Chapter 10: Weakness
Another week passed very fast, Harry didn't even notice when that all happened. Worrying all day long because the Death Eater could turn up and cast an unknown spell on Harry, time seemed to pass faster than ever. He had only met Cho once, and they talked about what Dumbledore told him... and after a week, his worries decreased a little.
The first thing that was classified as out of ordinary happened on Monday, September the 18th. Harry was reminded that Niffler told him that they would start practices on that day, and he started to forget everything else and concentrate on this new event. Being a Quidditch Player for a team like that meant a lot for him, and he wanted to try to do the best he could; he didn't want to disappoint so many people who overestimated him.
Niffler came in the Gryffindor Common Room and told them that they would start the practice after the classes, and that meant in the evening; another bad thing that could happen to Harry -- he couldn't see the Snitch very well on darkness. He just hoped that he would manage to do the same thing as he did the first time that term, and catch the Snitch in a very short time.
He didn't feel like eating that morning at all. It wasn't a quidditch match, it was just a practice, but Harry felt the same nervousness as he did before a normal quidditch game, or maybe even like the one he felt before the tasks of the Triwizard tournament. That day was a very important one, after all... even though it was just a practice!...
The first class he had on Monday was Potions, and that did nothing else that to annoy him -- he was quite nervous on the upcoming training, and the only thing he needed was another class with Snape... Harry just hoped that he wouldn't blow anything up if Snape would make him angry.
After warmth potions, there came coldness and freezing potions. If Snape hadn't bullied Neville enough at Warmth Potions, he had enough oportunities to bully him at these kinds of potions -- they weren't that dangerous to work at but they were much more complicated. The only bad thing that one could suffer was to freeze, and that could be solved immediately with a warmth charm. The only bad thing was that they didn't do warmth charms yet with flitwick -- and Harry didnt think Snape would cast one on Neville; not until Neville suffered a few minutes anyway.
"Potter! Do not put the unicorn tail hair in the cauldron only after you will see the frozen water on the bottom of it!" shouted Snape, and to the Gryffindor's disgust, he took five points from Harry.
"How much I'd like to freeze Snape with a potion like that," Ron whispered in Harry's year. They forced themselves not to laugh -- that could have got themselves into lots of trouble, and the Gryffindors still had a negative number of house points. Harry had a small feeling that he was about to freeze Snape with a potion, but that could take even more valuable points from Gryffindor.
At the end of the class, Snape told them a few notes about the following classes. He didn't look pleased when he told everyone that they will start on Healing Potions.
He enjoyed a good Care of Magical Creatures class with Hagrid, where he told them more things about the Phoenix Owls. He told them how they were created, and many students had the idea of trying to have one. It was very welcoming to have an owl that could heal, could mail very heavy packages, and that looked beautiful... Logically, everyone seemed to like those owls much more than normal owls. Still, they were very rare, and not anyone could have one. It was a very strange thing that Malfoy had nothing bad to add when Hagrid said something; he seemed to enjoy the class very much.
That evening soon approached, and the time to go and see Niffler arrived too soon for him. He wished he had one more day until he had to go at the practice, or whatever Niffler wanted to do on Harry's the first day. He only enjoyed it because it was Quidditch...
Trying to ignore the fact that he was feeling very nervous, he opened the entrance gates of the castle very slowly. They seemed to listen to his thoughts, or somehting similar, because he opened them easier than usual -- or maybe it was just his mind... it was working a little different from usual... Harry had found out that he had never done to something that disturned him that much. Playing for the English Quidditch Team brought both nervousness and a very pleasant feeling at the same time...
He walked on the cold grass, looking between the dark clouded sky and the lake, where he could see the moon's reflection quite clearly. The air above him felt so heavy -- Everything seemed to be very hard to do... even moving his legs and arms... he felt them weaker and weaker... they were about to give up any moment... his mind seemed to stop working the last few strange moments --
And then he fell on the cold grass, unable to move and think at all... he just looked at the cloudy sky brighten and then he saw the moon whining brightly in the sky. He didn't move at all, just stood on the ground like dead, until he heard some footsteps in the distance. Someone was running on the grass... Harry heard someone call his name. The voice couldn't be identified by Harry's mind...
