced to do must have a small connection to the extra thoughts he is given. It is a lot easier to cast than the Addictus memoriae spell, but its effects are limited.
Harry read that paragraph and remembered that he had heard that incantation somewhere -- but he couldn't remember when... a lot of time had to pass since he heard it...
Or maybe not. The truth came to his mind quite fast -- the last time he heard that incantation was in the dream! When the dream was over, those were the last words he had heard... someone casted the spell...
That meant that while he was dreaming, someone was casting that spell on him. The Death Eater -- the second in command to Voldemort -- was in the Great Hall only a few minutes ago, casting a powerful Dark Spell on Harry... if he was Voldemort's second in command, he surely was powerful enough to do that spell.
Fear was entering in Harry's mind... what if the Death Eater managed to get in the Gryffindor common Room?
That would explain why the door was suddenly locked as soon as he got in -- Harry couldn't think of any way of locking that door without being in the room. The one who created the door didn't think that someone would want to lock it... it had no locker...
The Death Eater was in the Common Room, invisible. Harry, confused as he was, panicked. There was nothing to do -- he just took Avery's invisibility cloak and put it on himself, while throwing the Dark Book of Dark Arts in his trunk, feeling a coldness penetrating him...
He heard a sound, and the door to the dormitory slid open. Four people suddenly entered the room: The first was Dumbledore, who had the serious facial expression Harry had only seen twice... there was no smile on his face, no twinkle in his eyes... Ron and Hermione came very soon after him, and they looked very scared of the things that happened lately. Cho was the last who came, and she was exactly as Ron and Hermione were -- terrified... scared that something very bad could happen... Harry remembered that he was as terrified as they were.
Dumbledore looked straight at Harry -- but Ron, Hermione and Cho didn't.
"Harry?" asked Dumbledore, "Are you alright?"
Ron's voice soon came -- "What Harry? He isn't here..."
"He is," Dumbledore continued, to everyone's confusion. Harry had suddenly understood everything -- he was wearing his invisibility cloak... and Dumbledore could see through it. "Take it off, Harry."
He did as Dumbledore ordered -- the Death Eater, if he was in the room, would never attack Harry with Dumbledore around. Ron, Hermione, Cho and Harry were all looking at Dumbledore with admiration and confusion -- how could he see through invisibility cloaks?
To make sure that he wasn't just imagining things, he considered asking Dumbledore if he really could see through invisibility cloaks. But he didn't need to bother asking, because Dumbledore answered it before Harry said one word --
"Yes, I can see through invisibility cloaks."
The four students were looking at Dumbledore very interrested; they never thought that someone could see through invisibility cloaks without a magical eye like Moody's.
That confirmed the fact that the Death Eater wasn't there at all. If he was, Dumbledore would have seen him, so Harry's fears have passed -- at least a part of them. He just hoped that there were no more things he was forced to do...
He had a feeling that he had to tell Dumbledore about the book, and that was another thing that could possibly be an effect of the Extra Docere spell. He just tried to fight it, because he knew it was possible; the book stated it. And he knew that he had to ignore it...
"Harry... mind if you'll come to my office?"
"No, professor," said Harry, hoping that he wouldn't do anything bad.
But where was the Death Eater?
He tried to not think about that, and then the group left the dormitory. Ron and Hermione remained in the common room, and Cho went to the Ravenclaw Common Room, at Dumbledore's orders.
As Harry entered Dumbledore's office, he felt much safer. He thought that it was a spell of some kind, there were many protective spells that Dumbledore could want to cast on his office. Dumbledore sat on his chair, and he told Harry to do the same.
"What happened?" asked Dumbledore, and that question surprised Harry -- Dumbledore was the one who was asked questions like that...
But Harry had to answer the question. Harry knew everything this time, at least he hoped he did; that spell could have introduced false clues to Harry's mind, too. That was the only thing that bothered him, and he wanted to ask Dumbledore about that -- but he had to start with the beginning.
