When Harry woke up, he saw red. He blinked his eyes a few times and rubbed them before he realized it wasn't his eyes, he was inside something red. There was a dome all around him, and he could see through it, but when he put his hand out to touch it, he pulled it back quickly as it was very hot. He knew he wouldn't be able to pass through, so he had no choice but to wait. From what he could see they were deep in a forest, though it wasn't the forbidden forest. Everything here was lush and green.
After just a few minutes, he saw the dome start to flicker, and disappear. He felt himself being grabbed from behind and he was dragged to his feet. There was one Zlam on each side of him, holding his arms and they were forcing him forward. Harry was once again amazed at the strength of these thin creatures. He went with them and they stopped in a clearing, where there were many more Zlam waiting for them.
Harry could see they were all wearing long dark robes, except for one in front of the rest who had gold robes. He stepped forward then, towards Harry.
"Harry Potter, we meet at last. I am Forden, the leader of the Zlamfimians. You have something of ours, and we want it back."
"I've been trying to figure out how to give it back," Harry said quickly. "But no matter what information we have on you, we can never seem to find anything on how your knowledge is transferred."
"You're kind would have no information. We have never allowed you to know of it," Forden said, sounding angry. "There are many things, that we don't let humans see."
"Well if you could just tell me…" Harry began.
"I can't," Forden interrupted. "No one here can. Only a keeper knows how to transfer the knowledge, and there is only one keeper a generation."
"Keeper?" Harry asked.
"What your kind calls, a librarian. The keeper of our knowledge is the one who holds it for us, until it is time to pass to a new keeper. They spend their lives preparing the new keeper, and then pass the knowledge on right before they die. Our keeper is dead, thanks to Corfay. It is also because of him that you must die." Another of the Zlam stepped forward then, holding a long, curved knife.
Harry tensed and instinctively tried to pull away from the Zlam that were holding him. He looked into Forden's eyes.
"Why? Why do you have to kill me? I mean, I already know the knowledge is killing me, is there really a reason you need it done sooner?" Harry asked, trying not to sound as scared as he felt.
"We require the knowledge you were given to survive. You have within you more secrets about us then we have ever shown to any human. We cannot take the chance that you discover them."
"But I have no idea how to control this, I don't see the chance of me discovering anything," Harry said quickly. "I've been able to do basic spells in class, but nothing that any other wizard didn't already know how to do."
"That doesn't matter. As time goes on, it will come to you no matter what. It moves faster as you know more."
"Meaning?"
Forden just looked at him, considering whether or not to continue.
"If you tell me a bit more, maybe I can understand it better, figure out how to do this transfer. Please?" Harry said carefully. Forden sighed.
"I doubt that, but I will answer your questions. I feel you are owed an explanation. If you were a more experienced wizard, this knowledge would have been under your control from the first day. It would still be killing you, but you could use it as you saw fit. Because you do not know many things about your own powers, you could not possibly grasp ours yet."
"If I were somehow able to grasp them, and use your powers, and I transferred the knowledge to someone else, would I remember anything about it?"
"Yes you would still be able to do anything you learned about your magic, but also no. As a human, you would not be able to retain anything about our magic, it would be gone almost as soon as you let go of the knowledge."
"What's the difference between your magic and wizard magic? How is it you know so much about ours and we know barely anything about yours?"
"I've already told you," Forden began, "we keep ours very secret from all of your kind. Humans feel they are more powerful then us, so we let them believe that, but the truth is you could not hope to defeat us if you wanted to. All of us are able to use common spells and charms just as you are, but we know a great deal more than you do and we don't need wands."
"What do you use then?" Harry asked, very intrigued.
"Our minds. We can do anything we want by thinking it, and we can make 'suggestions' to you as well."
"Suggestions? Is that why Malfoy and I both fell asleep in the school before? And why my head hurt?"
"Malfoy, I'm assuming was the other student that Tytros told me about," Forden said nodding towards another Zlam. Harry recognized him as the one from earlier. "What happened was he made your friend think he wanted to sleep. Before he did the same to you, he tried to suggest you transfer the knowledge to him, but it didn't work, and that's why your head hurt. So he brought you here."
"Is Tytros your new keeper?" Harry asked.
"No. Our keeper is dead, because of that imbecile, Corfay."
"I thought Corfay was your keeper."
"Corfay could never have hoped to become keeper. He was stupid and foolhardy and if he had not died, we would have executed him for his actions."
"What did he do?"
"Corfay stole the knowledge from Banwor, our previous keeper, when he heard that Voldemort was after it. He gave it to you, very cowardly of him, because he knew Voldemort was already after you, he thought it would keep him away from us."
"I'm confused, Corfay stole the knowledge? How? And why is your keeper dead?"
"Corfay was able to force Banwor to give him the knowledge the same way he forced you to take it. He stole it from Banwor in his sleep, and in doing so killed him. If the keeper is not willing to let go of the knowledge, then the strain destroys their mind. Because Banwor was asleep, Corfay had the advantage, and was successful in taking it."
"So then, why can't you do that to me?" Harry said looking again at the Zlam holding the knife. "I would be very willing…" he trailed off.
"That is what Tytros tried earlier, and it failed, so we have one choice left. Because you don't fully understand the knowledge it can't be done, and we cannot wait any longer."
"But you said you don't have a new keeper, he's too young, right? So why do you need to do this now? If you wait until I understand then I can give it back to you!" Harry exclaimed.
"It's true that our new keeper is not ready, and we cannot chance giving him the knowledge until then, or it will kill him, like it is doing to you. If Tytros had succeeded we would have had to kill him as well. If you die with the knowledge, it remains within you, keeping your body preserved, until a keeper can take it from you."
"You'd kill one of your own people? Just because they weren't a keeper?"
"The knowledge was never meant to be given to anyone but a keeper. That has always been our way. Tytros was willing to sacrifice himself for you tonight." He stopped then and looked at Harry. "Understand this, we have no desire to kill you, this was all very unfortunate and should have been avoided, but it wasn't. I am sorry." He turned and looked at the Zlam holding the knife and nodded.
"Wait, please!" Harry pleaded. "At least until your keeper is ready…"
"I've already told you, we can't let you gain control of the knowledge. If you had already, we were willing to accept that and just take it from you, because you would forget. But since you are being hunted by someone who wants you dead, we can't chance that they are able to learn any of our secrets from you."
"I would never tell him anything! Please!" Harry said struggling against the Zlam holding him. The one with the knife was standing right next to him now, waiting. Forden looked at him with great sadness.
"I know of many things that can be done to make one wizard tell another everything he knows. You could not stop him if he wanted it, but if you are dead, you will tell nothing." Forden looked at the Zlam with the knife and nodded again.
Harry had no options left, he couldn't get away from the Zlam holding him, and he didn't have his wand even if he did manage to get free of them. The one with the knife stepped directly in front of him now, and put the knife out in front of him, pointing at Harry's torso. He wondered, briefly, why they would use a knife to kill him, as they knew far more magic then he did. He looked into the eyes of the Zlam in front of him.
"Please…don't do this," he said to him, his head was now starting to hurt very badly, and his eyes started to water from it. The Zlam didn't even acknowledge that he heard Harry, and pulled his arm back, ready to strike.
Suddenly, he shoved his arm forward. Harry lunged to the right, barely moving as the ones holding him were far stronger than him, and he felt the knife penetrate, just above his left hip. The pain was so great, Harry thought he would pass out from it, but he didn't dare let this happen, he used all his strength to stay conscious.
"Don't fight this!" Forden said. "If you hadn't moved you never would have felt the pain, it would all be over now! The blade is designed specifically for that!"
Harry looked down and saw a large gash in his sweater, and blood flowing freely down his side. He tried not to think about what the knife had torn inside of him, as his head was starting to throb even harder.
The Zlam set the knife up again and started to pull his arm back, while the two holding Harry tightened their grip.
All of a sudden, the pain in his head stopped, and just like all of the times he came up with the answers in class, Harry knew what he had to do. He didn't waste any time. He steeled himself, for he didn't know what this was going to feel like, took a deep breath, and dissaparated.
Harry's first thought was to go to Hogwart's then he remembered, you couldn't apparate there. The next thing that came to his mind was Hogsmeade. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of the Shrieking Shack, in Hogsmeade, in the middle of the night. Immediately the pain in his side increased, and he headed inside the shack quickly. This was his only way back to Hogwart's for the moment. He headed for the secret passage and started through.
The walk back was the longest ever, Harry fought the entire time to stay conscious. If he fell asleep here, he would surely bleed to death. His sweater was entirely soaked with blood in the area of the wound, as were his pants below it. Several times he had to lean against the wall to catch his breath, and then continue on slowly.