"Harry! What..." but the speaker stopped instantly. Harry saw the dark outline of the one who was talking, but he didn't know who the person was... he wouldn't have known who he was even if he could see his face with his brain working like that... His mind seemed completely blank.
"Ennervate!" the person said, but that had no effect on Harry. "Lephter, help me... got to bring him to the Hospital Wing..."
"Mobilicorpus!"
Even though everything around Harry felt very heavy before, it was becoming lighter and lighter; and he started to feel a lot better. He recognized the spell that was casted on him -- it was supposed to make him float in midair, but, as he had never been put under a spell like that before, he didn't know how it felt like. Now that he was under it, he knew that it was a very good feeling...
He was floating in midair while the person was taking him into the castle. Only after several minutes did Harry understand that the person who was carrying him with the spell was actually John Niffler. His mind started to work again, though not as good as usual. He was gaining power again, but the Mobilicorpus spell managed to stop him from moving too much. It was hard to move while affected by that spell, because there seemed to be no gravity.
Harry was being magically dragged to the Hospital Wing, that was for sure. Because he started thinking, the first thing he asked himself was the obvious one: What happened?
That was one unanswered question.
The second thing was, did it have anything to do with the Death Eater? There was no alternative, only the Death Eater could have done that. But from what happened lately, it could have been anything...
That was two unanswered questions.
And the list could continue, but he tried to relax and think about something else. But what else could he think about, in a moment like that? Then the next question came to his mind: What spell was casted on him? That was clearly something else than a Memory Charm, not light, neither dark. It was something different... something he had never felt before.
Harry payed a little attention around him, and saw that they were closing to the Hospital Wing. The door swung open with a weak sound, and Niffler told Madam Pomfrey that he foud Harry lying on the grass out of the castle, after about one hour of waiting for him to arrive on the Quidditch Pitch.
One hour!!! Harry didn't realize how fast time passed while he was thoughtless. Even when he was trying to remember of the things that happened, he couldn't remember anything else than seeing the moon... well, that was all that happened so he had nothing to think about...
Harry was starting to feel stronger, and he wanted to tell Niffler and Madam Pomfrey exactly what happened. But he decided to wait and see what was going to happen next. He wished Cho was there to bring him comfort... and a little enlightment because she surely would have had lots of ideas about what happened.
Madam Pomfrey was exactly as usual: quick and quiet. She didn't say anything except telling Niffler to get out of the Hospital, because he was 'disturbing her patients'. She went to another patient and gave him a bright greenish potion to drink, and then she came to Harry. Harry was very disturbed when he saw the scene where loads of smoke came out of the mouth of the drinker.
"What happened?" the nurse asked Harry, hoping that he was able to say something.
"I don't know that," Harry answered, "but everything comes back to normal... I feel as usual now."
She walked to another room and soon after, she came back carrying a very large transparent bottle which had inscripted on it, 'DoubleM Potion'. Hary wondered what she was going to give him to drink, and saw that she wasn't carrying that potion for Harry. She took it to another student who stood in the bed just near his own.
"Drink that," she said, and the student opened his mouth. She filled a small glass with an incoloured liquid from the DoubleM Potion bottle. And after that, she drained the glass's contents on his neck.
Besides that it seemed to taste very bad, according to the face the student had while he drinked the potion, Harry was sure that he wouldn't want to test it. After he drank it, the student started floating in midair and he seemed to take a very high speed before starting to fly in every part of the room. Harry thought he had lost his mind, and that he had hallucinations; he could never have thought that Pomfrey would have administered something like that to a student... but still, she did, and what was that potion?
"Now, Potter," she said, turning to Harry, and looking in his green eyes, "How are you feeling? Anything hurts?"
"No, I am just fine... I guess it was a curse, but its effects passed now."