"I had a dream..." he started to say, but he didn't know exactly how to continue. Dumbledore looked at him, interrested, and then Harry said, "and after it someone cast a spell -- Extra Docere."
At that words, Dumbledore backed off a little, and he seemed to be thinking hard about what Harry said. It was not everyday when someone casted a Dark Spell as advanced as that, after all. "That's bad," said Dumbledore.
"I know lots of things that I didn't know before... I seem to know them for a long time, but I know I didn't... the spell introduced them."
"Yes," Dumbledore continued looking at Fawkes, who was fliyng around the office, "And that can be really bad. We do not know if they are true or not."
"And I do not know which things I knew before and which I didn't... although there are many things that I know are new, there may be lots of new things that may seem true..."
Dumbledore took that more serious than anything Harry had ever told him, and it was obvious that he would do that because Harry was in a great danger -- he had never thought that someone would modify his memory that much. It seemed impossible before that happened -- Harry had never thought that there were spells capable to do as much trouble as that.
And then Harry thought he realized something -- the Crucio he casted on Avery could be the result of the same dark spell... Voldemort may have wanted to punish Avery, as he wanted to do with almost all his Death Eaters because they didn't try to find him and bring him back to power -- until Wormtail did it, of course. Voldemort didn't care for his followers more than he cared of his enemies.
"And about the Cruciatus?" asked Harry, wanting to understand better. Dumbledore looked at him for a few seconds, and his eyes twinkled again; but he didn't say anything. "Could that be the result of this Dark Spell?"
"Could it... About that, again, I can only guess... and my guess is that it was the result of this spell. But that is not sure... That's the only thing I could think about.. unless..."
Harry stood there, confused. Dumbledore had just stopped in the middle of the sentence, leaving a blank in Harry's mind. "Unless...?"
"You will find that out that later, if it is true..."
But Harry knew better than to ask. Both of them stood up, and Harry slowly walked towards the door to the office. He was just asking himself what Dumbledore was thinking about, and didn't want to tell him -- yet. He just hoped that he would find out soon.
Ne had nothing to do except to go to the Common Room, to share everything with Ron and Hermione. They had to be confused by everything, because they didn't know anything at all except that Harry had the dream.
They were waiting for him worried. Harry didn't blame them, because he acted very strange, running to the dormitory... and then the door was closed... they had to know.
"Harry! Are you alright?" asked Hermione.
"Yes -- I hope so," he answered.
"What happened?" came Ron's turn to ask.
"Oh, it's an awfully long and complicated story," said Harry. Seeing Ron's and Hermione's obvious curiosity, he started to explain the dream; and then the urge he felt to go to the dormitory, the spell... he didn't forget to tell them about his fear that the Death Eater could be in the room. And after all those things, he told them one more thing. "Come and read that chapter of the Dark Book."
Hermione read it, but Ron was pleased with the information Harry and Hermione told him. He didn't bother reading, because he knew that Hermione would tell him all of it...
"And," said Harry, "If anything bad happens... with me, just tell me that it's wrong. The Death Eater could have told me that I have to do more things than just read the book... maybe he is controlling me more than that... just warn me, because I've seen that I am able to fight it quite well..."
It was becoming later and later as they spoke. when Harry decided to go to bed, the Common Room was empty, besides of him, Ron and Hermione. And even in his bed, he stood awake for a few hours...
Harry woke up the next day, feeling very weak. The previous adventures slowly came back to his head. First, he just felt bad because of Fudge's mysterious disappearance, then he remembered the things that happened just the previous day (he didn't think that he was unconscious more than one day, even if he was used to it from his first year when he was unconscious for three days.) He had been attacked by someone while he was with Cho... From all the moments the attacker could choose, it was the one where he was talking with Cho, forgetting any worry he had(well, maybe except for the fact that maybe she didn't like him)... his mind was whirling, and he was just wondering who attacked him.