When at last he reached the end of the passage and hit the knot in the Whomping Willow, he stepped out onto the Hogwart's grounds. In the chilly morning air, he could see the sun just beginning to rise, and realized just how long he'd been gone. He got to the stairway and pulled himself up to the top, opened the door, and stepped inside.
He looked around for a minute, torn on where to go. He knew he needed to tell Dumbledore immediately all that had happened, but he had to see Madam Pomfrey. As his vision blurred and he put his hand to the wall to steady himself, he decided on the hospital wing first. Harry set off in that direction, but as soon as he turned the first corner, he saw Snape coming towards him from the opposite end of the hall.
"Mr. Potter!" he said sounding very angry and quickening his pace. "Where have you been, and what did you do to Mr. Malfoy? Thought you could get out of detention, did you? I am taking you to…" he stopped suddenly as he got closer to Harry. He stared in horror at all the blood on Harry's clothes. Harry just stood looking at him, clutching his hand to his wound.
"Prof-Professor...Snape…" he started, but didn't have the strength to continue. Without another word, he fell to his knees and blacked out.
When Harry woke up he shot straight up in the bed he was in. He had been having a nightmare about the Zlam, and was completely disoriented. He felt around for his glasses and found them on a table next to him, when he put them on, he saw he was in the hospital wing. He filled with relief and calmed down, as Madam Pomfrey rushed over to him.
"Lay back down, please. You need to stay still. Your wound is closed but there was much damage done internally, I don't want you reopening any of it. Now I'm going to get the headmaster, as he wanted to know as soon as you woke up." She turned and walked quickly out of the room. Harry just sat back and waited, he looked at his side and saw that the wound was completely healed, but he did still feel pain if he moved too much, so he sat still. Finally a short while later, he heard footsteps coming down the hall.
Dumbledore walked in, followed by Lupin and a black dog. Lupin shut the door and locked it and Sirius changed back into human form, they went over to Harry's bed.
"Harry," Sirius started coming right over to him and hugging him. "Are you okay? What happened?" Harry grimaced from the pain he felt but didn't say anything about that.
"I've been better, but I'm alive," he said as Sirius let go of him. "How long have I been here?"
"Almost two weeks," Dumbledore said quietly. "You lost a lot of blood, I'm amazed you were still alive when Professor Snape found you." Harry barely remembered seeing Snape that night. He just remembered being yelled at for detention.
"Two weeks?" Harry said, not wanting to believe it. "Is Draco okay?" he asked, feeling that it would be wrong not to.
"Mr. Malfoy is fine. He had a bump on the head, but other than that he will be alright," Dumbledore said. "Mr. Filch found him and saw that you were missing. He sent for me immediately and we searched the school for you, but could find nothing. Sirius was getting ready to use the retrieval spell again, when Professor Snape told us he had found you, and that you were not in good shape. If you feel up to it, can you tell us what happened?"
"Yes," Harry said with a sigh, "I can tell you everything."
When Harry had finished explaining everything that had happened from the moment he saw the Zlam in the bathroom, to running into Snape, he sat back and closed his eyes. He never enjoyed these times, having to tell the most horrible experiences of his life over. He knew Ron and Hermione would want to hear it as well, but he didn't think about it right now.
Sirius and Lupin just stared at him in horror, while Dumbledore was stroking his beard in thought.
"We need to stop them! The ministry must be notified and something has to be done about the Zlam," Sirius said looking furious.
"The ministry won't be too anxious to help us, Sirius. I believe they are afraid of the Zlam. They have been aware for a very long time that we cannot overpower them. We are very lucky that the Zlam are peaceful, and bear no ill will against us."
"Peaceful! How can you say they're peaceful?" Sirius exclaimed, standing now.
"Until this incident they have never tried to hurt us. From the way Harry has explained it, they didn't want to hurt him either. What he has belongs to them, and we must find a way to return it. Otherwise, we may find that we have another powerful enemy."
"The ministry wouldn't do anything, I'm sure," Harry spoke up, sounding hoarse. "They didn't want to give us any information on the Zlam, so I'm sure they won't help us fight them. Thurston would probably just put me in jail for apparating without a license anyway…" he trailed off.
"Surely he would see the reason for it," Sirius said. Harry just looked at him skeptically, but didn't say anything.
"I think Harry's got a point," Lupin said. "You didn't see the way Thurston acted. It was like he wanted Harry to give him a reason to…I don't know. But he certainly didn't seem like he believed Harry at all."
"We are on our own this time," Dumbledore said. "The ministry wouldn't help us even if they did have the information we need. But they don't. I will look again at what Arthur has given me, but I have very little hope of finding our answers in there. I believe in the end what it will come down to, is if Harry can figure out how to transfer the knowledge."
Harry just stared at him, showing no emotion. He felt completely empty and alone and the stress of everything was starting to get to him. But he held it in, and didn't say anything.
"We will leave you to rest now," Dumbledore said suddenly, "and discuss this further tomorrow." He stood up and beckoned to the others. Sirius looked as though he weren't going to go for a moment, but stood up anyway. They said goodnight to Harry, and Sirius changed into a dog again. As they left, Madam Pomfrey rushed in again, looking a bit peeved that she had been left out of the hospital for so long. She gave Harry a potion to sleep, though he didn't feel he needed one. He was asleep before he even finished drinking it.
Ron and Hermione were there when Harry woke up the next time. They were sitting by his bed quietly talking, but stopped when they saw Harry reach for his glasses.
"Harry…" Hermione started, then stopped, unsure of what to say.
"I'm okay," he said looking at her. "I can barely feel the pain anymore."
"We never slept, the night you were gone," Ron said. "We waited up for you to get back from detention, when it started getting light out, and we were allowed to leave the common room, Hermione and I went to look for you. We heard Snape shouting and turned the corner to where he was, and saw you fall over in front of him. I thought he hit you or something, but he got you on a stretcher and took you to the hospital wing. We followed him here, and he left you on one of the beds before going to Madam Pomfrey's office, so we snuck inside. You were…you're clothes…all the…blood…" Ron couldn't seem to get the words out anymore. He had gone very pale and sounded completely shocked.
"We thought you were dead," Hermione said quietly, her eyes were very red. "You were, so pale and cold. I was so scared Harry, I really was. We had to hide again as Snape and Madam Pomfrey left the office. Snape left the hospital wing, and Madam Pomfrey immediately put you on a stretcher to move you someplace further back, as soon as she was out of sight, we left. We kept trying for days after that to find out what happened, but even Dumbledore didn't know. Then, yesterday, he told us you woke up. We were so relieved, and he said we could see you today. Harry…I…" but she choked off the rest, and started crying. Ron put his arm around her and just let her cry. Harry didn't know what to say to comfort her, so he just watched. He started to think about Cho and if she had heard about anything, when the door to the hospital wing opened.
The three of them looked up to see Cho walking in. She made her way over to the other side of Harry's bed and stopped.
"Can I sit down?" she asked looking at Harry. He just looked at her for a moment, not comprehending what she had just said, then finally came to his senses.
"Yes…yes please do…" he said. She pulled a chair closer and sat in it.
"I'm glad you came," he told her.
"I would've come sooner, but Professor Dumbledore wouldn't let anyone in here, not until you…woke up."
"Harry," Hermione said, "what happened? Who did that to you? Was it…You-Know-Who?" Harry just looked from her to Cho and back at Hermione.
"Um…I don't think…" he started.
"I know Harry," Cho said. "When you were missing I went to Ron and Hermione because I knew if anyone would know anything, they would. I got them to tell me what's been happening this year. I know about the Zlam, and I know about Mr. Fudge, and I know about Voldemort."
Harry looked at her in disbelief, his first reaction was anger at Ron and Hermione for telling Cho, these were things he never intended her to hear about. But Cho must have seen this in his face and spoke up before he could.
"Don't be mad at them, they didn't want to tell me either. It was only by convincing them how much I truly care for your safety, and how very concerned I was that you were missing, that they told me." Harry smiled at her a little, for the first time in a while, and had a warm feeling inside. His anger melted away as he looked into Cho's beautiful, kind eyes.
"Please understand, I've only kept this from you because I didn't want you to worry."
"But I want to worry about you. I would hope by now you'd understand that."
"Harry," Ron spoke up, "did…did V-Vol-Voldemort…did he…do that to you…?" he said looking at the area where Harry had been bleeding from. Harry shook his head and sighed, and once again, began to explain what happened.
When Harry finished speaking, he looked around at the horrified faces of his friends. Cho then leaned forward and grasped his hand in hers.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. Harry smiled at her and squeezed her hand.
"I don't know what to say…" Hermione spoke up. "We have to find a way for you to give it back to them, there's no other choice!"
"Believe me," Harry began, "I couldn't agree with you more. I don't really fancy the idea of having to go through that again."