"Just wait a minute," she said, rushing to the room next to the hospital, and then Harry was relieved to see that it wasn't a DoubleM potion. She came back with a red potion, and said, "Drink this, Potter, and then you may go."
"I feel alright -- " said Harry thinking of what he just saw with the other patient, but --
"Just drink it!"
Harry had no alternative than to do so. He reminded himself that not all potions did what the DoubleM Potion did, and knew that he could drink it safely.
It was not bad at all -- just a little refreshing. There was nothing to be scared of.
"You may go now, Potter," Madam Pomfrey said while turning to the flying patient who stopped again, frozen, on his bed. Harry didn't want to see the following scene, and got out of the room as quickly as possible. And, where could he go then? Should he go and tell Ron and Hermione about it? Or was talking to Dumbledore a better solution?
He decided to try the last one because Dumbledore always gave Harry a good advice, so he hurried to his office again. He told the Gargoyle the 'Canary Creams' password, and went upstairs on the circular staircase. The door stood in front of him, and he knocked twice, but no one answered.
He knocked again, but he still didn't have any answer.
There was no one in the office, so he decided to go to his bedroom, thinking that he would visit Dumbledore the next day. It was not that late to go to bed, even if Harry supposed that he stood frozen on the cold grass for at least two hours(Except of the hour he sat on the cold grass, it surely took another hour for everything else). He ignored everyone in the Common Room, even Ron and Hermione who were very anxious to listen what he did at the Quidditch practice, and then he walked in the dormitory to throw himself on his four-poster, thinking about the spell that made his body feel so heavy and his mind so... thoughtless.
When he woke up the next day, he couldn't not remember the problems he had the last evening. He looked around and saw that everyone in the dormitory was still fast asleep. Harry went to bed quite early that night, and that meant he woke up before he had to.
But he was not sleepy at all. Even if there was another hour until the time everyone woke usually, he didn't want to stay on his bed all morning. He stood on his feet and started thinking about what he could do next; he decided to leave everything else for another time... it wasn't the time to think about the Imperius, Fudge, the Death Eater... he just wanted his life to be as normal as any other student's was... if it was possible.
But it wasn't. He could do nothing to make his life better, because he was too famous, and Lord Voldemort was still trying to kill him. But Harry summoned a little courage, if he managed to escape that many times, he would do it again the next time, wouldn't he?
He put on his robes, and walked out of the quiet dormitory. The Common room was empty, too, and there was no fire lit in the fireplace. He started thinking on what he could do for an hour.
There seemed to be nothing to do, at least nothing to do at that time in the morning. He had to talk to many people, but he was sure that none was avalabile at that time. The first one was Niffler, because they had to talk about the next -- or, better said, first -- Quidditch Practice. Then, he wanted to talk to Dumbledore, because he was the only wizard who was able to explain, or guess, the situation and the new threat. The third was Cho, because he just felt that she seemed to be interrested in the Dark Wizard walking in the castle, and she might would have found out something that Harry didn't know.
The sun outside was shining brightly; it made him walk out of the Gryffindor Tower, then downstairs, and right out of the castle.
He looked around, being enchanted by the warm atmosphere. It was quite cold the past few days, and the warmth the sun gave was quite refreshing. Harry walked a few steps and realized that he was in the same place where he was the last day when he was attacked.
Alarmed, he ran out of that place, only by instinct; it seemed stupid to think that the Death Eater would be exactly at the same place where he was the day before.
Harry saw the giant squid floating on the water. Looking at it, he saw that it didn't look like it would want to attack anyone, quite contrary, it looked quite friendly.
The water in the lake was very clear; Harry could see at a quite far distance through it. The giant squid left the warm air and sank deep in the much colder water, and Harry watched it swim for a few minutes until it sank so deep that he couldn't see it anymore.
Harry was just near the shore, looking a the wonderful sight. He sat on the grass, looking at the water which was disturbed by a fish that came to the surface.