Soon, he discovered that he could open his eyes. Everything felt so heavy -- his arms, legs... his entire body... He looked around the room he was in -- he looked at the bed he was lying on... there was no confusing about the familiar hospital wing. There were a few people around him who he recognized even with his mind whirling.
They were Ron, Hermione, Madam Pomfrey and Cho. Ron, Hermione and Cho were sitting just near him, looking at his eyes. They suddenly became happier seeing that --
"He woke up!" came Ron's voice, echoing in Harry's ears until the brain managed to understand what Ron said. Madam Pomfrey left the patient she was sitting near, and walked to Harry's bed.
"Stand back," she told to the three, "Potter, do you feel, by any chance, better?"
He could barely speak in a low voice. "No... Bad..."
"Does it hurt?"
"No... it -- just... I am... weak..." Harry replied.
"Then, you should take a few of this potion." She took a bluish green potion which she drained in Harry's mouth. The effect was almost instant -- Harry was starting to feel better.
The next moment, the door slid open and Professor Dumbledore entered the room, looking straight at Harry and Cho. Were they going to be in trouble for being on the corridors in midnight?
"Harry," he said, "Are you strong enough to come to my office?"
Harry was feeling a lot better, he started feling his body; he was able to move it. The potion Madam Pomfrey gave his was showing its effect very fast. "Yes." He stood up, to Madam Pomfrey's annoyance.
"Dumbledore, it is not good for him --"
"This should be excused, because we need more information about what happened last night. Harry? Miss Chang?"
Cho stood up and looked at Dumbledore. By the look on her face, she had never been to Dumbledore's office before, because she was quite surprised. "Follow me."
Dumbledore lead them to the familiar -- at least for Harry -- way to the spiral staircase where the stone gargoyle was placed. "Canary Creams," Dumbledore told the gargoyle and it jumped, allowing the three of them to pass. They reached the circular office with pictures of the previous headmasters inside. Cho was looking all around the office, admiring the way Dumbledore placed everything. That office was the nicest-looking of all offices at Hogwarts, and Harry supposed that it was the nicest room in the entire castle.
Dumbledore went to his chair, and sat on it. He told Harry and Cho to take example and do the same, pointing to a few of the many chairs in the office.
"So, I bet that you are able to explain better now?" But they didn't say anything. "How did it happen?"
"We were walking -- on our way to out comon rooms," Cho told the headmaster nervously. Harry was sure that she was afraid that Dumbledore would ask what they were doing that late at night in the corridors -- but Harry knew Dumbledore enough to bet that he wouldn't be asking that. "And we heard someone..."
"It was a Death Eater, that was for sure," Harry continued, feeling that it would be better if he explained it and letting Cho take a breath. "I took Avery's cloak off and wanted to see who -- or what -- had made some noise. Then all I remember was seeing a white light hit me and I was out."
"Is that all?" Dumbledore asked, looking like he needed more information. What Harry said, certainly, wasn't enough.
"W - We knew nothing," said Cho, "we didn't expect to meet anyone -- and we don't know who he was... I couldn't see anything, he was wearing an invisibility cloak..."
Dumbledore looked at Harry.
"Miss Chang was good enough to bring you to me last night, and if she wasn't there I am sure that the attacker could hurt you more than that. It was just a special stunning spell, one of the Dark Arts. The dark version of the Stupefy spell, I guess. She told me what she saw, when we brought you to the Hospital Wing, and there is no mistaking it.
"Ron, Hermione and you two are the only ones who know about the incident last night. You should not tell anyone else about it because it may create panic and I don't want that in the school for nothing."
Harry knew that it couldn't be nothing, it was quite the opposite -- there was someone hunting Harry again in the school! And it could have been some new Death Eater, thinking that half of the Ministry disappeared... and Fudge wasn't there to help with the disappearances anymore. He was in danger, even worse than how he had been before the term started.
"Until we will decide on what to do, Harry... remember what the supposed Professor Moody told you? Constant Vigillance. That is what you should think of... and apply it. I must ask you not to walk at midnight as you just did this night."
