Mantic
Reminiscence
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the world in which he frolics.
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Harry felt himself fall through the air. He could almost hope he wasn't going to get hurt, but he hadn't been falling for enough time for any thought but pure fear. He landed smoothly on a cloud of blue and silver and struggled to sit up straight when he realized that he had landed on a gigantic pile of pillows. It was obvious where he was - he was quite sure Hogwarts could not possibly house this many pillows - and he knew he had conveniently fallen in the Room of Requirement.
Well, that takes care of that. Harry dusted his hands off for no reason and took a good look around. He laughed when he realized that this room had always been there for him, even when his friends would doubt him.
The castle had remained much the same, but it did have more than a few glaring exceptions. Most of the paintings, for example, had gone blurry because Harry had never taken the time to really look at them. The Fat Lady was especially conspicuous as she was constantly picking her nose; Harry found that memory particularly funny and it had stuck with his impression of Hogwarts. The staircases would move in odd patterns, constantly going back and forth, because Harry had remembered them as annoying when he was trying to go in one direction and the staircases would not allow it.
When he had entered the library, he stood amazed at the uniformity. Surely he remembered more color here and there, but he could not change the memory now as it was already gone and stuck inside of the pensieve. The books on the shelves were too similar to one another. Some stood out, notably almost the entire Quidditch section and other obscure titles that he had been forced to search during his many 'research projects' with Hermione and Ron. But this place was utterly and entirely depressing.
There were a few dark spots near the Ravenclaw common room. Some of the corridors looked eerie and somewhat evil for their darkness, and Harry had decided to venture down them to see what obscurity would show up as the 'memory' of a place he had never been. He walked for a few minutes before he realized that he wasn't getting anywhere. Everything in front of him was dark, but he turned around and realized that he hadn't been walking at all, or he had been walking in place. The same blurry statue he had passed three minutes ago was still there. The darkness in the corridor would not let him go anywhere.. Well, that was as far as his memory could take him.
Finally, he retired to the Gryffindor common room, where he was comforted by the details in the paintings and the architecture. This is a place he had been many times. He checked his wristwatch and realized that several hours had passed, causing him stress over a number of things. For one, he wasn't the least bit hungry, which was peculiar as it was well past breakfast time and he hadn't eaten dinner the previous night. And second, he wasn't tired at all - he had exactly the same amount of energy as when he arrived. This, he realized, would be very boring indeed.
Being in this place was not at all what he had assumed it would be. No people, no people even ignoring him as he had experienced in other pensieves. And, though hours had passed, he was not pulled out of this memory.
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"Sir?" Draco asked in confusion.
"There is no other option. I entrust him to you; he is not safe here. I have thought carefully about it, and it is a possibility that the only people who know where Harry is will die in battle. I will send Severus with you. Go somewhere remote - I shall maintain contact with both of you. Do not allow Harry to come out until I send word. He has never mastered Occlumency and it would be very simple for Voldemort to locate him should he leave that pensieve." Dumbledore pulled out his wand and pointed it at the stone bowl, effectively shrinking it into a manageable size.
At that moment, Severus Snape had entered the room. "You called for me, sir?"
"Yes, we haven't much time to prepare for this battle. The Ministry has been called, we have three hundred Aurors in," He checked his watch, "One hour. We have to get you, Draco and Harry out before then."
There was a moment of intense emotional disorder in the room before Severus burst with a horrified, "Pardon?"
"We need to get you out of Hogwarts. The three of you are not safe here." Dumbledore explained slowly.
"Sir! I can help with this battle. I know his tactics, I know how he thinks!" Severus was on the verge of yelling at this point.
"That is precisely why I need you to escort Harry and Draco to a safe place. You know how Voldemort thinks, so you will avoid him at all costs. Harry may not die. He dies and the wizarding world along with him. You will both have to protect him - do not be found! Severus, keep contact with me in the usual way."
Severus, still confounded, did not speak.
"…Without Harry, how will you defeat the Dark Lord?" Draco asked quietly.
"We will not defeat him. There is no hope for that, but we will exhaust his forces, he will be without guard when the battle is over, I will personally make sure of it. Nobody knows where the three of you are, or will be in an hour. Severus, take them somewhere remote, Antarctica if you need to. Take only what belongings are necessary. I have shrunken two weeks worth of food," he pointed casually at a tiny pile of tiny boxes with tiny food inside, "try not to be seen by muggles unless absolutely necessary."
But Draco had an idea. "Harry has an invisibility cloak, sir! We could use that if we needed it."
"Good, good. Take it. Well then, Severus, remember those…constitutions, and I will expect word from you every day in the morning and in the evening. And Draco, have a safe trip. You may have brief visits with Harry inside of the pensieve, I'm certain it gets quite boring in there when one does not need to sleep or eat and has no communication with the outside world." Dumbledore checked his grandfather clock and clapped his hands, "I'm afraid we've run out of time. You have forty five minutes to get your belongings in order and leave the castle. Good luck."
Severus was still silent after he had left Dumbledore's office. He was furious. He was now responsible for a little shit stuck in a memory - who happened to be the wizarding world's last hope. Damn his luck.
"Come to my office in twenty five minutes" and he left Draco standing at the door to the Slytherin common room.
Draco rushed into his room, thankfully finding that the entire school had been evacuated of students, and threw handfuls of clothes into his trunk. He also located the invisibility cloak (Harry had left it one day after he had snuck into the Slytherins' common room), which had been carelessly tossed under Draco's bed.
After he shrunk his trunk, he remembered to grab his broomstick from beside his bed - it could be useful in the future. He hurried down to Severus' office as they had only twenty minutes before the Aurors would arrive. They could not be seen, even by allies. He entered the office without bothering to knock; he and Severus had become comfortable with each other after the arduous spent together as Death Eaters.
Severus was standing by the fire, ready to leave, by the time Draco had arrived. "We're taking the floo to the Black Residence, but we cannot linger. We will spend one day there - for sleep and to get things in order - but that is all we can afford. We can't stay in one place for more than two days at a time; you had better not get sick while we're using portkeys. It isn't safe to Apparate with Potter inside of the pensieve, as we can't be sure what will happen to him."
Draco rolled his eyes, "Alright, you go first."
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Hey, I hope you liked this chapter. Please leave a Review! Maybe I'll write faster! Lol. Oh, so tired. I didn't get this beta-ed so there are bound to be some errors and repetitionitionness - blah, okay too tired to think now, going to sleep, bye bye.
-Tara