"Well, what we have to do, is speed it up," Hermione said.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"You said that Forden told you, if you had more knowledge of your own magic, you'd be able to grasp theirs more quickly, right?" Harry nodded.
"So," she continued, "if you start learning new spells, charms, hexes and all of that, rather than wait for it to come to you, it may speed up the process. So you'll be able to transfer the knowledge before it, um…kills you…and before the Zlam come for you again."
Harry's face broke out in a grin.
"You might have something there…and it's the only good idea I've heard so far. Will you help me?" He asked her. Hermione smiled brilliantly at him.
"Of course, I will, ALL of us will! I'm sure we can tell Dumbledore and Sirius and they'll help too!" Hermione was brimming with excitement. For the first time since hearing about the knowledge, they had a plan. Cho and Ron seemed excited as well, though Ron seemed a bit preoccupied.
"Don't bother to hide your happiness there Hermione, I knew you'd find someway to make me a teacher's pet like you," Harry joked with her, but Hermione just grinned at him. Ron still looked deep in thought.
"Ron, what's up?" Harry finally asked looking at his friend. Ron looked up, startled out of thought.
"Oh…um, it's nothing big, I don't think. But I was just wondering; if the Zlam are really as powerful as they were saying, then why did they try to kill you using a knife? Why wouldn't they use magic?" Harry just looked at him, he hadn't thought about it until just this moment, and was about to say so when they heard anther voice.
"I can answer that for you."
The four of them turned towards the voice and saw one of the Zlam standing nearby. Harry recognized him immediately; it was Tytros.
Harry quickly jumped out of the bed, ignoring any pain he felt, and stood in front of his friends, not wanting them near Tytros. He knew there was very little he could actually do, but he wasn't going to give up without a fight.
"What do you want?" he spat. "I'm not going anywhere with you!"
"That isn't what I came for," Tytros stated evenly. Harry wasn't sure whether or not to believe him, so he stayed where he was.
"What did you come here for, then?" Hermione spoke up.
"And how did you get in?" Ron added. Harry turned to look at his friends and saw they all had their wands out, ready to fight.
"If I don't want people to see me, they don't. You wouldn't understand but hopefully soon, Harry will," Tytros said.
"What do you mean hopefully? I thought you didn't want me to know…" Harry started.
"Forden didn't want you to know. As he is our leader, we do as he says, but I disagree with him, and this time, I'm doing what I believe to be right."
"And what's that?" Harry said.
"I came to tell you what I know. Your friend has already figured out what to do though. The more you learn of your own magic, the better chance you have of learning how to make the transfer with ours."
"So, you're not here to take Harry back, to…kill him?" Cho asked.
"No. I'm not. That's not to say Forden won't send someone else, but it won't be me."
"Why did you do it the last time then?" Harry asked.
"I only came in hopes I could take the knowledge from you. I would die and you could live on, which I would gladly do. When I was unable to take the knowledge, I only took you back to our forest because I was ordered to do so, but I didn't intend for that to happen. When you escaped I immediately left, to see if you made it back here, and I've watched you these past two weeks."
"But, if you're not here to take Harry, won't you get in trouble?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, I could. My intention is to stay here until Harry can transfer the knowledge to me, then I will bring it back to my people."
"But you'll die…" Harry said.
"I know this already, I volunteered to do it once, and I will again. You should not be killed, there are too many of your kind that look on you as a hero for defeating Voldemort. And you are the only one who can defeat him again."
"Why do you say that?" Harry asked. "I only barely escaped from him the last two times since he has regained most of his strength, how can you say I'll be the one to defeat him?" Tytros looked at him with what could only have been a smirk on his face.
"That's not what I'm here for today, but believe me when I say, I don't want you to die."
"You said you could tell us why you didn't use magic to try and kill Harry, why did you use a knife?" Ron spoke up.
"Zlam don't use magic to kill. We never have, and we never will. The blade was created to make death as painless as possible, when it is used correctly. You would have died immediately, had you not moved out of the way."
"Not far enough out of the way," Harry said rubbing his side. "So, did you just come here to tell me that I need to start learning spells faster, or was there something else?"
"I am staying here, to watch you, until you are ready to make the transfer. I can't go back until then, or I will be executed. Besides, Forden will try to get you again, and I can help to defend you against whoever he sends."
"I really don't understand why you're willing to…to give up your life, and disobey your leader, for me."
"You don't need to understand. You just need to trust me, do you?" Tytros asked. Harry looked at him for a few moments before answering.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I do. Though I don't know if I'll be able to make Dumbledore or Sirius trust you. Okay let's face it, definitely not Sirius. How will you be able to stay here?"
"They won't see me, don't worry, just know that I am here. Do everything you can to learn more about your magic, and avoid doing anything alone."
"I've been told that by everyone, don't worry," Harry said rolling his eyes.
"I must go now, the others are coming. I'll speak with you soon," he said, and before any of them could say another word, he vanished. Harry turned to his friends, just as the door to the hospital wing opened, and Dumbledore came into the room.
Harry stayed in the hospital for two more days before being allowed to leave. He and the others had told Dumbledore Hermione's idea to speed everything up so the transfer could be accomplished sooner, but didn't mention Tytros.
"I was actually thinking the same thing myself, and I believe, it is our only option. Normally we don't like to show students certain magic until we feel they are ready, but in this case, it is certainly necessary," Dumbledore told them. "I will speak with some of your instructors that I fell can help you with this and let you know how we'll go about it."
So when Harry began classes again the next week, he found out what Dumbledore had set up for him. After his Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall asked him to stay after to speak with him.
"Mr. Potter, Professor Dumbledore has set it up so that you will spend a few hours after classes with me for a couple of weeks so you can start practicing more advanced magic. Next week you will be with Professor Flitwick, then Professor Lupin, then Professor Dumbledore, and lastly Professor Snape. Depending on how well you seem to be learning, you may spend more or less time with any one of us. I know you are taking many more classes with other instructors, and need to get your work done for them, but they have been notified of this as well, and will be a little more lenient with you. However, with the way you've been doing this year, I don't know if it will really be too difficult for you." She smiled at this last part, but only for a second. "So get on to lunch now, and I'll see you this evening, unless you have any questions now?"
"No professor, no questions." he said. "Thank you, see you later." She nodded at him and he turned and headed for the great hall.
Harry ended up spending three weeks with Professor McGonagall and by the end of it he knew more about transfiguration then most 7th years did. Anything she talked about came to him relatively easy and he could do most of the changes on his first try. She wanted him to continue attending class though, if only not to bring up any unnecessary questions from the other students.
He spent the weekends with Cho, Ron and Hermione, pouring over books in the library looking for spells they didn't know or hadn't tried in class.
After one week with Professor Flitwick, Harry was beginning to feel strained Professor Flitwick was always a very pleasant person to be around. However, since Halloween of his fifth year, he had treated Harry like a piece of glass that might break at any second, which Harry thought was a bit much.
After his first Friday session with Flitwick, Harry went to his common room, feeling very tired. Hermione noticed immediately how drawn he looked and tried to cheer him up.
"At least you have some time off tomorrow, with the ball and everything."
Harry stared at her in shock, he had completely forgotten about it.
"As long as I don't sleep through it, I'm exhausted," he said, sounding miserable.
"Then go to bed, tomorrow's Saturday and the balls not till tomorrow night. You'll be fine," Ron said.
"Easy for you to say," Harry said grinning at him. "You don't have to deal with Flitwick thinking you're a delicate antique that needs to be handled with care, do you? If I weren't learning so much from him, I'd ask to move on to Remus' sessions."
"A delicate antique?"
"He still hasn't gotten over Hogsmeade."
"Oh…"
Harry yawned then, and gave a big stretch.
"You're right Hermione, I'm going to bed. I'll see you guys in the morning,"
"Or the afternoon," Ron said smiling.
Harry tried to glare at him, but couldn't he just laughed to himself and headed upstairs. After the past few weeks, he found he was really looking forward to the ball, and drifted to sleep full of pleasant thoughts.
The next evening Harry was completely awake and ready to have fun. He and Ron put on their dress robes, and waited for Hermione and Ginny downstairs. When Hermione showed up, she was wearing the same color blue robes she had worn in their fourth year, which looked great with Ron's, and she had made her hair all straight and smooth again.
"Is Ginny ready?" Ron asked her. But Ginny came into the room before she could answer, she was wearing dark red robes, and her hair was all piled on her head, she looked beautiful, but also like something was bothering her.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked, trying to look in her eyes, but she was avoiding doing so.
"Nothing," she said absently. Then she walked past them and through the portrait hole. Ron and Harry both looked to Hermione.
"She's been like that since last night. Won't talk to anyone, or say what's wrong," she explained.