He remembered the last time when he sat near the lake -- after the Quidditch Cup. Exactly as the last time, he started to think about lots of different things... This place was a good one to concentrate on what to do in order to defend himself about possible attacks... His brain seemed to work better when he was sitting near the lake...
There was one more thing that he thought were good things to do -- he considered reading the Dark Book of Dark Arts to prepare himself against every spell listed in the book. That was because, as the supposed Moody said, he never knew what the enemy would be trying. And being prepared against everything was a good start.
After a while, he decided to go back to the castle because the breakfast was to begin at any moment, and he didn't want to miss it; he was quite hungry after not eating almost anything the last day. And there he would talk to both Dumbledore and Niffler... but what about Cho?
He didn't feel like leaving the very pleasant spot where he was on, but he had no other choice. He left the lake behind, and the warm atmosphere with it... he hoped it would be the same next day...
If there would be a next day.
Stepping into the Great Hall, he saw that there were only a few students already inside; and that meant he went quite early. It was too late to go back to the lake, anyway.
Unfortunately, neither Ron nor Hermione arrived yet, so he had nothing else to do than to wait. He took a seat at the Gryffindor table, looking at Dumbledore who had just come into the hall. When should Harry go and talk to the headmaster?
After Ron and Hermione arrived, Harry remembered that he didn't tell them what happened the previous day, due to his quite bad state. He had to do it now, and seeing Ron's and Hermione's interrested expresions, he started explaining everything. Starting with the curse that was casted on him, he advanced on telling then about how he sat there one hour, about the strange potion Madam Pomfrey administered to a student, about his intentions to talk to Dumbledore and Niffler... basically everything.
"You say that he casted a curse that made you weaker?" asked Ron.
"Yes," Harry answered, looking up at the sky outside.
"You should go and read about this curse," Hermione suggested. Ron didn't look like he liked the suggestion, but Harry agreed. There was no better thing to do, after all. He decided that he would spend the entire evening reading that Dark Book of Dark Arts, because he didn't feel like practicing Quidditch that day. They would start another time.
The classes seemed to pass very slow when waiting for the evening to come. He was anxious to read more from the book, and he asked himself why. He usually wasn't attracted by books, but this one was special... This book could decide his entire future...
When the time had come at last, he took the book to the Gryffindor Common Room. Hermione was quite interrested, too, but Ron thought it was better to hear everything from Harry and Hermione.
Reading, Harry realized that it felt as he read it all before. But that was impossible -- he never read something like that. Still, everything was so familiar...
He reminded himself that he had been given extra memories... it was that spell, of course... why hadn't he thought about that? How could have he forgotten it? Was someone playing with his mind again?
Of course he was... The Death Eater wouldn't give up that easily. He decided that the next day he should try to talk to Cho, he just felt like he had to talk to her -- it was as if someone told him that Cho knew something...
He just hoped it wasn't the Memory-Modifier spell, Addictus Memoriae...
He knew by then that he was affected by a Weakness Curse. It was a very strong one, and made every part of Harry's body give up on anything. His muscles and bones didn't bother making him stay on his feet, and his brain hadn't considered thinking anymore.
Reading that book had one very bad effect. Harry realized how bad the danger he was in could be; he read about spells he had never thought of before, like the Blug curse, which did a terrible thing to a person: it blowed someone up and all the flesh pieces of the victim turned into evil, ferocious magical slugs that could bite.
Another thing he had not felt sure about was something strange with the Dark Book. At its end, there were a few pages; and Harry felt that it was hiding something. He tried many things to make the writing show up, but with no effect; he even tried to write in it as he did with Tom Riddle's diary. But, still, no effect.
That night he couldn't fall asleep very easy, with all the thoughts whirling inside his heavy head. Every single event that happened before was haunting him... and after that he even imagined himself go dark -- but no, he would never do that.
He had imagined himself a dark wizard quite a few times by then. He wondered why that happened to him -- he just couldn't think of himself evil, not at all. And he was sure that those thoughts were stupid; what could have turned him evil? Evil, as Voldemort himself is, the wizard Harry hates so much because he killed his parents? Could he go the same path Voldemort went on?
