Chapter 27:
Harry remained in the Hospital Wing for only the rest of that afternoon, and during that time he had had a little talk with Dumbledore, who had a suspicion that Voldemort might have been the heir of Acacia, not Slytherin, because there was a good chance that Amara had not been Slytherin's child. Dumbledore still hadn't an idea as to why the room in the chapel had sent them back in time 900 years, and he didn't know why they had all come back in different places. And, as to where Harry had been for three days, nobody had even a remote estimate. Apparently, they had searched the Room of Requirements and had not found Harry. Dumbledore even went as far as to put a counter-curse to Obliviate, but it did no good.
When Harry finally returned to the Gryffindor tower, it was Wednesday, and Harry was completely dreading Occlumency after his defense lesson with the other heirs that evening.
That morning, however, was Defense Against the Dark Arts with Calista. He was running a few minutes late to class, because Peeves the Poltergeist had thrown a balloon full of Weasley's Everlasting Confetti at Harry, causing Harry to silently thinking of how annoying Fred George's pranks were for the victim. He finally reached class, covered in confetti, four minutes late. He opened the door quickly.
"How nice of you to finally join us, J- Harry," said Calista smiling. "Sit down."
"Sorry," explained Harry… "It was Peeves." Calista smiled.
"Yes, a mixture of Peeves with Fred and George's contraptions can be rather… a nuisance," she laughed. Harry looked at Draco, who looked mad that Harry hadn't gotten into trouble.
"Now… I don't believe you all have exactly had a proper lesson with me quite yet. The main components that each and every one of you will need for Newt Defense are Trust, Vigilance, and quick logic. I believe that every single person in this room has one of those that they need to work on." Calista hoisted herself onto her desk. "And we will be working on those three components and have them down before we begin real defense classes. Now, this class is a team! We will all, by the end of the year, trust each other, keep each other's trust… know each other well enough to be of assistance in a duel. We will learn when to trust first instincts and when to get knowledge to back them up." Harry's stomach sunk; he'd gotten Sirius killed because of a first instinct…
"Mr. Longbottom!" Harry chuckled; Neville was always the one that defense teachers seemed to volunteer first.
"Yes?" asked Neville wearily.
"Would you trust, let's say, Miss Granger with your life?" Neville looked at Hermione uncomfortably.
"Your answer, please, quickly!"
"Yes, I su-"
"What about Mr. Finnegan, would you trust him with your life?" Neville shifted uncomfortably.
"Well?"
"I guess so-"
"What about Mr. Malfoy?"
"No." Everybody laughed.
"And why wouldn't you trust Mr. Malfoy with your life?"
"Because, well… I guess he's just… I just wouldn't. I value my life more than that, thanks…"
"Interesting," said Calista. "Now, everybody quickly write on the piece of parchment that I give you, who in this class you would and wouldn't trust your life with. This parchment is charmed so that nobody but the writer and I, myself can read what is written on it." She handed Harry a sheet of paper. Hmm… Harry thought. Who could I trust my life with? He immediately wrote down Ron and Hermione. Then le looked around the classroom. Lenore, he supposed. And Neville. He decided to come back to that list in a moment; he began the list of people he wouldn't trust his life with.
Malfoy… Zabini, those were the only two Slytherins. Zacharias Smith, Lisa Turpin… He wasn't sure about Parvati, Lavender, Seamus, and Dean. He finally added them to the first list, after all, they were Gryffindors. After only two minutes, Calista came and picked up the lists. Nobody was even done yet.
Calista flipped through the papers. "We'll do the next trust activity next lesson; now we'll move on to how well you know each other. I'm going to read a random paper. You all can try to guess who wrote it." She shuffled through the parchment and finally picked up a piece.
"This person would trust Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Robyn Staarzyl with his or her life. He or she doesn't have a list for those she would not trust; he or she has omitted the rest. Those omitted go on the not trusting list, however. Any guesses?" Harry knew immediately that it was Lenore. Hermione's hand went up eagerly next to him, and he decided not to guess. Several other hands went up timidly. Harry glanced at Lenore, who didn't show the slightest sign of recognition. She was a very good liar, thought Harry.
"Yes, Miss Abbott?"
"Is it Lenore?"
"Indeed, it is. Now who, of the people who raised their hands, knew because of her personality?" Neville, Hermione, Robyn, and Ron raised their hands. "Now, who knew because of the process of elimination?" Hannah, Ernie, Padma, Zabini, Seamus, and Justin raised their hands. "And who had no idea whatsoever?" Many hands went up; Lavender, Parvati, Dean, Malfoy, Zacharias, a Ravenclaw named Lisa, and Susan's hands all went up.
"Okay… not too good, but not horrible. Mr. Potter, I notice that you never raised your hand?"
"Oh, well I knew it was Lenore, but so many people were raising their hands and I decided not to."
"Well, next time, volunteer any information you have. That goes for everyone. A crucial element in being a good team. Now, I'll do a few more. This person wouldn't ever trust a student with their life. Any deductions?" Harry looked around him, wondering who wouldn't trust anybody with his or her life. And it struck him. He raised his hand; everybody else was looking around, bewildered.
"Yes, Harry?"
"Is it Malfoy?"
"We are going to use first names in this class from now on… except it's a school rule that I have to be Professor Wentworth. So who is it, Harry?"
"Draco?"
Calista quickly sifted through her papers. "Actually, there are two people. Yes, Draco is one of them."
Hermione raised her hand. "Is Blaise the other?"
"No," said Calista. Hermione looked upset that she had gotten a question wrong. Everybody looked surprised at this as well. "No more guesses? It's Zacharias." Of course, thought Harry. That should have been obvious. Everybody looked surprised at first, but then looked as if it should have been easy to figure out.
