Chapter 10: Meetings
The next morning Harry was a bit tired after the previous evening's adventures, but luckily it was Saturday, so he had no classes to attend. Harry had been debating all morning as to whether or not to tell Ron and Hermione what happened, but he decided, in the end, not to, as it seemed to be such a secret business. Luckily, he did have one thing to look forward to, and that was the first Quidditch practice of the year. He and Ron had been looking forward to this for quite some time now, and they approached the pitch on a sunny Saturday afternoon with eagerness. Unfortunately, Angelina was already awaiting them, and said, "No practice today. Blasted Slytherins overrode us with one of Snape's bloody orders." Ron and Angelina both wanted to take it to Snape, but Harry was happy not seeing him again, so he just said "Let's drop it. We've got plenty of time before our first game anyway. Might as well take a Saturday off." They both looked at Harry oddly, but he did not meet their gazes.
Instead, he and Ron went back to the castle, returning to the common room to store their gear. It was then that Hedwig knocked on the window with her beak, a letter tied to her leg. Harry opened the window and in she hopped; the moment he took the letter off she flew back to the Owlery, the letter now happily disposed of. He opened up the small piece of parchment; it read only one thing.
Report to the Headmaster's office immediately.
-Professor R. J. Lupin
Harry looked down at the note curiously, then put it in his pocket and said, "I think I'll go for a walk," and headed out. Ron merely shrugged and went back to playing Gobstones with Dean and Seamus, whereupon he was promptly squirted in the face with some foul-smelling liquid.
The corridors contained only a few students, most of them milling about or heading to the library to work on some up and coming homework long forgotten. When Harry finally arrived outside the Headmaster's office, he stared at the gargoyle and said, "Uh...Fizzing Whizbee?" It did nothing. "Cockroach Cluster? Chocolate Frog? Pumpkin Pastie?" None of them opened the door. "...Cauldron Cake? Ice Mice? Licorice Wand?" The door slid open and Harry began winding his way up the spiral staircase.
He knocked on the Headmaster's door, "Come in Harry," said a voice. He opened the door to find Dumbledore seated at his desk and Professors Snape, Lupin, and McGonagall all arranged before him. "Please sit down," said Dumbledore, gesturing to the one empty seat beside Professor Lupin. "Thank you sir," he said, sitting down quickly. "Now Harry, I'm sure you're wondering why you're here," said Dumbledore, "but don't worry. You are most assuredly not in trouble. However, there are a few things that the four of us need to discuss with you." He popped a lemon drop into his mouth, then said, "Several events have happened over the past week that should be clarified. You are already aware of Luna Lovegood's father, yes?"
"I am, sir," said Harry, "I talked to her when she was in the bathroom crying. She told me her father was in St. Mungo's after he'd been tortured to insanity by a Death Eater, and that they were unsure if he would make it all right." "Well," said Dumbledore, "the good news about Mr. Lovegood is that he's coming along just fine. He should be out of St. Mungo's within the week." Harry let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness..." he muttered, glad to know Luna, in turn, would be all right. "Indeed," said Dumbledore, "now can you make the obvious connection relating to the incident of last night?" Harry stared for a minute, then said, "Malfoy was the one that tortured Mr. Lovegood." "Yes Harry, that's right," said Dumbledore, gaze darkening. Harry was almost spitting with rage, "That...that...that evil, evil man...and with him and Draco acting like they're so much bloody better than everybody else..." he was almost shaking with rage and disgust.
"Watch your tongue, Potter," said McGonagall, "we're not here to discuss fellow students." Harry fell silent, waiting for Dumbledore to speak. "Moving on, the reason why Mr. Malfoy was here last night seems rather obvious by now. After inducing the truth from him via Professor Snape's Veritaserum we discovered that Voldemort has sent his Death Eaters after everybody close to you, Harry, starting with Luna." Harry stiffened, "What?" Dumbledore nodded, "Mr. Malfoy was after Ron and Hermione last night, hoping to catch them in the corridor leading to Gryffindor common room."
Harry felt faint; if he hadn't caught him first, if Snape hadn't been there... "Therefore," said Dumbledore, "we will be placing magical beacons on each of you. They will be small, undetectable items sewn into your robes. They will alert me at all times as to your locations."