"Yes, professor," Harry told him, and then he understood that the conversation was over from Dumbledore's final tone which he knew quite well by then. The three of them stood up, and Harry with Cho went down the stairs. The only question Harry had in mind was who tried to kill him this time... Last time it was Avery, but he was dead... Voldemort could have sent anyone to finish Avery's job... Harry just hoped that he would be able to cast another Crucuatus when he will need it.
With Fudge gone, the only person they had as a defense was Dumbledore (Even if Fudge didn't want at first to believe that Voldemort returned, he surely knew by then). If he was taken by the Death Eaters, and that was the only possible thing, they would have killed him, wouldn't they? That meant Fudge was dead... but was he?
Harry just couldn't see how they managed to take him.
Taking advantage of the day being Saturday, Harry just sat and talked with Ron, Hermione and Cho about what happened. They went into an empty classroom to not be heard by other gryffindors, because, as Dumbledore said, they shouldn't create panic. The first conclusion they reached was that --
"Harry is in great danger," Hermione said finally after talking about the last night. He and Cho had to explain how they met each other first...
"I am," said Harry, "And Professor Trelawney will be right this year with my death --"
"Oh Don't be that pessimistic," Ron told him again. "Just... hope for the best, will you?"
"Yea," Harry answered sarcastically, "the most unpainful death --" but he stopped seeing that all three around him gave him annoyed looks. "Well, then, what to do when the wizard almost everyone fears has me as his primary target?"
"Listen to Dumbledore," Cho gave her opinion, "and be in a constant vigillance... what else?"
"I am used to this by now," Harry said in a low voice. "Four years ago I have met Voldemort... and then an year after that, too... what to say about just three months ago? Meeting his is an usual thing by now..."
"But this time he is stronger," said Hermione, "so it won't be as easy as it was the last times -- now he has, er, Death Eaters..."
"Good, then let's eat them," Harry answered in his sarcastic voice. The effect of his words were that they made Ron laugh, put a smile on Cho's face and made Hermione even angrier.
"Then, eat them!" Hermione answered, "I'm really sick of this! If that's how you want to deal with them --"
"Hermione, he was just kidding!" Ron stopped her.
"You can't be serious even when we are talking about a life that's in danger? Then, I'll leave you on your own, to find the death eater and -- and... well... bye!"
With that, she hurried out of the classroom. That was all what Harry needed, to lose his friends, exactly at the time when the Death Eaters came back to Hogwarts...
"Wonder if the Death Eater is trying to use memory charms again, or if he had found a better idea..." Ron's and Cho's attention, which had been solely focused on the parting Hermione, now turned to Harry. "What?" he asked seeing how the two still left in the classroom were looking at him.
"You just made Hermione walk out!" said Cho, giving him a look of pity (though not as horrible as Trelawney's). "She's one of your best friends, yes?"
"'Course she is... but..."
"It was my fault, too," said Ron attracting both Harry's and Cho's attention. "She left when I told her that Harry was just joking..."
They paused to look at each other. Harry looked at Cho... he just couldn't imagine her liking him -- not after his fault for Cedric's death... and how she would think that his entire life is a danger.
"It's lunchtime," Cho broke the silence, and waking Harry up from his dreamy state, "Let's go."
"Oh right," said Harry, and the three of them set off towards the Great Hall. It was quite close to the classroom they were, so the journey didn't take long. They said good-bye to Cho, because she was going to the Ravenclaw table, and sat on the few empty seats. Hermione chose one where they couldn't sit near her, so they had no alternative than to sit at a quite far distance from her.
Analysing the situation now was even worse. All those horrible things planned by Lord Voldemort were as dangerous for Harry as possible, and, to make matters worse, Hermione didn't look like she was in the mood of talking to him.
He ate slowly, taking a lot of time for each chew. He didn't want to talk to anyone, and as he was looking around the full and noisy great hall, he saw everything fading slowly to darkness... his eyes were closing, the noise was disappearing...
