- CHAPTER FIVE -
Hermione's Plan
Hermione disappeared into the library after their last Transfiguration lesson on Friday afternoon, which didn't surprise Harry in the slightest; minor considerations like having the whole weekend to work on homework had never stopped her before. However, it wasn't Pattern Realignment in Phasing Transmogrification she wanted to talk about when she dumped a pile of books on the common room table on Sunday morning.
"I've been looking up ways for us to try and see through the dome," she announced, beginning to rifle through the thickest tome in search of her bookmarks. The room was fairly quiet; it was not yet quite noon, and most people were either still up in their dorms or out seeking lunch.
Ron frowned. "Why do we need to see through the dome? We already know what's out there."
"Do we?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "It can't possibly be difficult to make a protective barrier that you can see out of. Almost all the standard designs are transparent, you know. It says so in the introduction to Shield Charms for Office, Home and Garden. They're not made out of solid matter, you see, so it actually takes more effort to charm the air to project a film of-"
"So what you're saying is, they must have made it untransparent for a reason," Ron interrupted, before she could launch into a full lecture on the properties of Shield Charms.
She gave him a look. "Opaque, Ron. And yes."
"What don't they want us to see?" Harry wondered.
"That's exactly what we need to see through it to find out," Hermione said firmly.
"You can't just make the whole thing go invisible!" Ron objected. "Everyone would notice."
"We wouldn't need to alter the whole thing," she explained patiently. "If you look at the dome, it's obviously made with tie-points..."
"Obviously," Ron said sarcastically.
"It's not a true hemisphere," she elaborated. "If you look at it closely, it's made up of a lot of flat planes linked together, so we should be able to cast a spell on one facet without altering the others at all."
"How can you stand to look closely at that thing?" Harry wanted to know. "It makes your eyeballs feel like they're melting."
"It's much less difficult to look at if you go out at night. I expect it's designed to refract the sunlight."
"What were you doing sneaking out at night?" Ron asked, half admiring and half suspicious.
Hermione smiled smugly. "Obviously, it's my duty as a Prefect to take a look outside if I think I hear anybody out of bed when they shouldn't be."
"So you think you've found a charm that will let us see through it?" Harry asked. It was a fair bet; Hermione didn't like to present an idea until she already had all the answers covered.
"Yes. I was stuck for a while, but then I realised what you need to do is handle the moving particles first..." She picked up Ron's glass of Pumpkin Juice, and placed one hand over the top while she shook it.
"Hey!"
"Watch." She tapped the side of the glass with her wand while the juice was still swirling. "Agitaro Comprimere!" Abruptly, the liquid was as calm as the lake on a windless day. "Glassio!"
"Wow!" Ron raised his glass to eye level, and peered through it at her. The juice was now as clear as water. "Can I drink this?"
"Of course. It's still pumpkin juice."
He took a sip. "You could market this. Pumpkin Clear! Or you could cast it on Firewhisky - people would think you were drinking water!"
"It doesn't last very long." She shot down any alcoholic ambitions with a sharp look. "But it should be long enough for us to get a good look at what's on the other side of that dome."
"That's great, Hermione." Harry smiled. At last, a chance to push past the secrets that people were keeping 'for his own good' and see what was really going on.
She stood up, gathering her books again. "We can go out and look tonight. I have to get back to the library now."
"Hermione-"
"I've been neglecting my homework to do this," she said, as if they ought to be gasping in horror to hear as much. "I have to get started on that Transfiguration essay, or I don't know what I'll do!" She hurried off.
Ron shook his head. "Stark raving bonkers," he pronounced.
"But smart," said Harry.
"Yeah." He held up his pumpkin juice, which was beginning to both turn orange and begin moving again, creating a rather impressive-looking colourful swirl. "Wicked," he said, and drank the rest of it.
They crept out that night under Harry's Invisibility Cloak. Or, to be more accurate, they just crept out, with the Invisibility Cloak on hand in case of emergencies. Harry was still shorter and skinnier than most of the boys in his year, but he had grown closer to what he supposed would be his adult height, while Ron had suddenly developed broad shoulders, and Hermione had developed... Well, she certainly had. Anyway, squeezing the three of them together under a cloak that they'd quite comfortably shared back when they were eleven was now a bit awkward all round, really. It was fortunate that they had the Marauder's Map to give them enough advance warning to duck around corners.
They managed to get outside without being spotted, and made their way over to the nearest section of the dome. Hermione was right; it was much easier to look at in the dark. The eye-sucking colour combinations were replaced with shades of grey; they still twisted almost hypnotically, but they didn't hurt quite so much to examine.
Hermione drew her wand and frowned thoughtfully, looking for something that Harry obviously wasn't clued in enough to see. Finally she drew out a set of lines with the tip, close to the dome but not quite touching it, and said "Margium Foci!" A square appeared, picked out in glowing white lines.
"You didn't do that before!" Ron said. She rolled her eyes.
"That's because it was in a cup, Ron."