For a moment, Harry was silent, then said, "Why don't you just hand me over to him? I mean I can't wait to kill him and he can't wait to kill me so why not make a thing out of it? After all, he's only trying to take away everything I've ever loved, I mean, why doesn't he just kill my parents and have my godfather murdered..." he snapped angrily, embittering himself by the minute.
The office was silent for a minute, then Lupin said, "I highly doubt that Sirius would appreciate that sort of kamikaze attitude from you, Harry." "Yeah well Sirius isn't here anymore, IS HE?!" shouted Harry. Lupin looked a little stunned and hurt, and Harry almost regretted it, then remembered that he didn't care anymore. "That's it," said Harry, "if Voldemort wants me then he can come and get me!" he snapped, "Not only will I be here but I'll bloody well be waiting for him! I'll tear him apart with my bare hands! I'll kill him and Bellatrix Lestrange! I'll kill them both!" his hands were white with rage now, clutching the armrests angrily, nails digging in.
"Harry please..."
"Harry don't..."
"Shut up, both of you! SHUT UP!" he shouted at McGonagall and Lupin, "I don't care! I hate him! Is it okay for me to hate the man that killed my parents and my godfather and tortured Luna's father? Is that okay? Is that normal? Because I'm sure feeling like it is right now! I HATE HIM HATE HIM HATE HIM!"
"HARRY POTTER!" bellowed a loud voice.
He turned to see Snape glaring at him, "Sit. Down." Harry's eyes became slits of rage, "After your bitter rant last night I don't see why I should! I'm just as angry as you are only I actually have a reason for it!" Snape's black eyes flashed as Harry turned to Dumbledore, "You know what? Go ahead, put a beacon in my robes, I don't care, I won't bloody well wear them! I'll go looking for Voldemort first! I'll find him and kill him!" Suddenly Snape stood up and in one stride he was upon Harry and he shoved him down into his seat, holding him down by the shoulders, "You will not speak to the Headmaster like that!" Hot tears of rage were pouring down Harry's face, "Fine!" And with that he knocked Snape's arms aside and turned to run out the door, only finding that the door wouldn't open. "Headmaster please open this door," said Harry angrily, kicking the wooden panels, "I want out of here!"
McGonagall stood and said, "Mr. Potter please keep your voice down. Just think calmly for a minute and sit down." "I WANT OUT OF THIS OFFICE! NOW!" Dumbledore looked at him silently, and a tear rolled down his cheek; he waved his hand and the lock popped open.
Harry tore down the hall, not to be seen for the next hour.
McGonagall turned back to Dumbledore, "Albus...why did you let him go?" Dumbledore was silent for a few minutes, staring after Harry as if he had only left the room a second before, then said, "We can't talk to him right now. He's too angry. He's been penting up his rage for too long. We've told him too many times to be quiet, be calm, be understanding. Now he's had enough of it all. Let him go for now. Let him think. He needs to." Lupin looked down at his feet; Snape simply stared out the window. McGonagall turned back and sat down uneasily, feeling lost.
After a moment, Lupin finally spoke, "I'd give my own life to have Sirius here right now. He's what Harry needs." "What Harry needs right now," said Dumbledore, "is some time to himself. But most of all, what he needs is a father." Dumbledore looked at Lupin and McGonagall in turn, who only nodded, but Snape refused to meet his gaze.
Harry was sitting in the very bowels of the school, in an abandoned dungeon he had once found by accident. He had never met anybody down here, nor did he hope to. He just wanted to be left alone, although he knew that somehow someone would find him. And eventually, about an hour and a half after the incident in Dumbledore's office, someone did.
Lupin.
"Harry..." he said, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder, "Harry...do you want to talk in my office or something?" he asked, sitting next to him on the cold stone steps. Harry shook his head, already feeling ashamed of himself for having behaved in such a manner to Lupin, the one person he could rely on the most, much less Dumbledore or McGonagall. "I'm just so tired and angry," he said, wishing he could stop feeling like this. "I'm so sick of running from Voldemort. I'm always running from him, and then, in the end, he always finds me or I find him, and we end in a stalemate. I wish one of us would just kill the other and have done with it."
Lupin nodded but said nothing, letting Harry speak his piece. "Gosh I wish my dad was here right now," he said softly, "I wish Sirius was here too. Then we could have a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks and sneak in through the Whomping Willow using my dad's Invisibility Cloak, and we could use the Marauder's Map..." Slowly, he began to cry, "And most of all I wish he wasn't dead...!" he sobbed, "I wish he was here!" Lupin put an arm around Harry and he immediately cried into Lupin's robes, "Why did this happen to me?" he sobbed. Lupin only shook his head, feeling tears in the back of his eyes, wishing that James and Sirius were here instead of him. But all he could say was "My God Harry, I'm so sorry..."