Another week passed very fast, Harry didn't even notice when that all happened. Worrying all day long because the Death Eater could turn up and cast an unknown spell on Harry, time seemed to pass faster than ever. He had only met Cho once, and they talked about what Dumbledore told him... and after a week, his worries decreased a little.
The first thing that was classified as out of ordinary happened on Monday, September the 18th. Harry was reminded that Niffler told him that they would start practices on that day, and he started to forget everything else and concentrate on this new event. Being a Quidditch Player for a team like that meant a lot for him, and he wanted to try to do the best he could; he didn't want to disappoint so many people who overestimated him.
Niffler came in the Gryffindor Common Room and told them that they would start the practice after the classes, and that meant in the evening; another bad thing that could happen to Harry -- he couldn't see the Snitch very well on darkness. He just hoped that he would manage to do the same thing as he did the first time that term, and catch the Snitch in a very short time.
He didn't feel like eating that morning at all. It wasn't a quidditch match, it was just a practice, but Harry felt the same nervousness as he did before a normal quidditch game, or maybe even like the one he felt before the tasks of the Triwizard tournament. That day was a very important one, after all... even though it was just a practice!...
The first class he had on Monday was Potions, and that did nothing else that to annoy him -- he was quite nervous on the upcoming training, and the only thing he needed was another class with Snape... Harry just hoped that he wouldn't blow anything up if Snape would make him angry.
After warmth potions, there came coldness and freezing potions. If Snape hadn't bullied Neville enough at Warmth Potions, he had enough oportunities to bully him at these kinds of potions -- they weren't that dangerous to work at but they were much more complicated. The only bad thing that one could suffer was to freeze, and that could be solved immediately with a warmth charm. The only bad thing was that they didn't do warmth charms yet with flitwick -- and Harry didnt think Snape would cast one on Neville; not until Neville suffered a few minutes anyway.
"Potter! Do not put the unicorn tail hair in the cauldron only after you will see the frozen water on the bottom of it!" shouted Snape, and to the Gryffindor's disgust, he took five points from Harry.
"How much I'd like to freeze Snape with a potion like that," Ron whispered in Harry's year. They forced themselves not to laugh -- that could have got themselves into lots of trouble, and the Gryffindors still had a negative number of house points. Harry had a small feeling that he was about to freeze Snape with a potion, but that could take even more valuable points from Gryffindor.
At the end of the class, Snape told them a few notes about the following classes. He didn't look pleased when he told everyone that they will start on Healing Potions.
He enjoyed a good Care of Magical Creatures class with Hagrid, where he told them more things about the Phoenix Owls. He told them how they were created, and many students had the idea of trying to have one. It was very welcoming to have an owl that could heal, could mail very heavy packages, and that looked beautiful... Logically, everyone seemed to like those owls much more than normal owls. Still, they were very rare, and not anyone could have one. It was a very strange thing that Malfoy had nothing bad to add when Hagrid said something; he seemed to enjoy the class very much.
That evening soon approached, and the time to go and see Niffler arrived too soon for him. He wished he had one more day until he had to go at the practice, or whatever Niffler wanted to do on Harry's the first day. He only enjoyed it because it was Quidditch...
Trying to ignore the fact that he was feeling very nervous, he opened the entrance gates of the castle very slowly. They seemed to listen to his thoughts, or somehting similar, because he opened them easier than usual -- or maybe it was just his mind... it was working a little different from usual... Harry had found out that he had never done to something that disturned him that much. Playing for the English Quidditch Team brought both nervousness and a very pleasant feeling at the same time...
He walked on the cold grass, looking between the dark clouded sky and the lake, where he could see the moon's reflection quite clearly. The air above him felt so heavy -- Everything seemed to be very hard to do... even moving his legs and arms... he felt them weaker and weaker... they were about to give up any moment... his mind seemed to stop working the last few strange moments --
And then he fell on the cold grass, unable to move and think at all... he just looked at the cloudy sky brighten and then he saw the moon whining brightly in the sky. He didn't move at all, just stood on the ground like dead, until he heard some footsteps in the distance. Someone was running on the grass... Harry heard someone call his name. The voice couldn't be identified by Harry's mind...