"I was just observing," he said, affronted. "You're always on at me to pay attention to the details, you keep saying 'Ron, you've got to-'"
"Yes, right, fine. Good observing," Harry said, keen to get on with it before Hermione could make some comment on the high-pitched, whiny tone Ron had chosen for his impression of her, and they ended up getting caught still standing here at dawn because the two of them couldn't stop bickering. "Can we-?"
"Yes, of course." Hermione, at least, could be easily refocused by waving work at her. She concentrated. "Agitaro Comprimere!"
Harry thought that the movement of the silver swirls seemed a little more sluggish, but they didn't stop dead like Ron's pumpkin juice had. Hermione bit her lip, and tried again. "Agitaro Comprimere!" Still nothing.
"Maybe it needs more power," Ron suggested. "If I cast it on one side, and Harry does it on the other, and you-"
"Yes, that might work." She seemed grateful for the suggestion, and Harry wondered if perhaps the two of them were at last getting the hang of burying their little disagreements quickly. He really wouldn't mind the blow-ups nearly so much if it wasn't for the lingering sulking afterwards.
They cast the spell together, and the freezing effect was noticeably stronger. It took several attempts, but finally their pane of the dome had grown completely still, resembling a sheet of silver paper hanging in the air.
"Will that do it?" asked Harry.
"I think so." Hermione raised her wand. "Glassio!"
A circular patch of darkness appeared in the middle of the square. Of course, it was every bit as difficult to make anything out through as the window of a well lit room when it was night outside.
"Can't see a bloody thing," Ron commented, after a moment.
"Harry, you look," Hermione suggested. "You must have sharp eyesight with your glasses on, the way you're always so good at finding the Snitch in Quidditch."
Quidditch. Harry suppressed a momentary pang of loss. He'd had his broom confiscated last year, and he doubted very much there would be any matches this year. He supposed he might as well give up his favourite hobby as yet another childhood thing his life no longer had room for.
He shuffled as close to the dome as he dared, and shielded his eyes as squinted through the darkness. He could just make out... branches? "I can see- It looks like trees or something." But there shouldn't be any trees outside this part of the grounds. "I can't really tell... There's definitely something in front of the dome, and it looks like it has branches or something..."
And why did he have a sudden mental flash of dark snakes bursting out of the ground, like an image from a movie he'd seen sometime and then all but forgotten?
"Harry-" Hermione suddenly sounded worried. He twisted around - and a hand fell on his shoulder.
"Ah. Harry." Professor Dumbledore smiled at him warmly. Professor McGonagall hovered by his shoulder, looking considerably more disapproving.
"Mr. Potter. Miss Granger. Mr. Weasley. I would have thought the three of you should know better than anyone that this is hardly the time to be making midnight excursions. As Prefects, the two of you should know better, and Harry-"
Fortunately, Dumbledore cut off the pending lecture about how he, the famous Harry Potter, should know exactly why to behave himself by wandering over to inspect Hermione's handiwork. McGonagall saw it, and gasped.
"A breach in the spell?" She turned on the three of them, startled. "You cannot possibly have believed it was in any way responsible to-"
"We didn't breach it!" Harry said hastily. Hermione had gone deathly pale, never one to take a dressing-down for rulebreaking lightly.
"Hermione figured out a way to look through it without damaging it," Ron said, sounding rather proud, although failing to consider that he was dropping her further in it. But then, that was rather Ron all over.
However, Dumbledore smiled at the three of them, as if more pleased than disapproving of their temerity. "Ah, most clever, Miss Granger. Most clever indeed. I can see we are quite wasting our time trying to keep any secrets from you. However, as I'm sure you'll find: knowing and understanding are two quite different things."
"Professor - what's out there?" Harry asked directly. There was no point pretending they hadn't been trying to find out.
Professor Dumbledore gave a small, frustratingly enigmatic smile. "Things are... in a state of upheaval at the moment, Mr. Potter. There are forces at work... it would not be safe for anybody to leave the grounds at this time."
Hermione forgot her apprehension to frown over his words. "Then the dome isn't to protect us from invaders at all - it's to keep us in?"
"On the contrary, Miss Granger, there are dangers indeed lurking outside the school grounds. It is well that your spell did not truly create a hole in the wards, for what might have come through would not easily have been repulsed." Hermione gulped.
"Professor... are we under siege?" Harry asked anxiously.
"Of course not, Potter, let's not be melodramatic," McGonagall cut in sternly. "The dome is simply a safety precaution - one that sixth-year students should not be fooling around with!"
"We didn't-" Ron began. Dumbledore raised a hand.
"Your curiosity is only natural - and your resourcefulness does you credit. However, it would be best for all concerned that any information you may have gleaned tonight be kept between the three of you, and not shared any further."
"But we don't know anything!" said Ron.
"Excellent," said Dumbledore, with a twinkle.
This talk of keeping secrets reminded Harry of something he should have brought up earlier than this... and really didn't want to. He hesitated, and then took a deep breath. "Professor - my Occlumency lessons..." He didn't want to continue them, but he knew he should. Professor McGonagall looked momentarily startled; he wondered if she'd even known he'd been learning. Strangely, that was almost comforting - that Dumbledore might be keeping his moves secret from everybody as a matter of course, and it was not just Harry alone on the outside all the time.