It had never really hit Lupin until that moment that Harry had never really confided in an adult. It had been just him, Ron, and Hermione. That was it. No older, wiser comfort. Just himself.
And it hurt Lupin that much more.
And unbeknownst to him, the exact same point was hitting home with Severus Snape, who was only feet behind them, watching Harry sob uncontrollably into Lupin's shoulder. And for once, Snape felt a pang of not guilt, but sympathy, remembering a childhood he had long since tried to forget. An empty, rotten childhood that no one would be proud of. Snape leaned his head against the cold stone wall, trying to block out his memories and Potter's simultaneous sobbing, and found he could not do it.
Lupin, in the mean time, said, "Harry, I know you want to be left alone, so I'll be in my office making some tea. You're welcome to come along if you want." Harry had finished his crying by now, and nodded, "Thanks but I think I'll just sit a while." Snape ducked into an alcove and watched Lupin leave, then silently left the dungeons, feeling something that he vaguely remembered as being guilt.
An hour later Harry had finally wandered back upstairs to Gryffindor common room, and both Ron and Hermione noticed that something dreadful had happened. "Harry, what's going on? What was that note about?" "Nothing," Harry lied, "Lupin just wanted a word with me, that's all." He looked out the window to notice dusk coming on, "Let's go have dinner," he said, closing the conversation with finality. Ron and Hermione exchanged glances but said nothing, merely followed him out the portrait hole once again.
They were approaching the Great Hall in silence when suddenly Roger Davies ran up to Harry, hair askew, looking quite aggravated, "Potter! Have you seen Cho Chang?" he said hurriedly. Harry shook his head, "No, why?" "She's missing," he said breathlessly, "I just finished running here from Ravenclaw common room and nobody's seen her for hours now." Harry's heart sank, "Oh no...Roger, where was the last place she was seen?" he asked quickly. "Practicing down on the pitch," said Roger, "but nobody's down there now." Harry nodded, then a look of realization crossed his face, "Uh, I have to...uh...go...!" he said, running back to Gryffindor common room as quickly as possible.
He barely touched the stone floor as he ran, wending his way through students and faculty alike, and once Filch shouted at him to stop running but he didn't heed. Instead he tore through the portrait hole as Neville was coming out, saying something about his strange cactus, while Harry dashed to his room and grabbed his Invisibility Cloak. A minute later, he was back out the portrait hole, the Fat Lady merely remarking, "Well! Such manners!"
Five minutes later, and in record time, he was running across the grounds, having left Ron and Hermione near the Great Hall without a second thought. He was heading for Hagrid's hut, hoping that the gamekeeper knew of strange goings on lately. He knocked on the door hard, and a moment later Hagrid appeared, "'Arry! What brings you here? You shouldn't be here at this time o' evenin'-" "Hagrid," interrupted Harry, "Cho Chang is missing. She was last seen practicing on the pitch. Have you heard anything strange in the Forbidden Forest lately? Or seen anyone?" Hagrid shook his head, "No, I 'aven't...although...migh' be somethin' ter that..." "What Hagrid, what?" said Harry quickly.
"Well I was jus' havin' a cup o' tea with Firenze, yeh know, that centaur that taught yeh Divination las' year," he said, "jus' a few hours ago, when all of a sudden he perks up and says 'Hagrid, I must go to the Forbidden Forest. I cannot say why.' And he took off, jus' like that!" Harry felt a ball of fear welling up in him as he assumed the worst, "Hagrid, I think Cho was taken into the Forbidden Forest." Hagrid straightened, said, "Harry, I want yeh ter go back ter yer dormitory. I'll take care o' this. An' I don' want yeh around. Go now."
Harry nodded and began sprinting back to the castle, turning back only once to see an owl flying toward the Headmaster's office, and Hagrid grabbing his crossbow and Fang the boarhound.