"Harry! What..." but the speaker stopped instantly. Harry saw the dark outline of the one who was talking, but he didn't know who the person was... he wouldn't have known who he was even if he could see his face with his brain working like that... His mind seemed completely blank.
"Ennervate!" the person said, but that had no effect on Harry. "Lephter, help me... got to bring him to the Hospital Wing..."
"Mobilicorpus!"
Even though everything around Harry felt very heavy before, it was becoming lighter and lighter; and he started to feel a lot better. He recognized the spell that was casted on him -- it was supposed to make him float in midair, but, as he had never been put under a spell like that before, he didn't know how it felt like. Now that he was under it, he knew that it was a very good feeling...
He was floating in midair while the person was taking him into the castle. Only after several minutes did Harry understand that the person who was carrying him with the spell was actually John Niffler. His mind started to work again, though not as good as usual. He was gaining power again, but the Mobilicorpus spell managed to stop him from moving too much. It was hard to move while affected by that spell, because there seemed to be no gravity.
Harry was being magically dragged to the Hospital Wing, that was for sure. Because he started thinking, the first thing he asked himself was the obvious one: What happened?
That was one unanswered question.
The second thing was, did it have anything to do with the Death Eater? There was no alternative, only the Death Eater could have done that. But from what happened lately, it could have been anything...
That was two unanswered questions.
And the list could continue, but he tried to relax and think about something else. But what else could he think about, in a moment like that? Then the next question came to his mind: What spell was casted on him? That was clearly something else than a Memory Charm, not light, neither dark. It was something different... something he had never felt before.
Harry payed a little attention around him, and saw that they were closing to the Hospital Wing. The door swung open with a weak sound, and Niffler told Madam Pomfrey that he foud Harry lying on the grass out of the castle, after about one hour of waiting for him to arrive on the Quidditch Pitch.
One hour!!! Harry didn't realize how fast time passed while he was thoughtless. Even when he was trying to remember of the things that happened, he couldn't remember anything else than seeing the moon... well, that was all that happened so he had nothing to think about...
Harry was starting to feel stronger, and he wanted to tell Niffler and Madam Pomfrey exactly what happened. But he decided to wait and see what was going to happen next. He wished Cho was there to bring him comfort... and a little enlightment because she surely would have had lots of ideas about what happened.
Madam Pomfrey was exactly as usual: quick and quiet. She didn't say anything except telling Niffler to get out of the Hospital, because he was 'disturbing her patients'. She went to another patient and gave him a bright greenish potion to drink, and then she came to Harry. Harry was very disturbed when he saw the scene where loads of smoke came out of the mouth of the drinker.
"What happened?" the nurse asked Harry, hoping that he was able to say something.
"I don't know that," Harry answered, "but everything comes back to normal... I feel as usual now."
She walked to another room and soon after, she came back carrying a very large transparent bottle which had inscripted on it, 'DoubleM Potion'. Hary wondered what she was going to give him to drink, and saw that she wasn't carrying that potion for Harry. She took it to another student who stood in the bed just near his own.
"Drink that," she said, and the student opened his mouth. She filled a small glass with an incoloured liquid from the DoubleM Potion bottle. And after that, she drained the glass's contents on his neck.
Besides that it seemed to taste very bad, according to the face the student had while he drinked the potion, Harry was sure that he wouldn't want to test it. After he drank it, the student started floating in midair and he seemed to take a very high speed before starting to fly in every part of the room. Harry thought he had lost his mind, and that he had hallucinations; he could never have thought that Pomfrey would have administered something like that to a student... but still, she did, and what was that potion?
"Now, Potter," she said, turning to Harry, and looking in his green eyes, "How are you feeling? Anything hurts?"
"No, I am just fine... I guess it was a curse, but its effects passed now."
