Nora woke up looking terrible that morning. Her face was tearstained and her eyes were red and puffy. She went to the bathroom and washed her face, trying to hide the fact that she had cried herself to sleep. Hermione woke up, too and both girls made their way to the Great Hall for lunch. Even though it was Monday, Dumbledore let the students miss their first two classes, because the Halloween Ball had ended a tad late, at one o'clock.
"Hey, I only just noticed you're wearing that necklace that went with your costume, it looks nice on you," Nora told Hermione, who beamed.
After lunch they made their way towards the Greenhouses with Harry and Ron. Luckily they were finished with taking care of their Goreenwahs and had moved on to Sunrays. Sunrays were little plants that looked harmless but if endangered they would show very sharp pointy teeth and try to bite their attacker. The little teeth contained poisonous fluids that would make you pass out, and if not taken care of in the next twenty-four hours you would die. The Sunrays were yellow, hence the name, but with orange leaves.
"Professor Sprout must really hate us," Ron muttered while his Sunray was snapping around, trying to bite his hands. "She only gives us creepy plants that can kill us. I bet she's hoping none of us are careful and that we get eaten by these stupid weeds."
"I know," muttered Harry agitated, backing away from his Sunray. "I bet the next plant we get to take care of will be seven feet tall and can eat an entire horse."
"Better be careful, your Sunray is getting very close to your hand," Nora warned him. He quickly pulled his arm away.
"Thanks. These plants are awful, I really don't see why we have to take care of them."
"Well, it would be very useful if you ever got lost in a forest. You'd be able to recognize the dangerous ones and stay a way from them, or treat any wounds that you've gotten," Hermione said as though this was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Who says we'll ever get lost in a bloody forest?" Ron asked her. But right then the bell rang and because everyone, including Harry and Ron, was hurrying outside to get away from the Sunrays, Hermione wasn't able to reply.
That night notices were put up about the upcoming Quidditch match on Saturday and Harry informed the whole Gryffindor team that they would be practicing every evening that week. Friday night, when Hermione left the library, she found the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team walking up towards their common room, exhausted. She caught up with Harry and asked about their practice.
"Well, the team is getting really good. The chasers have finally started communicating, they're beginning to sense when the Quaffle will be passed, and the beaters can keep most of the bludgers away from the other players. I think we can win tomorrow, especially since it's Hufflepuff we're playing against," he added grinning.
"You never know, maybe they've got really good tactics this year," she told him sternly.
"Hermione, they haven't practiced a single time this week," Harry said, laughing.
"How do you know?"
"Because, I'd booked the pitch for the whole week. They didn't even show up once, or object." The entire team entered the hallway that led to the portrait of the Fat Lady, except for Nora, who walked towards her common room with Hermione. It was already dark and after the hard practice Nora made her way straight to bed.
A man was bowing down on the floor. He looked up at another man sitting in a chair that stood in the middle of an empty room.
"I'm sorry master… We could not find it… We searched everywhere. We really did," The man on the floor said, in between sobs.
"Get up," his master hissed. "Have you really searched everywhere? Or is it just another petty lie." The man whimpered. He was rather short and could lose a couple of pounds.
"No, sir, we really did search everywhere. We searched the entire building, twice. But we could not find it."
"Very well. Search a different building next time. Maybe it is in Hogsmeade. Search there," The man said angrily. He needed to find what he was looking for, before someone else would find it first.
"Yes, master. Thank you, master."
"Now, leave. I need to think."