An hour later Harry had finished dinner, although he had hardly eaten, and was discussing things with Ron and Hermione. "So you think You- Know-Who's got her in the Forbidden Forest?" asked Ron softly. "Possibly," said Harry in a low voice, "I mean, he's after everything I've ever treasured in my life. I don't see why not." Hermione nodded, "Well Harry, I think you probably did the right thing. Hagrid knows the Forest better than anybody else, so if he can't find her, no one can." Somehow, that merely made Harry feel worse, "I think he told Dumbledore too," he added, "I saw an owl heading from Hagrid's hut to Dumbledore's tower. He'll know I was out of the castle, I suppose, but I don't care."
Ron and Hermione said nothing, merely stared at their now cold apple pie. A few minutes later, however, they heard a clattering outside the doors to the Great Hall and the three of them jumped up and ran out to see what was going on.
Cho Chang was held up by a Suspension spell, being cast by Dumbledore, and Hagrid was following him closely, glancing back occasionally as if worrying that someone might be following them. Slowly, they began to ascend the steps to the Headmaster's office, but not before Harry ran up to Dumbledore and said, "Sir, what happened?" Dumbledore looked down at Harry, said, "I'll speak to you about it later, Mr. Potter. Please return to your dormitory." And with that, they continued up the stairs, the whole of the student body now watching the unconscious Cho Chang floating in the air, dirt and bruises scattered across her face, black hair askew.
Suddenly, Harry felt a pair of hands grab Harry and slam him into the wall, and he bit down on his lip by accident, and blood and pain now throbbed out of his mouth. "DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS POTTER?" screamed Roger Davies, "YOU DID DIDN'T YOU?" Harry was silent, then said, "Yes." Roger belted him in the mouth, and then Professors Vector and Sinistra were upon him, pulling him off Harry as he wiped his mouth, "I'm sorry Roger. I can't help it." "DON'T EVEN LOOK AT ME POTTER! YOU SCUM!" he shouted as Sinistra and Vector dragged him to one of their offices.
The students were now staring at Harry, and he felt terrible; slowly, he walked up the stairs, Ron and Hermione choosing not to follow him and leave him be, and finally he came to the portrait hole, and, speaking the password "Lionhearted," he climbed through it slowly, his body aching everywhere. When he finally got to his room, he merely looked in the mirror to see a large black eye appearing and a gash in his lip. He ignored them both, and instead collapsed on his bed, and cried for the second time that day.
The next morning Harry was a bit tired after the previous evening's adventures, but luckily it was Saturday, so he had no classes to attend. Harry had been debating all morning as to whether or not to tell Ron and Hermione what happened, but he decided, in the end, not to, as it seemed to be such a secret business. Luckily, he did have one thing to look forward to, and that was the first Quidditch practice of the year. He and Ron had been looking forward to this for quite some time now, and they approached the pitch on a sunny Saturday afternoon with eagerness. Unfortunately, Angelina was already awaiting them, and said, "No practice today. Blasted Slytherins overrode us with one of Snape's bloody orders." Ron and Angelina both wanted to take it to Snape, but Harry was happy not seeing him again, so he just said "Let's drop it. We've got plenty of time before our first game anyway. Might as well take a Saturday off." They both looked at Harry oddly, but he did not meet their gazes.
Instead, he and Ron went back to the castle, returning to the common room to store their gear. It was then that Hedwig knocked on the window with her beak, a letter tied to her leg. Harry opened the window and in she hopped; the moment he took the letter off she flew back to the Owlery, the letter now happily disposed of. He opened up the small piece of parchment; it read only one thing.
Report to the Headmaster's office immediately.
-Professor R. J. Lupin
Harry looked down at the note curiously, then put it in his pocket and said, "I think I'll go for a walk," and headed out. Ron merely shrugged and went back to playing Gobstones with Dean and Seamus, whereupon he was promptly squirted in the face with some foul-smelling liquid.
The corridors contained only a few students, most of them milling about or heading to the library to work on some up and coming homework long forgotten. When Harry finally arrived outside the Headmaster's office, he stared at the gargoyle and said, "Uh...Fizzing Whizbee?" It did nothing. "Cockroach Cluster? Chocolate Frog? Pumpkin Pastie?" None of them opened the door. "...Cauldron Cake? Ice Mice? Licorice Wand?" The door slid open and Harry began winding his way up the spiral staircase.
