Ring of Eternity - 9

Harry pulled his robes tighter around him as he swiftly made his way through the dark empty hallways of Hogwarts. Ron, Dean, Seamus, and Neville had wanted to go with him, but Harry had insisted that he go alone. He did not like admitting that he could see and sometimes feel what Voldemort was thinking, but he certainly did not want a whole parade following him down the hallways.

The hallways always seemed so much longer when you were in a hurry to get somewhere.
He stopped for a minute leaning against the wall to think.

"What if this was another attempt to lure him? What if Snape was not in any trouble at all? He remembered the mirror he had forgotten to use, and wondered if he should go back and try it. But surely Dumbledore had one also? Dumbledore had not been there to ask about Sirius last year. He took a deep breath and continued down the hallway, deciding it best that Dumbledore should know... after all it had saved Mr. Weasley's life.

Harry suddenly felt something hit his leg, and he tripped over it, hitting the ground hard.
The thing he had tripped over hissed and spat angrily. Mrs. Norris scampered off down the hallway, still hissing.

"On no." said Harry, quickly getting up and beginning to run down the hallway. He did not feel like explaining to Filtch why he was up this late at night wandering the corridors. He wished he would have remembered his invisibility cloak.

He heard hurried footsteps behind him. He panicked and tried to take a sharp turn, running straight into something.

McGonagall grabbed him by the shoulder to prevent him from falling over.

"Mr. Potter! What in the world are you doing out of bed?" she said.
Her eyes were narrowed with suspicion.
"Professor... I"
"Oh good... you caught the little sneak. Going about causing trouble, eh, Potter?" said Fitch, rounding the corner.
"I can handle this, Argus..." she said firmly.
"Professor... I HAVE to speak to Dumbledore!" said Harry, his voice rising with urgency.
"Can't it wait till the morning, Potter?" she said.
"No... it can't!" he said.
"Probably just making excuses... he had no intention of going to see Dumbledore," said Filtch.
"Instead, he is going around hurting my cat! Poor Mrs. Norris..." he said.
"What did you do to Mrs. Norris?" asked McGonagall sounding surprised.

Harry sighed irritably. Were they seriously more interested in punishing him for tripping over a cat?

"I saw SNAPE. I need to speak to Dumbledore!" he shouted.
McGonagall paled, and grabbed onto his shoulder again.

"You saw Se... Professor Snape? Where is he?" she asked.

Harry immediately felt stupid. How was he supposed to explain that he didn't know where he was?

"He's... umm..."

Filtch frowned.

"You see Professor, he's making up stories. He never saw Professor Snape."

"Yes I did! If you don't let me see Dumbledore..."

"What is all this fuss about?" asked Dumbledore, stepping out from behind the statue guarding his office.

"Professor Dumbledore... I need to talk to you!" said Harry.

"This student was caught sneaking around the corridors." hissed Filtch.

"He claims, that he has seen, Severus." said McGonagall.

Dumbledore turned to Harry.

"Is this true Harry? You saw Professor Snape?"

"Yes, sir... I did. But... he's in trouble..." he said.

"I see... " he said.

Dumbledore turned around and motioned Harry to follow him.

McGonagall and Filtch followed them into his office. Filtch seemed hopeful that he would get to deal out a punishment.

Harry wished that they would be asked to leave. He felt uncomfortable telling them about what he had seen.

Dumbledore pulled up a chair and motioned for Harry to sit down. He took a seat at his desk across from him. Harry looked around the room expecting to see Fawkes, but he saw no sign of the phoenix.

McGonagall and Filtch remained in the room, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"Where did you see him Harry?" asked Dumbledore.

Harry shifted uncomfortably in the lare chair.

"Voldemort has him. I... was sleeping, and I saw them."

"The boy comes here to tell you he had a nightmare?" scoffed Filtch.

"Please, Argus... " said Dumbledore warningly.

Filtch glared at him, but remained silent.

"What did you see Harry?" he asked.

Harry looked down at the floor.

"I saw them. Voldemort and Snape. Voldemort was asking him to give in to something... he was threatening to make him go mad. He was torturing him... I could barely recognize him"
said Harry.

McGonagall covered her mouth, and Filtch looked confused.

"What's he blabbering about?" demanded Filtch.

"Where where they, Harry?" asked Dumbledore standing.

"I don't know... It was a large room... it looked like a ballroom. It had green candles and a large statue of a serpent in it." he said.

Dumbledore looked anxious.

"Is that all you saw?" he asked.

"Well at first I was in a graveyard. I touched a tombstone and I ended up in the room." he said.

Dumbledore looked concerned, and wrinkled his brow in frustration.

"A tombstone?" he asked.

"Yes... it was Regulus Black's... I don't know what he has to do with the dream, but that is what it said.

Dumbledore looked up at McGonagal who still had her hand covering her mouth. She slowly lowered her hand and looked at him, tears shining in her eyes.

"Dumbledore... this is what happened last year with..." she glanced at Harry worriedly then continued.
"What if this is another trap?"

Dumbledore shook his head.

"It may very well be one, but Severus is not answering through the mirror. Sirius did."

Filtch looked even more confused.

"Are you saying that You-Know-Who has Professor Snape, and Potter here can see them?"

He looked at Harry as if he were some kind of freak.

"Argus... I think it best that you go and make sure that no other students are out of bed." he said.

Filtch frowned, looking at them all suspiciously. He shook his head muttering to himself about nutters and walked out the door.