"Does she not have someone to go with? Colin turn her down this year?" Ron said smiling.
"Not funny Ron," Hermione said glaring. "No, Sean asked her to go, but something else is wrong."
"Well, maybe we can find out tonight," Harry said.
"I don't know if we should bring it up, let's just try to get her to have fun. If she wants to tell us she will," Hermione said.
"I dunno," Ron said. "The last time she waited to tell us something people were turned to stone…remember?"
"All too well," Hermione said. "But I don't think it's that bad this time. We don't have to talk to her tonight at least, okay? Let's just wait until tomorrow."
"Okay," Ron said with a sigh. "Let's head down then, shall we?" he asked, holding out his arm for Hermione to take. When they got downstairs, Harry saw Cho waiting for him in front of the great hall, and went over to her.
"You…you look beautiful," he said meaning it. She had on deep hunter green robes and she had made her hair very curly, and it hung in tendrils all over.
"Thank you," she replied, blushing. Harry held out his arm and she put hers through it, and they walked inside together.
Everything was decorated beautifully in blue and gold. Ron and Cho got into a debate on what fouls could actually be called on a keeper that lasted all through dinner. Harry tried to join in, but it just wasn't happening, so he talked with Hermione quietly about how his after class sessions were going. Ginny sat across from them, barely touching her food or talking to Sean, who was looking a bit irritated by her behavior.
When dinner was over, they all got up to dance. Ginny came, but didn't look like she wanted anything to do with it. Harry saw that Malfoy kept staring towards Ginny and she was looking anywhere but at him. He wanted to ask her what was going on when she suddenly let go of Sean and walked back to the table. Sean looked after her for a second and looked as if he were about to go over to her, but shook his head and walked towards a group of people standing on the opposite side of the room.
"Okay, I know we said we'd wait till tomorrow," Harry said when he and Cho were near Ron and Hermione, "but we really need to find out what's up with Ginny."
"Harry, just let her be for tonight," Hermione said.
"But it seems very important, she's not having any fun because something is bothering her very much. Look at her." Harry said nodding behind him. He saw Ron and Hermione look beyond him towards their table, and watched both of their faces change. Hermione looked shocked and Ron looked as if he were ready to explode.
Harry quickly turned around to see Malfoy sitting very close to Ginny and talking to her. He had a look of the utmost glee on his face and she looked ready to cry. Ron let go of Hermione and started storming over towards her. Harry gave Cho an apologetic look and ran after Ron, grabbing his arm to stop him.
"Let go of me Harry," he said very quietly staring hard at Malfoy. Harry didn't let go; he just waited until Ron looked at him.
"I agree we need to see what's going on…but we're not gonna go over there and start swinging, okay?"
Ron didn't move for a minute, and Harry thought he was going to say no, when finally he nodded. Harry let go of him and they went over together, and caught the end of what Malfoy was saying.
"…there's no other choice, it's tonight or never, understand? What do you two want?" Malfoy said noticing Harry and Ron.
"What do you want with my sister?" Ron asked.
"That's between me and her, and anyway, we're finished, aren't we?" he asked grinning wickedly at Ginny. She nodded and looked away quickly, becoming fascinated with the wall. Malfoy stood up and pushed past Harry and Ron, going back to the group of Slytherins. They both watched him go, then turned to Ginny.
"What was that all about?" Ron asked immediately, looking furious. "What did he want?"
Ginny looked at him, appearing quite scared. Then she abruptly stood up, and ran past them, out of the great hall.
Harry and Ron looked after her as Hermione and Cho finally came over to them.
"What happened?" Cho asked.
"We still don't know, but something's up," Ron said. "We need to find out what Malfoy was talking about."
"Well, the only way of doing that is by talking to Ginny, and we have to do it fast," Harry said.
"Why?" Hermione asked.
"Because Malfoy was saying something to her about tonight or never. I think he's planning something tonight, and Ginny is somehow involved."
"But…she'd never do anything to help Malfoy, right?" Cho asked.
"Well, normally no. But something's not right; she seemed scared. I think he might be forcing her to do something," Harry said.
"How?" Hermione said.
"That's what we have to find out," said Ron. "I'm going to talk to her, I bet she went back to the common room."
"We're coming too," Hermione said. The four of them headed for the doors and stepped out into the hallway. They started in the direction of the Gryffindor tower, when Cho stopped, Harry tapped Ron and Hermione and they all turned to look at her. She was squinting down the hallway they had just passed, then she looked at the others and beckoned them over, but motioned for them to be quiet. When they were right next to her, she pointed down the hallway.
"Do you see someone down there, off to the right a little?" she asked.
Harry could make out someone and he saw the others were nodding as well. They could tell it wasn't a student, but it was too dark to see the person's face. He was just standing there, looking at the wall, not acknowledging them staring. Harry took a step down the hall, and Cho and Ron grabbed his arms.
"No Harry," Cho whispered fiercely. "We'll go get someone."
Before Harry could answer, the man started moving; he had turned towards them and was now heading in their direction. They backed up a little and Hermione was tugging Ron back towards the great hall, when the person stepped into view. Everyone froze completely, unsure of what to do.
They were face to face with Cornelius Fudge.
Harry was the first to regain his voice.
"What are you doing here?" he asked angrily.
Fudge just stared at him, not saying anything. He looked almost like he was lost. Cho stepped up next to Harry, and he put a protective arm out in front of her.
"Mr. Fudge? Can you hear me?" she asked. Hermione and Ron had stepped closer now as well.
"Do you think he's under some kind of spell?" Hermione asked. Before anyone could answer Fudge leapt at her, grabbing her arms.
"Help me! Please, help…he's going to kill me! Please!" he cried out as he slid to his knees holding tightly to Hermione. Ron, who had went at Fudge the second he grabbed Hermione was trying to pry him off of her. Harry ran over and tried to help, Hermione just stood in shock.
"He's mad!" Ron screamed. "Cho, go get help!" Cho nodded and ran off towards the great hall.
"Mr. Fudge, let go of her! Do you hear me? Let her go!" Harry yelled as he tried to loosen Fudge's grip on Hermione.
Fudge looked up at Harry in confusion, then his face turned to anger, he snarled as he let go of Hermione and grabbed Harry instead. He dragged him to the floor and tried to choke him.
"You!" Fudge hissed. "Everything is your fault! I'll kill you!"
Harry couldn't reply because he could hardly breathe, Fudge's grip was cutting off all of his air. He grasped at the hands around his throat and tried with all his strength to pull them away. Ron and Hermione recovered from their shock at Fudge's sudden change in attitude, and had pulled their wands out. Before either of them had a chance, Fudge was pushed backwards, by the wind it appeared, and slumped against the wall behind him. Harry rubbed his sore throat as he and the others turned, and saw Lupin coming up to them with Cho close behind him.
"I told the first person I found," Cho explained breathlessly looking concerned at Harry who was coughing hard now.
"Harry, are you alright?" Lupin asked immediately. Harry nodded weakly and tried to tell him, but just started coughing again. "I want you to go to the hospital wing, right away," Lupin said as he looked at the others, "Will you take him?" they nodded silently. Ron helped Harry up and they set off, while Lupin tied up Fudge and levitated him, heading towards Dumbledore's office.
Harry wasn't in the hospital wing long. Madam Pomfrey inspected him, and gave him something for his throat, which instantly brought the swelling down. The bruises, she said, would be gone in a couple of hours. When Harry could talk normally again, she let him leave.
Harry walked Cho back to the Ravenclaw common room and Ron and Hermione waited just out of sight as he said goodnight to Cho.
"I'm sorry about everything, tonight," he said to her.
"Don't be, silly. None of it was your fault, and I had a wonderful time for most of it." She smiled at him and leaned forward and kissed him. She put her hand up and brushed his face softly, then said goodnight and turned to go into her common room. He said goodnight as she turned to shut the door, then went around to where Ron and Hermione were waiting.
When they got back to the common room, they tried to spot Ginny, but she was nowhere to be seen.
"She must've gone to bed already," Ron said.
"Well, I'll look in her dorm to make sure, but if she's asleep then we're waiting until tomorrow. Agreed?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, that's fair," Harry said. He really wanted to find out right away. If something was happening tonight, he needed to know. But when Hermione came back down and shook her head no, he and Ron said goodnight to her and headed up to their dorm.
They changed out of their dress robes and got ready for bed. Harry opened his trunk to put the robes away, but stopped. Everything looked out of place, like someone had gone through his trunk. He knew it had to be recently because he had just been in his trunk before the ball. He instantly started pulling everything out tossing things on the floor.
"What are you doing?" Ron asked looking utterly confused.