He knocked on the Headmaster's door, "Come in Harry," said a voice. He opened the door to find Dumbledore seated at his desk and Professors Snape, Lupin, and McGonagall all arranged before him. "Please sit down," said Dumbledore, gesturing to the one empty seat beside Professor Lupin. "Thank you sir," he said, sitting down quickly. "Now Harry, I'm sure you're wondering why you're here," said Dumbledore, "but don't worry. You are most assuredly not in trouble. However, there are a few things that the four of us need to discuss with you." He popped a lemon drop into his mouth, then said, "Several events have happened over the past week that should be clarified. You are already aware of Luna Lovegood's father, yes?"
"I am, sir," said Harry, "I talked to her when she was in the bathroom crying. She told me her father was in St. Mungo's after he'd been tortured to insanity by a Death Eater, and that they were unsure if he would make it all right." "Well," said Dumbledore, "the good news about Mr. Lovegood is that he's coming along just fine. He should be out of St. Mungo's within the week." Harry let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness..." he muttered, glad to know Luna, in turn, would be all right. "Indeed," said Dumbledore, "now can you make the obvious connection relating to the incident of last night?" Harry stared for a minute, then said, "Malfoy was the one that tortured Mr. Lovegood." "Yes Harry, that's right," said Dumbledore, gaze darkening. Harry was almost spitting with rage, "That...that...that evil, evil man...and with him and Draco acting like they're so much bloody better than everybody else..." he was almost shaking with rage and disgust.
"Watch your tongue, Potter," said McGonagall, "we're not here to discuss fellow students." Harry fell silent, waiting for Dumbledore to speak. "Moving on, the reason why Mr. Malfoy was here last night seems rather obvious by now. After inducing the truth from him via Professor Snape's Veritaserum we discovered that Voldemort has sent his Death Eaters after everybody close to you, Harry, starting with Luna." Harry stiffened, "What?" Dumbledore nodded, "Mr. Malfoy was after Ron and Hermione last night, hoping to catch them in the corridor leading to Gryffindor common room."
Harry felt faint; if he hadn't caught him first, if Snape hadn't been there... "Therefore," said Dumbledore, "we will be placing magical beacons on each of you. They will be small, undetectable items sewn into your robes. They will alert me at all times as to your locations."
For a moment, Harry was silent, then said, "Why don't you just hand me over to him? I mean I can't wait to kill him and he can't wait to kill me so why not make a thing out of it? After all, he's only trying to take away everything I've ever loved, I mean, why doesn't he just kill my parents and have my godfather murdered..." he snapped angrily, embittering himself by the minute.
The office was silent for a minute, then Lupin said, "I highly doubt that Sirius would appreciate that sort of kamikaze attitude from you, Harry." "Yeah well Sirius isn't here anymore, IS HE?!" shouted Harry. Lupin looked a little stunned and hurt, and Harry almost regretted it, then remembered that he didn't care anymore. "That's it," said Harry, "if Voldemort wants me then he can come and get me!" he snapped, "Not only will I be here but I'll bloody well be waiting for him! I'll tear him apart with my bare hands! I'll kill him and Bellatrix Lestrange! I'll kill them both!" his hands were white with rage now, clutching the armrests angrily, nails digging in.
"Harry please..."
"Harry don't..."
"Shut up, both of you! SHUT UP!" he shouted at McGonagall and Lupin, "I don't care! I hate him! Is it okay for me to hate the man that killed my parents and my godfather and tortured Luna's father? Is that okay? Is that normal? Because I'm sure feeling like it is right now! I HATE HIM HATE HIM HATE HIM!"
"HARRY POTTER!" bellowed a loud voice.
He turned to see Snape glaring at him, "Sit. Down." Harry's eyes became slits of rage, "After your bitter rant last night I don't see why I should! I'm just as angry as you are only I actually have a reason for it!" Snape's black eyes flashed as Harry turned to Dumbledore, "You know what? Go ahead, put a beacon in my robes, I don't care, I won't bloody well wear them! I'll go looking for Voldemort first! I'll find him and kill him!" Suddenly Snape stood up and in one stride he was upon Harry and he shoved him down into his seat, holding him down by the shoulders, "You will not speak to the Headmaster like that!" Hot tears of rage were pouring down Harry's face, "Fine!" And with that he knocked Snape's arms aside and turned to run out the door, only finding that the door wouldn't open. "Headmaster please open this door," said Harry angrily, kicking the wooden panels, "I want out of here!"