Harry woke up with his scar burning badly. He felt angry, but he didn't know why… well, he knew why, because of Voldemort, but he didn't know why Voldemort was angry. While looking at his nightstand, and seeing that it was five o'clock in the morning, a large headache began to form and suddenly a wave of sadness and guilt washed over him. Normally he would have written to Sirius about the dream, but now he couldn't. Sirius was dead. Harry got up, put on his glasses and went downstairs into his common room. The match against Hufflepuff was still seven hours away. Harry sat down in a chair in front of the fireplace and thought. It had taken a very long time to fall asleep and when he finally did doze off, it had been interrupted by a strange dream. The man that had been kneeling on the floor had looked vaguely familiar to him, but he had not seen that well because the room had been completely dark, except for small rays of moonlight falling through a few long, thin windows. He also had an idea as to who the man in the chair was, but his snake, Nagini, hadn't been there. That was a first. His thoughts wandered back to Sirius and a few tears rolled down his face. Slowly he fell asleep on the sofa.
"Harry Potter, sir?" Harry turned around and fell off the sofa onto the floor with a dull thud. "Is Harry Potter being all right?" Harry opened his eyes and saw a blurry green with white spot standing in front of him. He put on his glasses to see Dobby standing in front of him looking anxious.
"Dobby? What are you doing here?" He asked the little house elf thickly.
"Dobby is coming to light the morning fire when he is seeing something on the floor. Dobby immediately is running to find Harry Potter, sir. You must be coming quickly."
"What? What time is it Dobby?"
"It is now being seven o'clock Harry Potter, sir. But you must be coming now." Dobby said looking around with his eyes opened wide in fright.
"… What is it that you want again?" Harry frowned and rubbed his eyes sleepily, trying to pay attention to what Dobby was saying, though everything seemed to go into one ear and go right out of the other.
"Come with Dobby, sir, and he will be showing you." And with that the little house elf grabbed Harry's arm with its little hand and led him out of the common room. They walked a few steps through the corridor that led to the Fat Lady when Harry saw something, or rather someone, on the ground. He immediately ran over to the person on the floor, with Dobby at his heels, and gasped.
"Neville," he whispered, somewhat confused.
"Dobby is thinking that Harry Potter would be knowing what to do, sir."
"Erm... we should probably bring him to the hospital wing." Harry made to grab his wand, but realized he was still in his pajamas, so he put his arms under Neville's armpits and asked Dobby to grab Neville's feet. The elf did as he was asked and together they carried him up to the infirmary. Harry loudly knocked on the door and after a few minutes Madam Pomfrey opened it slightly, looking very sleepy.
"Harry? What is it, dear?" She looked at him and then at the house elf, which was pointing at Neville. "Oh, my! Well, come on! Bring him in!" She fully opened the door and rushed over to the bed that was nearest, ordering Harry and Dobby to lay Neville onto it. Madam Pomfrey began examining him at once, muttering a few things under her breath. When she finished she told Harry to go to Dumbledore's office and warn him. Harry left straight away. He walked up a couple stairs and through a few corridors. When he reached the familiar statue that guarded the entrance to the headmaster's office, Harry stopped.
"Erm…" Madam Pomfrey hadn't given him the password. He'd have to guess, as usual. "Er… Cockroach Clusters? Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans? Uhm… Ton Tongue Toffee, Chocolate Frogs, Butterbeer, Skiving Snackboxes, Canary…" The gargoyle sprang aside and Harry stopped. "Skiving Snackboxes? I'm definitely telling Fred and George about that," he muttered to himself as he stood on the escalator-like staircase. A large, brass door came into view and Harry stepped off of the staircase to knock. Dumbledore opened the door to let him in. But before he could say anything Harry plunged straight into the story about Dobby and Neville. He purposely left out that he was asleep in the common room; otherwise Dumbledore might ask what he had been doing there so early. When he finally finished, Dumbledore hurried off towards the infirmary, Harry followed.
"Harry, you'd better go down to the Great Hall and have some breakfast. I daresay this event will not allow you to sleep a bit longer," Dumbledore told him outside the hospital wing. Harry turned and left to have breakfast, though he was reluctant. "Have you found anything yet, Poppy?" He heard Dumbledore ask as soon as he entered the hospital wing. Harry changed into his clothes first and then entered the Great Hall, seeing only a few other people having breakfast. An hour later Ron, Hermione and Nora joined him.