"Just wait a minute," she said, rushing to the room next to the hospital, and then Harry was relieved to see that it wasn't a DoubleM potion. She came back with a red potion, and said, "Drink this, Potter, and then you may go."
"I feel alright -- " said Harry thinking of what he just saw with the other patient, but --
"Just drink it!"
Harry had no alternative than to do so. He reminded himself that not all potions did what the DoubleM Potion did, and knew that he could drink it safely.
It was not bad at all -- just a little refreshing. There was nothing to be scared of.
"You may go now, Potter," Madam Pomfrey said while turning to the flying patient who stopped again, frozen, on his bed. Harry didn't want to see the following scene, and got out of the room as quickly as possible. And, where could he go then? Should he go and tell Ron and Hermione about it? Or was talking to Dumbledore a better solution?
He decided to try the last one because Dumbledore always gave Harry a good advice, so he hurried to his office again. He told the Gargoyle the 'Canary Creams' password, and went upstairs on the circular staircase. The door stood in front of him, and he knocked twice, but no one answered.
He knocked again, but he still didn't have any answer.
There was no one in the office, so he decided to go to his bedroom, thinking that he would visit Dumbledore the next day. It was not that late to go to bed, even if Harry supposed that he stood frozen on the cold grass for at least two hours(Except of the hour he sat on the cold grass, it surely took another hour for everything else). He ignored everyone in the Common Room, even Ron and Hermione who were very anxious to listen what he did at the Quidditch practice, and then he walked in the dormitory to throw himself on his four-poster, thinking about the spell that made his body feel so heavy and his mind so... thoughtless.
When he woke up the next day, he couldn't not remember the problems he had the last evening. He looked around and saw that everyone in the dormitory was still fast asleep. Harry went to bed quite early that night, and that meant he woke up before he had to.
But he was not sleepy at all. Even if there was another hour until the time everyone woke usually, he didn't want to stay on his bed all morning. He stood on his feet and started thinking about what he could do next; he decided to leave everything else for another time... it wasn't the time to think about the Imperius, Fudge, the Death Eater... he just wanted his life to be as normal as any other student's was... if it was possible.
But it wasn't. He could do nothing to make his life better, because he was too famous, and Lord Voldemort was still trying to kill him. But Harry summoned a little courage, if he managed to escape that many times, he would do it again the next time, wouldn't he?
He put on his robes, and walked out of the quiet dormitory. The Common room was empty, too, and there was no fire lit in the fireplace. He started thinking on what he could do for an hour.
There seemed to be nothing to do, at least nothing to do at that time in the morning. He had to talk to many people, but he was sure that none was avalabile at that time. The first one was Niffler, because they had to talk about the next -- or, better said, first -- Quidditch Practice. Then, he wanted to talk to Dumbledore, because he was the only wizard who was able to explain, or guess, the situation and the new threat. The third was Cho, because he just felt that she seemed to be interrested in the Dark Wizard walking in the castle, and she might would have found out something that Harry didn't know.
The sun outside was shining brightly; it made him walk out of the Gryffindor Tower, then downstairs, and right out of the castle.
He looked around, being enchanted by the warm atmosphere. It was quite cold the past few days, and the warmth the sun gave was quite refreshing. Harry walked a few steps and realized that he was in the same place where he was the last day when he was attacked.
Alarmed, he ran out of that place, only by instinct; it seemed stupid to think that the Death Eater would be exactly at the same place where he was the day before.
Harry saw the giant squid floating on the water. Looking at it, he saw that it didn't look like it would want to attack anyone, quite contrary, it looked quite friendly.
The water in the lake was very clear; Harry could see at a quite far distance through it. The giant squid left the warm air and sank deep in the much colder water, and Harry watched it swim for a few minutes until it sank so deep that he couldn't see it anymore.
Harry was just near the shore, looking a the wonderful sight. He sat on the grass, looking at the water which was disturbed by a fish that came to the surface.
He remembered the last time when he sat near the lake -- after the Quidditch Cup. Exactly as the last time, he started to think about lots of different things... This place was a good one to concentrate on what to do in order to defend himself about possible attacks... His brain seemed to work better when he was sitting near the lake...