McGonagall stood and said, "Mr. Potter please keep your voice down. Just think calmly for a minute and sit down." "I WANT OUT OF THIS OFFICE! NOW!" Dumbledore looked at him silently, and a tear rolled down his cheek; he waved his hand and the lock popped open.
Harry tore down the hall, not to be seen for the next hour.
McGonagall turned back to Dumbledore, "Albus...why did you let him go?" Dumbledore was silent for a few minutes, staring after Harry as if he had only left the room a second before, then said, "We can't talk to him right now. He's too angry. He's been penting up his rage for too long. We've told him too many times to be quiet, be calm, be understanding. Now he's had enough of it all. Let him go for now. Let him think. He needs to." Lupin looked down at his feet; Snape simply stared out the window. McGonagall turned back and sat down uneasily, feeling lost.
After a moment, Lupin finally spoke, "I'd give my own life to have Sirius here right now. He's what Harry needs." "What Harry needs right now," said Dumbledore, "is some time to himself. But most of all, what he needs is a father." Dumbledore looked at Lupin and McGonagall in turn, who only nodded, but Snape refused to meet his gaze.
Harry was sitting in the very bowels of the school, in an abandoned dungeon he had once found by accident. He had never met anybody down here, nor did he hope to. He just wanted to be left alone, although he knew that somehow someone would find him. And eventually, about an hour and a half after the incident in Dumbledore's office, someone did.
Lupin.
"Harry..." he said, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder, "Harry...do you want to talk in my office or something?" he asked, sitting next to him on the cold stone steps. Harry shook his head, already feeling ashamed of himself for having behaved in such a manner to Lupin, the one person he could rely on the most, much less Dumbledore or McGonagall. "I'm just so tired and angry," he said, wishing he could stop feeling like this. "I'm so sick of running from Voldemort. I'm always running from him, and then, in the end, he always finds me or I find him, and we end in a stalemate. I wish one of us would just kill the other and have done with it."
Lupin nodded but said nothing, letting Harry speak his piece. "Gosh I wish my dad was here right now," he said softly, "I wish Sirius was here too. Then we could have a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks and sneak in through the Whomping Willow using my dad's Invisibility Cloak, and we could use the Marauder's Map..." Slowly, he began to cry, "And most of all I wish he wasn't dead...!" he sobbed, "I wish he was here!" Lupin put an arm around Harry and he immediately cried into Lupin's robes, "Why did this happen to me?" he sobbed. Lupin only shook his head, feeling tears in the back of his eyes, wishing that James and Sirius were here instead of him. But all he could say was "My God Harry, I'm so sorry..."
It had never really hit Lupin until that moment that Harry had never really confided in an adult. It had been just him, Ron, and Hermione. That was it. No older, wiser comfort. Just himself.
And it hurt Lupin that much more.
And unbeknownst to him, the exact same point was hitting home with Severus Snape, who was only feet behind them, watching Harry sob uncontrollably into Lupin's shoulder. And for once, Snape felt a pang of not guilt, but sympathy, remembering a childhood he had long since tried to forget. An empty, rotten childhood that no one would be proud of. Snape leaned his head against the cold stone wall, trying to block out his memories and Potter's simultaneous sobbing, and found he could not do it.
Lupin, in the mean time, said, "Harry, I know you want to be left alone, so I'll be in my office making some tea. You're welcome to come along if you want." Harry had finished his crying by now, and nodded, "Thanks but I think I'll just sit a while." Snape ducked into an alcove and watched Lupin leave, then silently left the dungeons, feeling something that he vaguely remembered as being guilt.
An hour later Harry had finally wandered back upstairs to Gryffindor common room, and both Ron and Hermione noticed that something dreadful had happened. "Harry, what's going on? What was that note about?" "Nothing," Harry lied, "Lupin just wanted a word with me, that's all." He looked out the window to notice dusk coming on, "Let's go have dinner," he said, closing the conversation with finality. Ron and Hermione exchanged glances but said nothing, merely followed him out the portrait hole once again.
They were approaching the Great Hall in silence when suddenly Roger Davies ran up to Harry, hair askew, looking quite aggravated, "Potter! Have you seen Cho Chang?" he said hurriedly. Harry shook his head, "No, why?" "She's missing," he said breathlessly, "I just finished running here from Ravenclaw common room and nobody's seen her for hours now." Harry's heart sank, "Oh no...Roger, where was the last place she was seen?" he asked quickly. "Practicing down on the pitch," said Roger, "but nobody's down there now." Harry nodded, then a look of realization crossed his face, "Uh, I have to...uh...go...!" he said, running back to Gryffindor common room as quickly as possible.