"Master," he could hear from the darkness, "Harry Potter is almost dead..." That was Wormtail's voice. "The man you sent does his job in a perfect way... you will be pleased of his work, Master..."
"Yes, Wormtail, I know..." replied a cold voice which Harry identified as Voldemort's. It was another of his dreams about the present... He had many dreams like this last year. He had to pay attention, because they were true...
"My Lord, I think your second in command isn't trustworthy enough..." came an unidentified voice, which Harry had never heard before. Everything was black, there was nothing to see. For Harry, it was like he couldn't see anymore... like if he was blind...
"Now, now, don't be so sure about that... I know who I choose for everything... Who did you think that I will choose as a second in command to kill that Potter, a Lestrange like you? No... you are faithful indeed, but that's not enough... The skill matters a lot at this..."
The one who Voldemort was talking with was Lestrange... Harry heard about him when the day when the Dark Lord came back, he said that the entire family was in Azkaban.
"But, even if Avery failed my task, I am sure that there is no one better than the one who I sent -- very good of him to join us... Even I couldn't choose my second in command better -- and he just came to me... I am thankful..."
"And what's my task, Master?" asked Lestrange.
"Nothing... just... guard Wormtail until he will be needed," he said.
Still Harry couldn't see them, he only heard them talking. What he had just found out was very bad: Voldemort had just sent another Death Eater, he had sent his second in command, to kill Harry... and because it wsa the second in Voldemort's command, he had to be very powerful...
The last thing he could hear before the dream stopped was something like "Extra docere" and then the image of the Great Hall was coming back. Hermione was looking at him worried, at least she wasn't upset with him anymore -- at least he hoped she wasn't -- and she was not the only one looking at him like that. Many students gathered around him, and he realized that it was the first time he had a dream with everyone in Hogwarts seeing him.
"Harry!" came Ron's voice. "Not another -- dream?"
The crowd was making it impossible for Harry to talk to Ron anymore. That was until Dumbledore told them to be quiet, and to leave slowly to their Common Rooms -- it was saturday and they had no classes.
Mostly everyone listened to Dumbledore, and there were only three persons who hadn't left. Ron, Hermione and... Cho. He thought a moment about what happened with her; did she enter their group? She seemed to spend a lot of time with Harry, Ron and Hermione that day -- well, everything started because she had found out more about Harry's situation than most of the Hogwarts students.
Harry, thankfully, was feeling a lot better by then -- he was almost back to normal.
"I think we all want to know what happened," said Dumbledore, taking a seat at the Gryffindor table. "I haven't sat at this table for a very long time... It reminds me of my time at Hogwarts..." Then, the headmaster turned back to Harry.
"It was another dream. Voldemort was talking to one of the Lestranges," Harry answered.
"The Lestranges were in Azkaban... well, yes, the dementors joined Voldemort only a few weeks ago..."
Cho put her hands to her mouth in horror. "WHAT?"
"Yes, they did..." Dumbledore continued.
"Hagrid told us," said Harry. "Well, this Lestrange was there with his Lord again... talking about his second in command who was -- was sent to... to kill me."
However, there was only one very strange thing. He had a very strong feeling that his brain was fuller than before. He seemed to know a few things he didn't know until he had dream, and it weren't Voldemort's words... It was the strangest feeling he had since his memory was wiped out for a few hours... he couldn't think what it was...
"Something wrong?" Dumbledore asked seeing Harry's confused face.
"Something... strange, professor," he continued, "I feel like I know lots of new things that I have never heard of..." All four persons around him looked curious to understand what Harry had to say, and feeling that they wanted to know it, he started concentrating on those new things things that he had never heard of before, but they were printed in his mind perfectly -- it felt like he knew it all his life, but that couldn't be true. He tried to pick up these memories, and said, "Something tells me that I am a Dark Wizard."
Harry felt that he had to leave the conversation. At the same moment, he looked at the enchanted ceiling and saw that it started to rain.
Everyone except Dumbledore looked terrified. "Oh, Harry," said Hermione, "You'll never..."