"Now, I am noticing that every paper except for those two and one other have Harry Potter on them. Why do you trust Harry?" Harry flushed. Nobody raised their hands. "If that's how you want it," sighed Calista. "Ernie, why do you trust Harry?"
"Because… I don't know," said Ernie. He then regained his normal pompousness. "I suppose it's because Harry's defeated You-Know-Who… and look at all the losses Harry's had from him; he probably would never join him!"
"Yeah," said Hannah. "I agree. And he's really brave!" Calista took this into consideration.
"Miss Granger? Why would you trust Harry?"
"Because he's one of my best friends," said Hermione, flustered. "And I know that he would sacrifice himself for almost anybody."
"He didn't for Cedric," said Zacharias loudly. Harry felt his anger boiling up inside him. There were some loud murmurs. Then Ron stood up for Harry, who was suddenly reliving an awful memory… Those lifeless eyes. Harry shuddered.
"There wasn't any time, you idiot!" yelled Ron at Zacharias. "Harry didn't know that the trophy was a portkey and that You-Know-Who was about to jump out at them-"
"Enough!" said Calista loudly. "Miss Granger serves a very good point! Potter, are you all right?"
Harry had his head between his knees. All he could see was Cedric falling to the ground, Sirius falling through the veil… Falling, falling… eyes, lifeless, unexpecting eyes… souls spilling out of those eyes, in the tears shed of happiness and fright, loneliness and laughter, misery and bliss… Falling… eyes…
"Harry, you're not breathing," came a faraway voice on one side of him, a familiar voice…
From another side of the black whirlpool Harry was drowning in came a different, cooler, more sinister voice… "Acacia…" it hissed. "You destroyed… you killed…" And then there was laughter, evil laughter, from a woman's voice… and it adjoined with a man's voice from the other side of the whirlpool…
"Take Harry and go!" Screams. Laughter. Cries. Hopeless eyes, all staring at Harry, emerging from the shadows… More screaming…
Then came the voice of Sirius, and three other familiar voices.
"Harry… go back. Don't listen to the screams! It's Him… it's the past…"
"Get out of here while you can, Harry!" It was his mother's voice. "You need to go back; don't stay here with us! We're trapped in here; we can only escape if you go back and fulfill the destiny…"
"Harry," came his father's pained voice. "Go… tell Remus, I never got the chance… that I'm sorry… tell Ev and Calli we said hello, Harry… Go! Now! They're coming!"
The next voice was familiar, but Harry couldn't place it. It was soft and sweet and kind. "They need you, Harry. Go back! They're coming…"
Screams, and suddenly the feeling of being chased. Harry fought against the swirling tides in the back of his mind; he had to get out. Suddenly, he bolted up, panting.
The classroom was bright with the daylight and concerned faces surrounded Harry. He regained his senses. "Calli- Calista… Mum and Dad and Sirius said… No, no, where's Remus? Where's Evelyn? Please-" Harry stood up, feeling dizzy.
"Lenore, take Harry to the Hospital Wing, " said Calista. Her face went white.
"Don't- need-" began Harry, but Calista stopped him.
"I suppose you're right," She gave Harry a large slab of chocolate. "Eat that. Now come back and sit down." Harry sat back in his seat. The whole class looked shaken, but they were nothing compared to Harry.
"Professor?" he said suddenly. "Can I please go see the Headmaster?"
"Of course you may, Harry." Harry stood up, annoyed with himself for being so prone to these panic attacks and visions. When he reached the Gargoyles, he said the password.
"Canary Creams." The door opened, allowing Harry entrance into the stairway. He reached the top, and he knocked on the door.
"Come in," came a voice belonging to none other than Lupin.
"Professor Dumbledore, Remus…" began Harry immediately. "We were were just in defense, and I sort of blacked out and heard voices… and I was like… stuck in my emotions. I kept seeing eyes of people who had been killed… and then I heard somebody talking about Acacia, and I heard tons of screams and I heard my dad the night Voldemort killed him… and then they spoke to me, Sirius and my parents and a woman I didn't know. They said to say hello to Evelyn and Calista for them, and then my dad said to tell Remus that he was sorry…" Remus caught his breath.
"He did?"
"Yeah… and then this other girl said something… she had a really pretty voice, like an angel…"
"Holly," breathed Lupin. "You heard Holly."
"Hold on a moment, Harry, Remus," said Dumbledore. "Harry, what caused you to black out?" Harry flushed.
"Somebody said that I just let Cedric die…"
"Ah," said Dumbledore. "You do know that that is not true?" Harry nodded slowly and answered almost mechanically.
"There was nothing I could do. When Voldemort wants to kill you, you die." Dumbledore slowly nodded. Lupin looked to the floor before speaking.
"It seems as if you had a panic attack, Harry…"
"But they said that they were trapped there; and that I was their only hope."
"It seems you were averted into a false utopia, Harry. I wouldn't worry." Harry nodded slowly. "Anyway, I believe classes just ended. Why don't you go on?" Harry nodded and left slowly. He met Ron and Hermione in the corridor.
"Harry, what happened?" asked Hermione immediately.
"Yeah, mate, are you all right?"
Harry nodded. "I had a sort of panic attack. It was…" Harry trailed off, shivering. Hermione looked at him sympathetically.
"Well, at least we all have a free period right now…"
"Blimey!" said Ron excitedly. "I completely forgot!"
"Yes, well… why don't we visit Hagrid?" Harry brightened, as did Ron, and the trio strolled out of the castle, onto the grounds.
A/N: Review! Thanks!
~Jinglez