"How come you're up so early?" Ron demanded, "And where's Neville? His bed's empty and I can't see him here anywhere," he added looking around. Harry told him the story about Dobby waking him and showing him Neville.
"I wonder who did it?" Nora asked
"Maybe it was a Death Eater," Hermione offered, though she herself thought it was very unlikely.
"Or Voldemort," Harry said.
"Or maybe You-Know-Who is possessing someone, and making him do it," Ron said, somewhat too excitedly.
"You mean like he possessed Quirrell? With his face stuck onto the back of his head?" Nora asked him.
"Exactly. You know, Professor Spring acts just like Quirrell did, scared and dodgy."
"Well, yes, but that was only in the beginning. Besides, Ron, he doesn't wear a turban," Nora pointed out to him.
"Maybe he's hiding You-Know-Who's head somewhere else… you know… Spring has a rather large rear, maybe he's hiding him there…" Ron said thoughtfully, his three friends snorted.
"That'd be really painful for Voldemort whenever Spring sits down, though," Nora said laughing.
"Besides, Ron, since when do you look at the rears of older men?" inquired Harry suggestively. Ron made a face at the thought of it and then hit his friend on the arm for even daring to think such a thing.
At eleven thirty the Gryffindor Quidditch team made it's way down towards the pitch to do a few warm up laps. The Hufflepuff's were nowhere in sight. At eleven fifteen they went back into the changing rooms and heard students making there way into the seats on the stands.
"All right guys, time for a little pep-talk," Harry said, rubbing his hands. "Now, we've been practicing a lot the last few weeks and I really feel that we can beat Hufflepuff. You've all made tremendous progress, so, let's do our best and maybe we can even win the Quidditch cup!" Everyone cheered and they walked outside as Dean Thomas, who had been made commentator, called out their names.
"Captains, shake hands," Madam Hooch said. Harry and Justin Finch-Thingy shook hands, and when the whistle was blown all fourteen players rose into the air.
"And Gryffindor in possession of the Quaffle! Ginny Weasley passes to Mathew Charles, who passes it to Nora Glassyd, who passes it back to Weasley, who… SCORES! 10-0 for Gryffindor!" Harry smiled to himself while looking around for the snitch. On the other side of the pitch Rose Zeller was doing the same thing. His mind started to wonder, however. He thought about Neville, who was still in the Infirmary. "And Abbott makes her way down the pitch, closely followed by the two other Hufflepuff chasers, and she passes to Finch! Who shoots and… SCORES! It is now 10-10!" Harry looked down at the players and noticed that Ernie Mc… well… McThingy was heading for the Gryffindor goal again, but his shot was blocked, thanks to Ron's excellent keeping. "Gryffindor back in possession! Glassyd passes to Charles, who passes it right back to Glassyd, nice maneuvers there, you can see they've been practicing, and Glassyd goes for the goal, fakes a shot to the right and SCORES in the middle hoop! BRILLIANT! Score: 20-10, Gryffindor in the lead!" The Hufflepuffs moaned, but the Gryffindors were cheering too loudly for anyone to hear. Nora passed Harry and shouted:
"Watch the snitch, you moron!" Then she flew over to Hannah who had the Quaffle and was trying to score. Harry looked up to see Nora flying off. He was shocked: what was he thinking! After having mentally slapped himself he began to look for the snitch, luckily Rose hadn't found it either. After only a short while the Gryffindors had scored quite a few more times and the Hufflepuffs only once. "And a GREAT shot by Mathew Charles! Perfect! The score is now: 70-20!" Harry was glad his team was doing so well, he certainly had trained them well. Then he saw it: a glint of gold fluttering on the other side of the pitch. He immediately raced for it, Rose, noticing his behavior looked around and saw it too. Though she was closer, Harry had a faster broom, and he was getting nearer… nearer…
"And it looks like Potter has seen the snitch! He's going for it! Zeller now coming from the other side, it'll be a close call! Potter is closing in, Zeller hasn't got a chance! Maybe you should get a faster broom, HAHA!"