"I just feel that I know that... Oh, there are lots of other things... I know all of the Death Eaters except one, the second in command after Voldemort..."
He felt like something was controlling him, something like an Imperius... but that wasn't an Imperius, he knew how it felt... he felt something that told him to leave, again, but where, he didn't know.
"I've got to go," he said.
"Why?" asked Cho.
"Where?" continued Hermione.
But they didn't get an answer. Harry's legs controlled him and he felt like he was forced to go -- even though he still didn't know ehere his legs were carrying him... He didn't want to leave them there... not at that dark time... but he couldn't do anything about it --
Up the staircases, he was walking on the seventh floor... He was heading to the Common Room, and he suddenly knew why. Something told him that he should read the Dark Book of Dark Arts more... it just came to his head as mysteriously as the other things did...
Not at a long distance in his back, Cho, Hermione, Ron and Dumbledore were following him... He saw them and yelled as loud as he could, because he wanted them to hear him, "HELP!!!"
Something inside him lead him to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Avery!" Harry automatically said and the portrait slid open, making way to the dormitories, where Harry hid his Dark Book of Dark Arts -- the book Hermione gave him for his birthday.
He took the mysterious book, and held it tightly. He didn't know why exactly he wanted to do that, but he felt that he had to read something. Then his mind continued to work by itself, and he opened the book at page sixty-seven, at chapter fourteen.
He could hear the pleasant sound done by the rain outside. It made the situation look quite sary, but it was a thing he immediately forgot. He heard that the door to the room seemed to lock suddenly, and after a moment, his attention was captured by something else... he had seen the chapter title the book was opened at. It seemed to be exactly what he wanted to know...
Dark Arts: Memory spells
Through the multitude of Dark Spells, the most complicated to cast, and the most powerfull of all, are the Memory Spells. Being very complicated, they are cast very rarely, and only the strongest Dark Wizards manage to cast them. Their power is unthinkable for some people. It may not seem much, but a person can add something to someone's memory. That's a considerable advantage towards the normal Obliviate spells, which can only erase memory.
Besides of having the power of modifying the memory, the caster is able to tell his target what he has to do -- something like the Imperius Curse, but much different -- the target thinks for itself, so the caster does not have to concentrate all the time on what he wants the victim to do. The actual effect is to print in someone's memory that he has to do a thing, and for him, it is just like any other decision he made.
While reading that line, Harry heard that the locked door was hit from the other side. His friends did many tries to unlock the door, but all of them were failed. Harry had to read that chapter -- it explained the things he was facing... so he just continued...
The victim may be forced to do many things, but the spell has limited powers, making Imperio better sometimes. Besides of the concentration and energy needed to perform the spell, the things the victim is forced to do must have a connection to the things added to the person's memory, or else the brain would get confused and not do anything. Only one of the spells doesn't need to have this rule, and it's almost impossible to cast -- there were only two wizards who ever did it since year 715 BC. We do not know if it was used before this time.
The more Harry read, the more it made sense. Someone added to his memory these things like the Death Eaters' names, the fact that he was turning evil... he felt that there were many new things added to his memory, but he couldn't make difference between the things he knew before the spell was casted. He was forced to go and read the book to be able to understand what was happening. But, why would the Death Eater want Harry to understand what was happening to him?
The persons outside were still trying to open the door, but there was no chance. Even though he felt quite scared, having a feeling that someone was in his room, Harry's attention was focused on the book too much, he couldn't just go and help them enter the room... so he continued reading...
However, if the target is a strong wizard, the caster may have a few problems in controlling the spell. The victim is still acting on its own will, but he just feels that he has to do what the caster told him. However, if the victim is good enough, he may manage to fight it, and he would be able to make difference between the normal things he has to do and the new ones. He would eventually understand that someone was modifying his memory, and concentrate harder on ignoring the spell's effects, if possible.