"Someone's been in my trunk, I'm checking to make sure everything's here," Harry replied quickly. He was almost to the bottom when he realized what was missing, and all the color drained from his face.
"Ron…the invisibility cloak. Someone's stolen it!"
Ron looked at Harry in shock.
"Are you sure? Let's look again…" he said coming over to the trunk.
"I'm positive!" Harry said, but he looked through everything again anyway.
"Maybe you put it somewhere else, in your closet?" Ron asked heading over to it.
"No, don't bother. I never put it anywhere but my trunk. I don't want anyone to see it, but apparently someone knows I have it."
"Well who have you told?" Ron asked.
"No one! You and Hermione know, obviously, but no other students know. I haven't even mentioned it to Cho!"
"Malfoy knows though, remember? That time at Hogsmeade, near the Shrieking Shack," Ron said.
"Okay, he might know, but even still how could he get to it? He has no access to our common room, let alone our dorm," Harry said, really starting to worry. Ron just stood there, thinking.
"You don't think," Ron started, "that this would have anything to do with what Ginny was worried about do you? I mean, I'm sure she would never give your cloak to Malfoy, but still…"
"Ginny doesn't even know about the cloak," Harry said.
"You have to admit though it's all a little too suspicious. Malfoy looked like he was threatening her and then later on the same night your cloak is stolen," Ron said.
"But we also know that Fudge was here tonight. Maybe it's something related to that."
"Let's go ask Dumbledore then. He'll certainly want to help."
"I agree, but we can't tonight. He'll be too busy with Fudge and the ministry and I just don't want to bother him right now."
"Well, it's your call, whatever you want to do."
"We'll go to him first thing in the morning," Harry said decidedly.
Harry couldn't sleep. He was sick with worry that whoever had stolen his cloak now had access to whatever they wanted. They certainly could get into his room, he knew for sure, but what were they really after? He got up and paced back and forth near his bed, and was just going to head downstairs to the common room, when an idea came to him. He ran over to his trunk and pulled out the Marauder's Map, then went to sit on his bed.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he said, pointing his wand at the map. When the full picture came into focus, he started searching for anything unusual. He saw that Dumbledore was in his office with Lupin, McGonagall, Snape and several other names, which he recognized as ministry members. Fudge was there too. Harry was glad he chose not to go there; it was not a good time.
He could see all four towers with all the students in them, and Filch and Mrs. Norris where roaming the lower levels at this time. Harry sighed. There was no one he didn't recognize and nothing happening that shouldn't be. Did the person who took his cloak leave the school with it? He had to know what they wanted it for. Harry waited and watched for a few more moments in silence. It wasn't until he reached for his wand to turn off the map, that something happened to catch his eye.
Ginny had started moving around her dorm, very slowly. Harry watched as she went towards the door in the room she was in, and headed towards the common room.
Harry leapt out of bed and moved downstairs as quickly and quietly as possible. He glanced at the map again and saw Ginny was still moving slowly, but she should be entering the common room any second. Harry waited just out of sight, near the doorway to see Ginny.
When the door across from him opened he waited, but then it shut again without anyone coming out. He glanced at the map again and saw Ginny had left the room, but he never saw her. Harry couldn't believe it; she stole his invisibility cloak! He felt anger rising within him and watched as her name on the map headed for the portrait hole and she went through. He decided immediately that he was going to go after her. He ran back up to his dorm, threw on some clothes, went back down, and stepped through the portrait whole.
Slowly, he started walking the direction Ginny had gone, with the map in one hand and his wand in the other.
Harry had been following Ginny for quite a while now, and they were in the dungeon area. He made sure to never be in the same hallway as her because if she were to look over her shoulder he'd never know it, and he didn't want to be seen. He looked down at the map and saw she had stopped so he did as well, but his eyes widened in shock as he looked at the map closer. Ginny was outside Snape's classroom.
He watched as she opened the door and went inside. Harry quickly glanced at the map for Snape's name and saw he was still in Dumbledore's office with the others. He looked for Filch as well, and saw both her and Mrs. Norris now were searching the upper levels.
After a few moments he saw Ginny head back out of Snape's office, heading back the way she came. Harry looked around quickly for somewhere to hide, and had to sprint halfway back down the hall before ducking in an open doorway. He waited until her name on the map was well passed where he was hiding and continued after her. When she reached the tower, he would confront her, Harry decided. But where she should have taken a left to get back to their common room, she took a right.
Is she lost? Harry wondered. Surely she's been down here enough to know her way back. But he watched the map as she continued on her way. Then he looked ahead and saw there was now another student's name in the hallways instead of their tower. Draco Malfoy. Ginny was heading straight towards him and Harry followed and kept watch on the map. He saw her name enter the hallway he was in, then quickly jump back out.
Harry was now at the corner of his hallway and was peering down towards where the map showed Ginny should be. Then he saw her, she had pulled off the invisibility cloak and he could see her arms were full of bottles. She dropped the cloak on the floor and turned back down the hall that Draco was in. Harry quickly ran over and grabbed his cloak, throwing it over himself, then went into the next hall to hear what they were saying.
"Took you long enough, Weasley," Malfoy spat.
"Here just take them," Ginny said thrusting the bottles into his arms and looking disgusted. "Can I have it back now?" she asked.
"Now? I don't think so. Not until I'm sure this works." He smiled wickedly at her. "You've been most helpful though, thanks." Then he turned and stalked away, leaving her glaring after him. She stood silently for a few moments then turned and walked back to where she had left the cloak.
When she saw it was missing, Harry could see the color drain from her face, even in the darkness. She bent down and started feeling everywhere for it. When she realized it was completely gone, she sat down against the wall and started to cry softly into her hands.
Harry was suddenly overcome with sadness for her. He realized from the conversation that she hadn't done any of this because she wanted to, so he slowly pulled off the cloak and kneeled down beside her.
Ginny gasped in panic when she saw him and Harry thought she was going to scream for a second, but she seemed to calm down when she recognized him. She buried her face in her hands again, as Harry slid down the wall next to her.
"Ginny," Harry began quietly, putting his arm around her "it's okay…don't cry, alright? It's okay." Ginny looked up at him, tears streaked down her face.
"I didn't want to, it's just that…he…oh, I'm so sorry!" she cried breaking into fresh tears. Harry just held her for a moment, and let her cry.
"Ginny," he said at last, "we can't stay here. I know you didn't do anything on purpose and I really want you to tell me what happened, but we need to go back to our tower first. Okay?" She looked up at him and nodded.
Harry helped her up and threw the cloak over both of them, then they set off for the tower together.
Ginny had calmed down greatly by the time they both got back to their tower. Harry told her to wait in the common room while he put the cloak away. He quickly shut off the map and put both items into his trunk, then went back downstairs and sat in a chair next to Ginny.
"Okay, now please, tell me what he did that would make you help him steal," Harry said looking at her. Ginny sighed heavily, and began talking.
"Over the summer, I found a book in my parent's collection, that had all different potions I'd never heard of in it. I was reading through it and thought it would help me out this year, in Professor Snape's class, you know, because I'm not very good at them. But I knew my parents wouldn't let me take any of their books, cause I've asked before, so I didn't ask. I switched the cover of the book with the cover of one of my old ones, so they wouldn't notice it was missing, and brought the potion one here with me." She paused for a moment to look at Harry, and he nodded for her to continue.
"I was reading through it more after I got here, always in the library so Ron wouldn't see what I had, and found a few potions that I wanted to try out. So I took notes for them separately, because I didn't want to write anything in the book. One of them was a memory enhancer…I swear I wasn't going to use it to cheat!" Ginny exclaimed suddenly, looking panicked.
"I wasn't thinking you would," Harry said, "so then what?"
"Well, I made a big mistake by telling my friend Lindsay about it, and she got very excited, wanting to use it for her tests and things like that. I told her I wouldn't use it for that, but she just kept pestering me about it. Then one day while she was talking about it again, Draco Malfoy was close enough to hear her, and I didn't know this until he grabbed my book away from behind me. I tried to make him give it back, but he wouldn't, and it has all my notes in it, plus my father's name on the inside cover!" Ginny said in despair.
"Well, why didn't you just tell McGonagall?" Harry asked.
"Because he told me he would say he overheard that I was planning to use the potion to cheat, and since it's all in my writing and the book came from my house, I knew that his lie could've been believed. Plus either way, my parents would be told and then they'd know I took their book without asking, and I'd be in so much trouble…" she trailed off. Harry just looked at her.
"Why didn't you tell me? Why did you steal my cloak and how did you even know I had it?" he asked realizing he didn't think she'd known.
"I've known you had the invisibility cloak since my first year," Ginny said. "When I…um…" she looked down and he could see her face going red. Then it hit him.
"When you took the diary back…" he trailed off.