There was one more thing that he thought were good things to do -- he considered reading the Dark Book of Dark Arts to prepare himself against every spell listed in the book. That was because, as the supposed Moody said, he never knew what the enemy would be trying. And being prepared against everything was a good start.
After a while, he decided to go back to the castle because the breakfast was to begin at any moment, and he didn't want to miss it; he was quite hungry after not eating almost anything the last day. And there he would talk to both Dumbledore and Niffler... but what about Cho?
He didn't feel like leaving the very pleasant spot where he was on, but he had no other choice. He left the lake behind, and the warm atmosphere with it... he hoped it would be the same next day...
If there would be a next day.
Stepping into the Great Hall, he saw that there were only a few students already inside; and that meant he went quite early. It was too late to go back to the lake, anyway.
Unfortunately, neither Ron nor Hermione arrived yet, so he had nothing else to do than to wait. He took a seat at the Gryffindor table, looking at Dumbledore who had just come into the hall. When should Harry go and talk to the headmaster?
After Ron and Hermione arrived, Harry remembered that he didn't tell them what happened the previous day, due to his quite bad state. He had to do it now, and seeing Ron's and Hermione's interrested expresions, he started explaining everything. Starting with the curse that was casted on him, he advanced on telling then about how he sat there one hour, about the strange potion Madam Pomfrey administered to a student, about his intentions to talk to Dumbledore and Niffler... basically everything.
"You say that he casted a curse that made you weaker?" asked Ron.
"Yes," Harry answered, looking up at the sky outside.
"You should go and read about this curse," Hermione suggested. Ron didn't look like he liked the suggestion, but Harry agreed. There was no better thing to do, after all. He decided that he would spend the entire evening reading that Dark Book of Dark Arts, because he didn't feel like practicing Quidditch that day. They would start another time.
The classes seemed to pass very slow when waiting for the evening to come. He was anxious to read more from the book, and he asked himself why. He usually wasn't attracted by books, but this one was special... This book could decide his entire future...
When the time had come at last, he took the book to the Gryffindor Common Room. Hermione was quite interrested, too, but Ron thought it was better to hear everything from Harry and Hermione.
Reading, Harry realized that it felt as he read it all before. But that was impossible -- he never read something like that. Still, everything was so familiar...
He reminded himself that he had been given extra memories... it was that spell, of course... why hadn't he thought about that? How could have he forgotten it? Was someone playing with his mind again?
Of course he was... The Death Eater wouldn't give up that easily. He decided that the next day he should try to talk to Cho, he just felt like he had to talk to her -- it was as if someone told him that Cho knew something...
He just hoped it wasn't the Memory-Modifier spell, Addictus Memoriae...
He knew by then that he was affected by a Weakness Curse. It was a very strong one, and made every part of Harry's body give up on anything. His muscles and bones didn't bother making him stay on his feet, and his brain hadn't considered thinking anymore.
Reading that book had one very bad effect. Harry realized how bad the danger he was in could be; he read about spells he had never thought of before, like the Blug curse, which did a terrible thing to a person: it blowed someone up and all the flesh pieces of the victim turned into evil, ferocious magical slugs that could bite.
Another thing he had not felt sure about was something strange with the Dark Book. At its end, there were a few pages; and Harry felt that it was hiding something. He tried many things to make the writing show up, but with no effect; he even tried to write in it as he did with Tom Riddle's diary. But, still, no effect.
That night he couldn't fall asleep very easy, with all the thoughts whirling inside his heavy head. Every single event that happened before was haunting him... and after that he even imagined himself go dark -- but no, he would never do that.
He had imagined himself a dark wizard quite a few times by then. He wondered why that happened to him -- he just couldn't think of himself evil, not at all. And he was sure that those thoughts were stupid; what could have turned him evil? Evil, as Voldemort himself is, the wizard Harry hates so much because he killed his parents? Could he go the same path Voldemort went on?