The door to the bedroom was hit many times, and even though their efforts were huge, hoping that they would eventually break it, they had no chance -- that was another thing Harry just knew... he knew that they couldn't open the door until Harry finished reading the chapter in the Dark Book. Thinking of that feeling, he saw a thunder out of his window... the rain was making a quite loud noise. Still, he continued reading...
There are many different spells for these kinds of memory-modification spells. One of them is Addictus memoriae, and it is the most powerful spell of this kind. The victim is able to be taught every possible thing, and the 'i must do' thoughts don't necessarily need to be connected to the new additions to the target's mind. It is harder to fight than other spells, too.
The second is Extra Docere. It has almost the same effects as the Addictus memoriae, and the only difference is that the things the victim is forced to do must have a small connection to the extra thoughts he is given. It is a lot easier to cast than the Addictus memoriae spell, but its effects are limited.
Harry read that paragraph and remembered that he had heard that incantation somewhere -- but he couldn't remember when... a lot of time had to pass since he heard it...
Or maybe not. The truth came to his mind quite fast -- the last time he heard that incantation was in the dream! When the dream was over, those were the last words he had heard... someone casted the spell...
That meant that while he was dreaming, someone was casting that spell on him. The Death Eater -- the second in command to Voldemort -- was in the Great Hall only a few minutes ago, casting a powerful Dark Spell on Harry... if he was Voldemort's second in command, he surely was powerful enough to do that spell.
Fear was entering in Harry's mind... what if the Death Eater managed to get in the Gryffindor common Room?
That would explain why the door was suddenly locked as soon as he got in -- Harry couldn't think of any way of locking that door without being in the room. The one who created the door didn't think that someone would want to lock it... it had no locker...
The Death Eater was in the Common Room, invisible. Harry, confused as he was, panicked. There was nothing to do -- he just took Avery's invisibility cloak and put it on himself, while throwing the Dark Book of Dark Arts in his trunk, feeling a coldness penetrating him...
He heard a sound, and the door to the dormitory slid open. Four people suddenly entered the room: The first was Dumbledore, who had the serious facial expression Harry had only seen twice... there was no smile on his face, no twinkle in his eyes... Ron and Hermione came very soon after him, and they looked very scared of the things that happened lately. Cho was the last who came, and she was exactly as Ron and Hermione were -- terrified... scared that something very bad could happen... Harry remembered that he was as terrified as they were.
Dumbledore looked straight at Harry -- but Ron, Hermione and Cho didn't.
"Harry?" asked Dumbledore, "Are you alright?"
Ron's voice soon came -- "What Harry? He isn't here..."
"He is," Dumbledore continued, to everyone's confusion. Harry had suddenly understood everything -- he was wearing his invisibility cloak... and Dumbledore could see through it. "Take it off, Harry."
He did as Dumbledore ordered -- the Death Eater, if he was in the room, would never attack Harry with Dumbledore around. Ron, Hermione, Cho and Harry were all looking at Dumbledore with admiration and confusion -- how could he see through invisibility cloaks?
To make sure that he wasn't just imagining things, he considered asking Dumbledore if he really could see through invisibility cloaks. But he didn't need to bother asking, because Dumbledore answered it before Harry said one word --
"Yes, I can see through invisibility cloaks."
The four students were looking at Dumbledore very interrested; they never thought that someone could see through invisibility cloaks without a magical eye like Moody's.
That confirmed the fact that the Death Eater wasn't there at all. If he was, Dumbledore would have seen him, so Harry's fears have passed -- at least a part of them. He just hoped that there were no more things he was forced to do...
He had a feeling that he had to tell Dumbledore about the book, and that was another thing that could possibly be an effect of the Extra Docere spell. He just tried to fight it, because he knew it was possible; the book stated it. And he knew that he had to ignore it...
"Harry... mind if you'll come to my office?"
"No, professor," said Harry, hoping that he wouldn't do anything bad.
But where was the Death Eater?
He tried to not think about that, and then the group left the dormitory. Ron and Hermione remained in the common room, and Cho went to the Ravenclaw Common Room, at Dumbledore's orders.