"Yes, and I'm so sorry, I never meant to…to…steal from you. I didn't want to, but I felt it was the only way! I saw the cloak back then and I've known you had it ever since. When Malfoy told me to do this tonight, I knew the only way not to get caught, was to not be seen. So I left the ball early and got back to the tower before everyone…Harry…please, I'm sorry, can you forgive me?" she asked trying hard to keep herself from looking away from his eyes.
"Of course I forgive you Ginny," he said. "I may not agree with what you did, but I know you only did it because you felt it was your only choice."
Ginny looked thoroughly relieved. She sat back, took a deep breath, and started talking again.
"I've been worried about this for a month now, since he first took the book. I never said anything to you or the others, because I didn't want Ron to find out what I did. I told myself that at least Malfoy couldn't hurt anyone with the memory enhancer, which was the one he seemed interested in too. I only found out yesterday what he wanted me to do. I knew from what you were telling Ron and Hermione that you ran into him with all the potion bottles, that he had tried to steal the ingredients. When I heard that they shattered, I figured he would give up, he wouldn't try again because he wouldn't want to get in worse trouble. I was right too, he told me I had to get them for him, or he would report everything to Snape as if I were the one who was trying to cheat."
Harry just nodded. He wondered if Snape would have believed Malfoy after having been caught once stealing things. But he had been involved too, and for all he knew Snape thought he had stolen the ingredients, and Malfoy really was just trying to stop him.
"Ginny, I'm going to talk to Ron and Hermione about this, you know that, right?" he asked her.
"Do you have to?" she said looking very worried. "I mean, can't you just let it go…" she trailed off. Harry shook his head.
"No, I can't. Ron knows my cloak was missing and he's going to want to know how I got it back. Plus I want to find out what Malfoy is up to. If he's just cheating, or if he's trying to make it look that way to you but he wants something else. I'm gonna need their help to figure this out."
"What else could he want?" Ginny asked quietly.
"I don't know." Harry said. "But I'm going to find out."
The next day, Harry told Ron, Hermione and Cho, everything that had happened and all that Ginny had told him.
"I can't believe she did that!" Ron exclaimed, then lowered his voice as they were in the great hall and anyone could hear them.
"Don't be angry with her Ron, she feels bad enough, and you're not going to tell your parents, are you?" Harry asked.
"No, I don't really care about that, I just can't believe she stole your cloak."
"Well, after last night, I really don't think we need to worry about that again."
"So could Malfoy really just want the potion to cheat? I mean, is he doing that badly that he's going to fail?" Hermione asked.
"I dunno," Harry said. "Ever since Snape has stopped treating him like his favorite student, he might actually be grading him fairly."
"Yeah, but there's no way of knowing if he's doing badly enough to fail, since Snape spends most of his time yelling at us…and I don't think he'd tell us the grades if we asked him, no matter how nicely," Ron said.
"No…he definitely won't…" Harry said, thinking.
"Maybe he didn't want the memory enhancer potion at all," Ron started "maybe he's after another potion in the book and…"
"Then why would he have Ginny get him all the ingredients for it?" Hermione interrupted.
"Well," Cho spoke up, "I think the first thing we need to do, is get the book back from him. That way he has nothing to accuse Ginny with."
"Exactly," Harry said, "Then we try to figure out what he's using it for. If we get it back soon enough, we might not even have to worry about it. We can stop him before he starts."
"Where do you think he'll make it?" Ron asked. "I mean remember when we had to use…you know…used Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. It was so no one would find out. Malfoy would have to have someplace to do this in; that or tell the rest of his house what he's up to. And he isn't exactly the sharing type…"
"No, he isn't. Let's concentrate on getting the book back first. Then we'll worry about the rest."
Getting the book back, however, was not easy. Anytime any of them saw Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle always surrounded him. They also didn't know if he'd even have it on him. What if he left it in his dorm? All they could do was try and find a time when he was alone.
Fudge, as far as they had been told, was taken by ministry members. All they would say is that Thurston would be contacting Dumbledore soon. Yet there had been no word from him either.
Harry meanwhile was continuing his after class sessions. He finally finished with Professor Flitwick, with whom he spent a whole month, and was now starting with Professor Lupin.
"I'm so glad to be done with Professor Flitwick," Harry said as he stepped into Lupin's classroom. "He taught me a lot, but he's too scared to be around me."
"He's afraid of you?" Lupin asked, confused.
"No, he thinks I'm…fragile…you know, since Hogsmeade…"
"Oh, right. Well at least he's better towards you then Professor Snape."
"I don't want to think about it. He's the last person I want to train with, and Professor Dumbledore put him at the end of the list. I hope I'm done before I get to him…I so hope."
Lupin just smiled and shook his head, then he started the lesson. They went over all the things Harry had learned briefly, and talked about what they would be going over.
"One of the main things I want to do," Lupin said, "is really show you how to duel. I know you had a dueling club in your second year. But I don't feel that was, um…adequate training. So that is going to be the main focus for the first few sessions."
Harry nodded, eager to begin. He had been in a few duels, and still didn't feel he quite knew how to duel. Since they had spent most of the time reviewing, and then Lupin had to review the basics of dueling with him as well, they didn't get any real practice that day.
"We're going to begin with the practical lessons tomorrow," Lupin told him. Harry was a little disappointed that they wouldn't be starting tonight, but he nodded anyway, said goodnight and headed for his tower.
He only had gone a short ways though, when he felt someone watching him. He glanced nervously over his shoulder, but no one was there, so he quickened his pace. The feeling didn't go away and Harry took out his wand, it did little to calm his nerves though. He was almost running now, he glanced over his shoulder again, still no one there. But when he turned around he skidded quickly to a stop and brought his wand up in front of him.
There was a Zlam blocking his path.
Harry stood with his wand out ready to strike, but then he took a closer look at who was in front of him.
"Tytros?" he asked.
"Yes, it is me," came his answer.
"You scared me. What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in so long."
"I had a strange feeling this evening, like something is going to happen, and I wanted to make sure you made it safely back to your sleeping quarters."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, alarmed. "Is someone here?"
"I haven't seen anyone, no. It's just, a feeling."
"Would you be able to tell if any other Zlam were here? What would it feel like?"
"Zlam can tell when others are close by, but they are also able to block the senses that allow us to detect one another. If there were many of them, they could stop me from knowing they are here. But they would need to know I was here first, to block it."
"Do they know?" Harry asked.
"I do not know. Please, let's not stand here, we can talk as we go." The walked in silence for a few moments, but Harry was overcome with the urge to ask more questions.
"Tytros, when I was in your forest, Forden said if I had already had the knowledge of my own magic, like an experienced wizard, the knowledge of your magic would've come to me very quickly."
"That is true, it would have been very quick. An hour, maybe two."
"Would I die quicker too?"
"Yes, it all depends on how much you know. Once you know enough about your own magic, you begin to get our knowledge as well. Much of what we know consists of older spells and incantations, such as what Voldemort is after. But our real power, the power each Zlam is born with, is all mind controlled. No human can grasp it, or hope to use it, which is why it kills them."
"So then why are you so worried that I or anyone finds it out? If they can't hope to use it."
"It's not the mind power we're worried about. It's the older magic. You already know what I mean, as you don't want Voldemort to use the spell to extract your blood. Some of the old magic is very powerful, and as humans are power hungry, they should never be told of it."
"I understand that, but if when it comes to me, I die, I don't see how I'll be able to share the knowledge with other wizards."
"You don't die right away, Forden knows this, and so does Voldemort. That, I suspect is why he hasn't come for you yet. He knows you can't possibly be able to perform the spell yet, so he is waiting and watching you. I've seen his snake on these grounds, most likely delivering any information he finds out about you."
Harry shuddered thinking about Nagini watching him. He hadn't known he had been there after that one time near the quidditch pitch.
"I have one more question," Harry began, "How is it that Voldemort knows all of this?" he asked looking at Tytros, but he wasn't listening to Harry. He was looking intently in front of him and seemed to be concentrating very hard on the darkness.
Harry looked too, and just as he was about to ask what was wrong, he saw them. Three Zlam were in the corridor with them.
No one spoke, Harry just watched Tytros, who appeared to be concentrating very hard on something. He looked back and forth between him, and the other Zlam who seemed to be doing the same thing. Finally one of the Zlam in the group stepped away from the other two.
"Tytros don't fight us. You are not strong enough to overpower us."
"You are making a mistake, Mensok, the boy can't die," Tytros replied. Harry noticed he was looking very drained and he was broken out in a sweat. Then the one called Mensok turned, and headed straight for him. Harry glanced at Tytros, who didn't even appear to notice what happened, then back at Mensok.