"Ah, yes. Certainly you will need to be prepared, when the time comes for you to meet Voldemort once again." The Headmaster looked rather tired and sad, and for a moment it was difficult to keep resenting him. "And meet him again you will... I am afraid there seems to be no way we can prevent that, ultimately." He straightened up. "However, such a time is not yet upon us, and I think that present circumstances are perhaps not the best for your lessons to resume. I doubt that either you or Professor Snape are in the correct frame of mind to get the best out of them."
Harry let out a silent sigh of relief at that, but Hermione's fears were not so easily assuaged. "But Professor, shouldn't Harry be learning to protect himself at the earliest opportunity?" Ron made his 'Hermione, what are you doing?' face out of sight of the teachers.
"Indeed. But I feel there is a chance that such lessons might... attract attention from certain forces that may be keeping us under observation, and that would not be well for anybody." He turned a serious look to Harry. "I trust, however, that you will contact either myself or Professor Snape immediately should you feel the first inkling of any indication that Voldemort is attempting to make contact or work through you. I do not think he will just yet... but if so, we will reconsider the matter of your Occlumency lessons."
Harry nodded sombrely. He'd learned his lesson last year; no keeping mysterious happenings to himself, no matter how private or unimportant they might seem. Dumbledore might keep him in the dark, but trying to return the treatment might only get somebody killed.
Like Sirius.
It made him angry, but he knew he had to accept it. For better or worse, he was Dumbledore's puppet. If nobody would let him see the whole of the picture, then all he could do was keep reporting back what little he did see, in the hope that it would prevent him from being led to a terrible fate.
"And now, the three of you should be getting back to your beds," McGonagall said, in a voice that brooked no argument. "I will not take house points from you on this - and only this - occasion, but if you meet any of the other staff on your way back, you will take any punishment they assign you without complaint."
"Yes, Professor," Harry said, grateful for even that much. With the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map, they should be able to find their way back to Gryffindor Tower without being spotted.
"You will find that Professor Snape is on duty by the Owlery tonight," Dumbledore informed them helpfully, with a wink. They headed back into the school.
"What d'you reckon all that was about, Harry?" Ron asked, after Hermione had returned to the girls' dorms and they were safely back in their beds, where they couldn't be interrupted by anyone but their sleeping roommates.
"I don't know." He bit his lip worriedly. "Neville was right - there is something out there. But whatever it is, Dumbledore is just as worried about us seeing it as it getting inside. It can't just be the Death Eaters, it's not as if they'd be camped outside the whole year staring at us."
"Do you think it's the Dementors again?" said Ron nervously.
Harry shuddered involuntarily. "I hope not. Because if they're here... who's guarding Azkaban?"
Other possibilities swirled through his mind, but before he could give voice to them, Ron had begun to snore. Harry turned over on his side, and tried to get to sleep.
It took him a long while, and as soon as his eyes snapped open the next morning, he knew he'd overslept. His roommates were still snoring away - but none of them had Potions first thing. He had less than a minute to throw on his clothes and run all the way down to the dungeons: there was no way he was going to make it.
"Mr. Potter, the fact that you have only achieved part of the grade required to qualify for this NEWT class does not mean you are permitted to only attend part of the lessons," Snape said coldly as he scurried in.
Hermione, of course, was on time and perfectly organized despite the fact she'd been up just as late as he had. Harry attempted to slink into the seat next to her.
"Next to Miss Parkinson, Potter. You will not be copying the notes you have so carelessly missed from your Gryffindor partner in crime."
Harry was stuck with the twin joys of sitting next to Pansy and having the worst seat in the class, the one right by the door where the cold dungeon air kept creeping in and ended up giving you a backache. At least in the NEWT-level class they were expected to work on potions on their own - he shuddered to think what misery Snape would put him through assigning him partners. Most of the class was made up of either Slytherins or the most standoffish and snobby of the Ravenclaws. Those few, he supposed, who could put up with Snape's manner in return for what he could teach them.
The Potion of Purification was a particularly complex brew to put together, and Harry kept double and triple checking the instructions, more determined than ever not to make some careless mistake Snape could seize upon. Let's see... Blackberry leaves, crushed. He peered carefully into the dish to see the results of his handiwork. Well, they'd definitely been pulverised - what was the difference between 'crushed' and 'mashed'? Hermione would know, but she was too far away to surreptitiously ask her. He stirred them in, hoping it didn't make much difference.
Right - what was next? Basil. Well, this was really rather a pleasant set of ingredients, as potions went... Oh. And salamander blood. There went the relatively enjoyable smell.
He carefully poured himself out a measure of the noxious liquid... and then slopped it all over his hand as the door was thrown open and a distraught first-year careened into the corner of his desk. Harry winced, biting back a word that would have had points taken off by any teacher, not just one who hated him as much as Snape, and scrubbed his hand on his robes. Salamander blood retained heat, and he was likely to have a nasty blister, if not worse.
"Professor Snape!" The intruder was a red-faced boy Harry vaguely recalled seeing sorted into Slytherin. He was showing nothing of his house's preferred lack of softer emotions as he gabbled out his message. "It's Emma Aufstand - she's been attacked!"