As Harry entered Dumbledore's office, he felt much safer. He thought that it was a spell of some kind, there were many protective spells that Dumbledore could want to cast on his office. Dumbledore sat on his chair, and he told Harry to do the same.
"What happened?" asked Dumbledore, and that question surprised Harry -- Dumbledore was the one who was asked questions like that...
But Harry had to answer the question. Harry knew everything this time, at least he hoped he did; that spell could have introduced false clues to Harry's mind, too. That was the only thing that bothered him, and he wanted to ask Dumbledore about that -- but he had to start with the beginning.
"I had a dream..." he started to say, but he didn't know exactly how to continue. Dumbledore looked at him, interrested, and then Harry said, "and after it someone cast a spell -- Extra Docere."
At that words, Dumbledore backed off a little, and he seemed to be thinking hard about what Harry said. It was not everyday when someone casted a Dark Spell as advanced as that, after all. "That's bad," said Dumbledore.
"I know lots of things that I didn't know before... I seem to know them for a long time, but I know I didn't... the spell introduced them."
"Yes," Dumbledore continued looking at Fawkes, who was fliyng around the office, "And that can be really bad. We do not know if they are true or not."
"And I do not know which things I knew before and which I didn't... although there are many things that I know are new, there may be lots of new things that may seem true..."
Dumbledore took that more serious than anything Harry had ever told him, and it was obvious that he would do that because Harry was in a great danger -- he had never thought that someone would modify his memory that much. It seemed impossible before that happened -- Harry had never thought that there were spells capable to do as much trouble as that.
And then Harry thought he realized something -- the Crucio he casted on Avery could be the result of the same dark spell... Voldemort may have wanted to punish Avery, as he wanted to do with almost all his Death Eaters because they didn't try to find him and bring him back to power -- until Wormtail did it, of course. Voldemort didn't care for his followers more than he cared of his enemies.
"And about the Cruciatus?" asked Harry, wanting to understand better. Dumbledore looked at him for a few seconds, and his eyes twinkled again; but he didn't say anything. "Could that be the result of this Dark Spell?"
"Could it... About that, again, I can only guess... and my guess is that it was the result of this spell. But that is not sure... That's the only thing I could think about.. unless..."
Harry stood there, confused. Dumbledore had just stopped in the middle of the sentence, leaving a blank in Harry's mind. "Unless...?"
"You will find that out that later, if it is true..."
But Harry knew better than to ask. Both of them stood up, and Harry slowly walked towards the door to the office. He was just asking himself what Dumbledore was thinking about, and didn't want to tell him -- yet. He just hoped that he would find out soon.
Ne had nothing to do except to go to the Common Room, to share everything with Ron and Hermione. They had to be confused by everything, because they didn't know anything at all except that Harry had the dream.
They were waiting for him worried. Harry didn't blame them, because he acted very strange, running to the dormitory... and then the door was closed... they had to know.
"Harry! Are you alright?" asked Hermione.
"Yes -- I hope so," he answered.
"What happened?" came Ron's turn to ask.
"Oh, it's an awfully long and complicated story," said Harry. Seeing Ron's and Hermione's obvious curiosity, he started to explain the dream; and then the urge he felt to go to the dormitory, the spell... he didn't forget to tell them about his fear that the Death Eater could be in the room. And after all those things, he told them one more thing. "Come and read that chapter of the Dark Book."
Hermione read it, but Ron was pleased with the information Harry and Hermione told him. He didn't bother reading, because he knew that Hermione would tell him all of it...
"And," said Harry, "If anything bad happens... with me, just tell me that it's wrong. The Death Eater could have told me that I have to do more things than just read the book... maybe he is controlling me more than that... just warn me, because I've seen that I am able to fight it quite well..."
It was becoming later and later as they spoke. when Harry decided to go to bed, the Common Room was empty, besides of him, Ron and Hermione. And even in his bed, he stood awake for a few hours...