Before Harry knew what was happening, his wrists were tied together in front of him, and Mensok was holding his shoulders. He realized he couldn't reach his wand now, as it was in his back pocket. Why didn't I grab it sooner? He thought to himself.
"Because I didn't want you to," Mensok said evenly. Harry looked up at him in shock. Could he read his mind? He looked at Tytros again, who appeared ready to faint from the stress. Harry had no idea what was happening; from what it looked like he was battling the other two, but in their minds as no blows were being visibly exchanged.
"I will take the boy, when you two are finished bring Tytros back with you. Forden wishes to speak with him," Mensok said smiling. The others just nodded, not wanting to break their concentration. Harry couldn't believe this; he had no way to fight or to help his friend. He was shoved roughly from behind and had no choice but to start walking. He was afraid if he fought then he would be forced to sleep again, and he wanted to be awake in case any chance to escape presented itself.
But he hadn't gone even five steps before Mensok grabbed him roughly and forced him to stop. Harry looked over his shoulder at him to see him staring ahead into the darkness. He listened carefully, and realized he heard someone coming. Harry felt both relief and fear as he didn't want whoever it was to get caught but they desperately needed help at this moment.
Then something happened, Harry couldn't explain it but it felt like the air changed. Mensok pulled him back a few steps near where the others were still locked in battle, and waited.
Lupin came around the bend and down the hallway. Harry called out to him immediately, telling him to go back and get help, but Lupin kept on walking. He shouted at him as he came closer and passed by, but Lupin obviously thought he was alone in the hallway, and for some reason couldn't hear him.
Harry watched with a sinking heart as Lupin reached the end of the hallway, and turned the corner. He knew that the Zlam had done something to make Lupin unable to hear and see him, and now he was even more desperate than ever. He would have no help escaping this time.
Mensok waited a moment after Lupin had turned the corner, then pushed Harry forward to start walking again. He glanced once more at Tytros expecting him to be on the floor at this point, but instead was shocked to see him standing straighter than before. His eyes were all white and he was now raising his arms at the other two Zlam, a second later they were surrounded by a red dome, much like the one Harry woke up inside of in the forest. Tytros turned to face Mensok and spoke.
"Let go of him."
"You know I can't. I will not betray Forden like you have, this is not our decision."
"But it isn't Forden's either. We shouldn't decide that this boy has to die because of Corfay's error in judgment."
"I will follow the orders I have been given," Mensok said with finality. "Now release them, and come with us. If you don't fight us further, then maybe Forden will not have you executed."
"I will not release them, and I will not let you take him either."
"You are too weak to face me."
"That won't stop me from trying."
Harry watched the two of them intently, looking back and forth from one to the other. Mensok let go of Harry for a moment and stepped towards Tytros.
"Harry, go," Tytros said quickly. But Harry didn't move, he couldn't leave Tytros there, outnumbered.
"Yes, run," Mensok said, "But it won't help you. I will finish with him and then we will come find you."
"The three of you alone, no matter what you try, will not be able to overpower all of the wizards in this school. You are outnumbered far too greatly to even hope for that," Tytros spat.
The two glared at each other and Harry backed up a few paces. He glanced behind him and saw the other two Zlam trying to break out of the dome they were in to help Mensok. He wondered why they couldn't just use their own powers to get out, but only for a second as Tytros spoke up again.
"I'm telling you to go now, if you don't want to be taken then move!"
Harry saw the battle, however they were doing it, was already taking place. Both of them were looking at each other intently, filled with concentration. He saw Tytros was indeed, not up to this, but he was doing it for him, and he couldn't let himself be caught.
Harry turned and quickly ran past the dome containing the other two, in the direction that Lupin had went just a few moments earlier.
He ran through the hallways as fast as he could, nervously glancing over his shoulder every so often expecting to see one of the Zlam right behind him and trying to get his wrists free so he could reach his wand. He was near his tower, but he couldn't go there, he had to tell someone the Zlam were here and he didn't want to lead them to all of his friends, so he decided to head straight for Dumbledore's office.
He passed the portrait of the fat lady and kept heading up the corridor. When he was almost there, he heard voices, arguing nearby. As he got closer he realized it was Lupin and Snape. Harry turned the next corner and saw them a short ways ahead of him, facing each other and speaking in raised voices.
"Professor Lupin! Professor Snape!" he cried running up to them. "We have to tell Professor Dumbledore there are Zlam in the school!" But when he reached them, neither one even acknowledged he was standing there, they just continued to argue. Harry was shocked, and a bit frightened. He was about to try again, when he heard his name, and stopped to listen.
"Harry would never do that and you know it Severus!" Lupin said fiercely. "It's just like you to try and blame him!"
"I'm not trying to blame him I'm simply saying we should consider it. Mr. Potter was caught the first time certain things were stolen from my office…"
"So was Draco Malfoy!" Lupin interrupted. "And Harry said he had nothing to do with that!"
"And of course, Mr. Potter has never lied," Snape said glaring at Lupin. "My point is, due to his current situation, if he were to try anything to speed up the process of gaining knowledge, other than what Professor Dumbledore is already having him do after class each day, it could kill him. And I know that he's dying anyway, but I'm speaking in terms of immediate death. That is why I'm asking that we search his dorm, for any trace of what was stolen."
"Then I think it's only fair that we search Mr. Malfoy's dorm as well," Lupin said angrily.
"So do I," Harry said, glaring at Snape. Still neither of them seemed to be hearing him. Harry was worried that he wouldn't be able to find anyone to tell what had happened, when both Lupin and Snape began walking. Harry quickly began to follow them, talking, even yelling, trying to do anything to make them hear. Finally he gave up on talking and just grabbed Lupin's sleeve and yanked on it. Lupin immediately looked behind him, then at Snape.
"What'd you do that for?" he asked, looking confused.
"Do what?" Snape asked, also confused.
"He didn't do it, I did!" Harry shouted, his heart began to race; at least he could still do something to get through to them. He grabbed the sleeve again.
"Stop it!" Lupin said angrily.
"Will you quit being childish? I am not doing anything!" Snape hissed. Harry shook his head; it was going to do no good if they just kept thinking it was a joke. He grabbed Snape's arm and pulled hard making him step away from Lupin.
Snape turned to look all around him, while Lupin stared at him.
"What is going on?" Snape asked quietly.
"Well, if neither of us is doing it to the other, obviously there's someone here with us, but we can't see them," Lupin said, glancing around nervously.
"Potter!" Snape said sounding infuriated.
"Yes!" Harry said, for once glad of Snape being suspicious of him.
"Will you stop blaming Harry for everything?" Lupin asked angrily.
"He has an invisibility cloak, and he's the only student that has one. Unless you know of a student with the power to turn themselves invisible?" Snape asked.
"We don't know if it's even a student!" Lupin countered.
"It IS a student! Remus it's me! Can't you hear me? Please?" Harry shouted.
"Did you hear something?" Snape asked. Harry looked at him quickly.
"Nothing. Let's keep going." Lupin said. Snape looked around again, but started walking. Harry let out a sigh of frustration and once again began following them. Snape had heard him, he just knew it, but Lupin didn't, and he still had to warn someone about the Zlam being in the school. When they were just a few feet from the statue into Dumbledore's office, Harry had a sudden idea. He got up right behind Snape, and swung his foot around in front of his legs. Snape fell forward as he hit Harry's leg and landed hard on his knees. He stood up and whirled around instantly.
"Show yourself Potter!"
"Okay, I know you may be embarrassed that I saw you trip, but really. You can't blame Harry because of that…" Lupin said laughing.
"I didn't trip, I hit something, I felt it!" Snape almost screamed at him.
"Yes I tripped you!" Harry yelled.
"There, did you hear him?" Snape said smiling now, "Where are you Potter?"
"Severus…" Lupin began. He wasn't laughing now but looking angrily at Snape.
"I can't show myself! I've been trying to get your attention but neither of you seem to be able to see or hear me!" Harry yelled.
"Don't lie to me! Where are you?" Snape hissed.
"I'm right here," Harry said from next to him.
Snape spun towards Harry's voice as Harry reached forward and grabbed Snape's hand. Snape just looked at his hand in amazement, while Lupin stared at them, confused.
"Severus, what are you…" Lupin started, but Snape put up his free hand to silence him.
"Potter?" he asked, looking in Harry's general direction.
"Yes!" Harry said almost shaking with relief, "I'm right in front of you!" He watched as Snape's eyes searched to see him, then he looked directly into Harry's eyes and stayed that way.
"How did you do that?" he asked.
"You can see me?" Harry asked in excitement.
"Of course I can see you! Tell me how you did that!"
"Severus! What are you talking about! I've been standing here watching you talk to no one and it's getting ridiculous!"