"Mr. Thomas!"
"Sorry, Professor," Dean told McGonagall, but he didn't sound sorry at all. "And Potter is closing in! Glassyd is using this as a perfect chance to shoot, and yes, she scores! 80-20 for Gryffindor. And what's this? Weasley is taking another shot too! And another score! Wow, that keeper really isn't paying much attention is he?" The Hufflepuff keeper indeed wasn't. Instead he was watching Rose who was fruitlessly trying to retrieve the snitch, even though Harry was very much in the lead. "Weasly SCORES! It is now 90-20, HAHA! Oh, sorry, no I can do this! Don't take the microphone, McGonagall. AND POTTER CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS THE MATCH! FINAL SCORE: 240-20! HAHAH…" At that moment, McGonagall had finally gotten the microphone away from Dean. All the students were now making their way towards the Great Hall for a late lunch, while the two teams made their ways to their changing rooms.
"Great job team! We completely slaughtered those Hufflepuff's. Really, well done. Now, let's go and have some lunch," Harry said grinning, before leading the team to the Great Hall with Nora and Ron.
"Neville's still in the infirmary," Hermione told her three friends as soon as they sat down. "But he's awake. I think one of us should go and ask him what happened." Everyone looked at Harry.
"What? Why me? … All right, fine, but let me eat lunch first," he said grudgingly.
"But make it a quick one, otherwise you might not be the only one visiting him," Hermione said. Harry hurriedly ate his lunch and then went to see Neville.
"Hey, Harry! I wasn't expecting to see you this soon! How'd the Quidditch match go?" Neville asked him cheerfully as he entered.
"It was great, we totally crushed Hufflepuff!"
"Really? What was the final score?"
"240-20."
"Wow," Neville said in aw.
"So, what happened to you?" Harry tried to ask casually, "Why were you outside so early?"
"Well, I woke up because you were leaving the dormitory," Neville started awkwardly. "And then I was trying to get back to sleep, but after a while I felt a sudden urge to go downstairs, and out of Gryffindor tower. It felt like I forgot something but I really couldn't think of anything. I walked down the stairs into the common room and I saw you sleeping in on the sofa. I wanted to see if you were all right but I couldn't; something was making me walk outside. And then there was this man and he asked me to look for something…"
"Did he say what? Like a name, or something?"
"He called it an Amulet of… something. I don't remember exactly. There was a voice in my head saying 'Do it, tell him the password.' But I refused, I wanted to go back to bed, and then he got mad and after that everything went blurry." Harry thought for a minute, and then he quickly got up. "Where are you going?" Neville said, wishing more company.
"I have to go, I'm sorry, I have to finish my homework," he was about to go, but remembered something. "Could you please not tell anyone that I was in the common room that early?" He didn't want everyone to know that he was still having nightmares or that he was still painfully hurting about Sirius.
"Sure," Neville said. "I went through the same thing when… when my parents were sent to St. Mungo's." Harry nodded slightly, though he felt rather shocked. This was the first time that Neville had ever mentioned his parents after they had run into each other in St. Mungo's, when Sirius was still alive. Another wave of sadness. "Don't worry, you'll get over it… some day. I did too." Neville gave a weak smile, so did Harry
"Bye," he said hoarsely. Then he turned around to find his friends, who were waiting for him in the library.
"Find anything out?" Hermione asked him eagerly as soon as Harry had sat down next to her. He nodded. "What?"
"I think Neville was under the Imperius curse." He then told them the whole story. "And he said the man was looking for an Amulet of some kind." Hermione thought for a while.
"That's not enough information on the Amulet, but we might be able to look up a couple of famous and important Amulets and then show them to Neville, maybe he'll remember which one it was when we show him a list." The others agreed and they spent the rest of the day looking up different kinds of Amulets. When it was seven o'clock, they had finally finished and went straight to the hospital wing to show Neville. Unfortunately he didn't recognize any of the names, so the four gave up hope and tried to do some homework instead.