He barely touched the stone floor as he ran, wending his way through students and faculty alike, and once Filch shouted at him to stop running but he didn't heed. Instead he tore through the portrait hole as Neville was coming out, saying something about his strange cactus, while Harry dashed to his room and grabbed his Invisibility Cloak. A minute later, he was back out the portrait hole, the Fat Lady merely remarking, "Well! Such manners!"
Five minutes later, and in record time, he was running across the grounds, having left Ron and Hermione near the Great Hall without a second thought. He was heading for Hagrid's hut, hoping that the gamekeeper knew of strange goings on lately. He knocked on the door hard, and a moment later Hagrid appeared, "'Arry! What brings you here? You shouldn't be here at this time o' evenin'-" "Hagrid," interrupted Harry, "Cho Chang is missing. She was last seen practicing on the pitch. Have you heard anything strange in the Forbidden Forest lately? Or seen anyone?" Hagrid shook his head, "No, I 'aven't...although...migh' be somethin' ter that..." "What Hagrid, what?" said Harry quickly.
"Well I was jus' havin' a cup o' tea with Firenze, yeh know, that centaur that taught yeh Divination las' year," he said, "jus' a few hours ago, when all of a sudden he perks up and says 'Hagrid, I must go to the Forbidden Forest. I cannot say why.' And he took off, jus' like that!" Harry felt a ball of fear welling up in him as he assumed the worst, "Hagrid, I think Cho was taken into the Forbidden Forest." Hagrid straightened, said, "Harry, I want yeh ter go back ter yer dormitory. I'll take care o' this. An' I don' want yeh around. Go now."
Harry nodded and began sprinting back to the castle, turning back only once to see an owl flying toward the Headmaster's office, and Hagrid grabbing his crossbow and Fang the boarhound.
An hour later Harry had finished dinner, although he had hardly eaten, and was discussing things with Ron and Hermione. "So you think You- Know-Who's got her in the Forbidden Forest?" asked Ron softly. "Possibly," said Harry in a low voice, "I mean, he's after everything I've ever treasured in my life. I don't see why not." Hermione nodded, "Well Harry, I think you probably did the right thing. Hagrid knows the Forest better than anybody else, so if he can't find her, no one can." Somehow, that merely made Harry feel worse, "I think he told Dumbledore too," he added, "I saw an owl heading from Hagrid's hut to Dumbledore's tower. He'll know I was out of the castle, I suppose, but I don't care."
Ron and Hermione said nothing, merely stared at their now cold apple pie. A few minutes later, however, they heard a clattering outside the doors to the Great Hall and the three of them jumped up and ran out to see what was going on.
Cho Chang was held up by a Suspension spell, being cast by Dumbledore, and Hagrid was following him closely, glancing back occasionally as if worrying that someone might be following them. Slowly, they began to ascend the steps to the Headmaster's office, but not before Harry ran up to Dumbledore and said, "Sir, what happened?" Dumbledore looked down at Harry, said, "I'll speak to you about it later, Mr. Potter. Please return to your dormitory." And with that, they continued up the stairs, the whole of the student body now watching the unconscious Cho Chang floating in the air, dirt and bruises scattered across her face, black hair askew.
Suddenly, Harry felt a pair of hands grab Harry and slam him into the wall, and he bit down on his lip by accident, and blood and pain now throbbed out of his mouth. "DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS POTTER?" screamed Roger Davies, "YOU DID DIDN'T YOU?" Harry was silent, then said, "Yes." Roger belted him in the mouth, and then Professors Vector and Sinistra were upon him, pulling him off Harry as he wiped his mouth, "I'm sorry Roger. I can't help it." "DON'T EVEN LOOK AT ME POTTER! YOU SCUM!" he shouted as Sinistra and Vector dragged him to one of their offices.
The students were now staring at Harry, and he felt terrible; slowly, he walked up the stairs, Ron and Hermione choosing not to follow him and leave him be, and finally he came to the portrait hole, and, speaking the password "Lionhearted," he climbed through it slowly, his body aching everywhere. When he finally got to his room, he merely looked in the mirror to see a large black eye appearing and a gash in his lip. He ignored them both, and instead collapsed on his bed, and cried for the second time that day.