"Remus, are you blind!" Snape snapped at him. "Mr. Potter here has just revealed himself and I want to find out why he felt the urge to trip me, if you don't mind." Snape turned back to Harry and saw his hands were tied together.
"Who did this?" Snape asked, beginning to untie him.
"The Zlam, three of them are here," Harry said urgently, I was coming to tell Dumbledore when I saw you two and I tried to tell you, but neither of you heard me. I've been following you since we were just past the Gryffindor tower."
Snape was just staring at him, not sure what to make of this. Lupin was still looking at him like he was crazy.
"Look, we can't just stand around talking, they're still here! They must be or…"
"Severus, I'm going inside now, you stand here and talk to the air as long as you like!" Lupin said suddenly, not realizing he was cutting Harry off.
"Why can't he see you, then?" Snape asked, ignoring Lupin.
"I think I have an idea why," Harry said stepping towards Lupin. He grabbed his arm and Lupin jumped and looked around, not seeing him.
"What are you doing?" he asked. "Because it isn't amusing."
"Tell him it's me," Harry told Snape.
"I'm not doing anything. Mr. Potter is the one holding your arm."
"Don't be ridiculous! If he were here I would at least hear him!"
"No, tell him…tell him that he won't be able to hear me or see me until he knows I'm here."
Snape looked at him strangely but told Lupin, who just gave him a look that plainly said he thought he was crazy.
The statue moved aside then, and Dumbledore stepped out, looking around.
"May I ask what's going on out here? What are you two doing?" he said looking back and forth from Lupin to Snape.
"Professor," Snape started looking at Dumbledore, "Do you see Mr. Potter standing next to Remus?" Dumbledore looked towards Lupin and the back at Snape.
"No, I'm afraid I don't. Do you?" he asked.
"Yes," Snape said in a low voice, now paling a little. Harry started to get afraid. The last thing he needed was for Snape to think he was a hallucination. He grabbed his wand out of his back pocket, and said the first spell that came to mind.
"Lumos."
The tip of his wand set forth a bright light and both Dumbledore and Lupin could see it. The look of relief on Snape's face mirrored what Harry was feeling inside.
"Harry?" Lupin asked searching the air in front of him.
"Yes! I'm right here!" Harry said looking right at Lupin.
"I hear you…" Lupin said trailing off as his eyes suddenly focused on Harry.
"What happened?" Lupin asked him. Dumbledore walked over to where they were standing.
"I think we'd all like to know that, please, come inside."
"We have to do something," Harry said as they were walking up to the office. "There are Zlam in the school, three of them, and they're gonna kill…" Harry trailed off, realizing he'd never told them about Tytros.
"Who?" Lupin asked. "Who are they gonna kill?"
"What?" came Sirius' voice. They had just come inside and Sirius was coming over to them now. "Is Harry in trouble?" he asked immediately.
"I'm fine," Harry said, but Sirius ignored him, which didn't shock Harry too much. "He can't see me," he said looking over his shoulder at Dumbledore.
"Sirius, Harry is safe for the moment, now everyone please sit down so we can find out what happened."
Sirius didn't look convinced, but sat down anyway.
"Harry, please tell us what happened," Dumbledore said. Sirius immediately looked at him strangely.
"Um, Professor…Harry isn't…"
"He's here Sirius, but there are also Zlam in the school and we need to hear what Harry has to say in order to know what we're up against." Dumbledore turned and looked back at Harry, while Sirius just stared at him in confusion
Harry began to talk, and started with explaining as quickly as possible who Tytros was and why he trusted him. Then he moved on to earlier that evening, and all that had happened since he left Lupin's classroom. Before he got very far though, he felt a sharp pain go through his head, not from his scar, and he cried out.
"What happened?" Lupin asked coming over to Harry, who was holding his head in his hands.
"I…I don't know…" Harry stammered. His vision was very blurry and it took a minute before everything came back into focus. When it finally did, he looked around to see everyone in the room staring at him, including Sirius.
"You can see me now, can't you?" Harry asked him. Sirius nodded, unable to speak. "They're gone," Harry continued.
"The Zlam?" Lupin asked.
"Yes. They're not in the school anymore."
"How do you know?" Snape asked.
"I just do, I can't explain it anymore than that, it's just a feeling."
Snape looked at him skeptically but stayed quiet, while Sirius finally found his voice.
"Why couldn't I see you? Will one of you please tell me what's going on?"
Harry took his time, now that he didn't feel there was as much of a rush, and explained again what he had already told the others. Then continued from where he left off before, finishing with finally getting Snape to realize he was there.
"I can't believe I just walked right by you," Lupin said looking very angry with himself.
"It wasn't your fault, you couldn't see or hear me," Harry said.
"So how is it then that Snape was able to hear you, before anyone else?" Sirius asked.
Harry looked down at his hands, not really wanting to answer that question.
"I have an idea of why, though I can't be sure, but I think it's because of his um…mistrust towards me," he said looking at anyone except Snape.
"What do you mean?" Lupin asked.
"Well, when I was trying to get your attention the first time, neither of you heard me. So finally I tried grabbing your arm, and because this was the only thing I seemed to be able to do, I did it twice, but you thought it was Professor Snape playing a joke on you or something. So I pulled him away from you, hoping that you would both realize it wasn't either of you doing anything. You realized first that there had to be someone else there with you," Harry said looking at Lupin. "And Professor Snape instantly jumped to the conclusion that it was me, as he does so often…" He glanced at Snape then who wore an expression mixed with smugness and anger. Harry looked away quickly.
"When I said it was me, you thought you heard something," Harry said glancing at Snape, but you didn't really hear what I said, and kept walking. That's when I got an idea, I had to convince you that I was there, and you already thought I might have been. But Professor Lupin kept talking you out of thinking it was me. That's why I tripped you," he said looking directly at Snape this time, "and I really didn't want to, but it was the only thing I could think of to get rid of any doubts you might have that I was the one doing it…" Harry trailed off, looking at the confused faces around him. He sighed in frustration.
"I understand what you're trying to say," Dumbledore spoke up then, smiling. "In order to have someone see and hear you, they had to first be sure that you were there, to KNOW you were there. They had to have no doubt, and because Professor Snape believed you were using your invisibility cloak to play a trick on him, he was able to break whatever spell the Zlam put on you."
"Yes," Harry said, "I guess their spell only works while they're around, though because as soon as they left Sirius could see me again." Sirius was just looking at Harry, his face etched with worry.
"I wish you had at least told us about Tytros to begin with," he said.
"You wouldn't have trusted him, I know you wouldn't have."
"Whether I would have or wouldn't have I thought you would've confided in me. Or at least told Professor Dumbledore. You know how important it is that we know anything there is about the Zlam right now."
"You mean how important it is that I know, I'm the one that has to deal with them. It's obvious that if they want to cut me off from your help they can, and if Tytros wasn't here tonight then I wouldn't be here right now!" Harry said, feeling angry.
" I think we should still search the school, in case they haven't all gone," Snape said as he stood up.
"Severus you heard what Harry said," Lupin started.
"It couldn't hurt," Harry said. "They stopped the spell and I assumed they had left because of that. But Tytros was here for months, and I never sensed his presence, so they could still be here."
"Do you really think they're still here?" Sirius asked. Harry shook his head.
"No, I don't, but maybe, if they didn't take Tytros, he's still here somewhere." But Harry really didn't believe this either, if the Zlam had really left, which he knew they had, then they took Tytros with them. The only reason they didn't come after Harry was because there must be some truth in what Tytros told them, about not being able to defeat all of the wizards in this school. But that didn't mean they wouldn't come back for him.
"Severus, please get Argus and Minerva and start searching, Sirius, Remus and I will join you shortly," Dumbledore said. Snape nodded and left in search of the others. Then Dumbledore turned and looked at Harry.
"If you don't feel you need to go to the hospital wing, then I think you should return to your tower."
"I'm fine, I can go back to the tower."
"Remus, will you please take him?"
Lupin nodded and started for the door, but Harry didn't move.
"Was there something else, Harry?"
"This has nothing to do with the Zlam, but, I haven't heard anything in a while about Fudge. Was Mr. Thurston able to find out anything from him?"
Dumbledore just looked at Harry, with a kind of sadness in his eyes.
"Do you remember what I told you about Mr. Longbottom's parents?" he asked. Harry nodded and then he understood.
"You don't mean…"
"He won't be able to tell us anything ever again. It's amazing he was even able to recognize you the night he found his way here. Voldemort has given him a punishment that is almost worse than death."
"Then, what about…"
"We will talk about it later. Right now it is very late, and I really would like you to get some rest. Please understand, I'm not trying to keep anything from you, but right now I don't have many answers. The ministry is not being very open with information at this time."
Harry nodded feeling confused and disappointed, then turned to follow Lupin out of the office.
