Chapter 19 - Spring Fever
By the start of term, Andrew was up and about, although pale. Andrew was quiet and withdrawn, just as Rebeca was. Dumbledore had told the staff there would be no further visits to Hogsmead.
Snape left by the start of February, much to the delight of many of the students. Some rather nasty attempted pranks on Snape were foiled. Snape suspected Harry and the Gryffindors in general and was even more biased against them. Although Harry was not actually involved, he believed Fred, George and Lee had planned a good number of them. After all, one of their enchanted 'canary creams' had made it into Snape's food. Snape turned into a canary in the Great Hall. This incident soured Snape's mood greatly, which most of the students couldn't believe. Snape's departure was sudden, no announcement, he just left. In fact no one knew until they walked into Potions only to find Araya sitting on the desk.
"Greetings all." she smiled, "Have a good weekend?"
"Where's Professor Snape?" Malfoy demanded.
"He was called away at the last minute." Araya replied, "I'm filling in until he returns." Whispers went around the room, "Please take your seats so we can get started, and Professor Snape had time to tell me what he wants covered in his absence."
"How long will he be away?" Dean asked, a little too eagerly, which earned him a kick and stern look from Seamus. "Ouch."
"Probably until Easter break." Araya replied with amusement. "Shall we get started?"
The classes went along well. The Slytherins were utterly miserable. Which actually increased the delight of the others. There had been no further attacks, but nor were there tips to Hogsmead. Despite how great it was to have no Snape, they were becoming restless.
"I'm headed into town." Harry said, "We should have been allowed to go by now."
"Harry, relax." Hermione replied, "He's fine."
"We should still go check." Ron whispered.
"I haven't gotten any letters." Harry whispered.
"We'll get caught." Hermione hissed.
"Not if we use the map." Harry replied, "We'll be able to keep track of everyone and make sure the way is clear."
"I'm in." Ron said, "Hermione don't be such a git. We'll be careful."
"But..ohh, I'm not going to win, am I?" Hermione asked. The boys shook their heads -no- "Fine. Am I the diversion?" She sounded defeated, but Ron and Harry knew better. Hermione did like their adventures.
"I don't think we'll need one." Harry said. "We'll go tomorrow."
The next night they sat in the common room of the Gryffindor tower. Ron, Harry and Hermione were doing homework, waiting for the others to go to bed. By 10:00 pm, most had gone to bed. Harry was getting impatient.
"Ron, you got any dung bombs?" Harry whispered.
"Relax Harry." Hermione said.
"Yeah," Ron said, slipping one out of his robe. Hermione grabbed his hand.
"Let me try something first." Hermione said, pulling out her wand and pointing it at the groups of stragglers from under the table. "Restus strasstos."
A moment passed, they yawned, then said their goodnights and headed up the stairs. "See, now wasn't that easier and less messy?"
"Brilliant." Harry said.
"Where do you find these spells?" Ron sounded amused
"Thanks." Hermione blushed a little, "It was in review for my OWLs. Check the map, Harry. See if it's clear."
Harry tapped the map. "We're good." They headed out, Harry's invisibility cloak tucked neatly in his bag. They were down to the 3rd floor. "Quick, in the room. Filch." Harry whispered.
"I thought you said we were clear!" Hermione whispered.
"We were." Harry whispered back, "Hey, that's strange."
"What?" Ron looked over Harry's shoulder. They noted that they weren't the only ones out of bed. "Well, I'll be."
"Shhh!" Hermione hissed, "I can hear him." They waited tensely, pressed against the walls. They listened as Filch paused, then shuffled off, "Now what was so important to get us caught?"
"It seems our Prefect was on the grounds." Ron whispered, "Now she's headed back upstairs."
"Looks like Fred and George are up too." Harry pointed to two minuscule dots moving back towards the statue. "Want to scare them as they climb out?"
"Yeah." Ron said mischievously.
"Have you thought this through?" Hermione asked as they headed towards the humpback witch. "If they yell, Filch will hear."
"Fred and George aren't the yelling type." Ron whispered, "They're the cursing type. So I'd recommend shields."
"Good." Hermione replied, "I ask again: do you think this is a good idea?"
Ron and Harry both sent her a look that said -come on-. Hermione through her hands up, "Next time, it's your turn to concede." Hermione whispered.
George climbed out first, then Fred. Harry, Ron and Hermione were hidden under the invisibility cloak. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" Ron asked, stepping out. True to his prediction, George whipped around and tried to stun Ron.
"Careful. How would we be explaining that to your mum?" Harry said, coming out.
"Harry? Ron?" Fred replied, "What are you doing about?" His eyes scanned the halls for any sign of Filch.
"Running low on sweets." Hermione said.
"Sorry Ron." George said, "Y'alright?"
"Fine." Ron replied, "Hermione, I think I need to do some more practice on my shield."
"Looks like it." Harry said, "We need to go."
"Right. Sweets." George said, "Well, here, let me get the door." He opened the hump on the witch's back. "See you later."
"Oh, you two should watch out. Samantha's just headed back up to the tower." Harry said.
"Really?" Fred wondered, "She's not supposed to be on patrol tonight."
"Whether she is or not," Hermione replied, "She'd bust you if she had the chance."
"Don't worry about us." George assured them.
"We'll see you at breakfast." Harry said
It took them much longer than expected to reach Sirius' cave. Buckbeak was nowhere on site and the cave was silent. Harry was extremely worried.
They climbed into the cave, "Hello?" Harry called. "You here?"
No answer. The cave looked abandoned.
"It looks like he hasn't been here for a while." Hermione said, looking around. "But at least it doesn't look like there was a fight."
"Not here, anyways." Ron replied. Hermione hit him on the arm. "I mean, maybe he moved. The owls haven't returned with letters, so he's not been caught, or they'd have come and...um...spoken to you already."
"Then why hasn't he answered me?" Harry demanded, "I don't want to lose him."
"We know." Ron said, "We'll find him. Dumbledore will know what to do."
"Harry, he hasn't been caught. It would have made the news." Hermione assured him. She looked around again, "We'll not find anything here. We'd best head back. We can check the Shrieking Shack on the way back."
"Right, he stayed there once." Ron said, "But I don't know where Buckbeak would go."
Harry ran down to the Shrieking Shack, muttering -please, please, Sirius be there-. Ron and Hermione had a hard time keeping up. The Shack was empty too. No signs of any inhabitant since Sirius' last visit.
"Harry," Ron said, "We'll find him. Don't worry. We'll go and ask Lupin and Dumbledore."
"Let's - let's ask around town." Harry demanded, "Maybe Snuffles got adopted."
"Harry, we can't." Hermione said. "We have to get back to school. We need to get help."
"But...Sirius." Harry sounded heartbroken.
"We'll get help." Ron said, "We'll find him."
Harry nodded, "Which passageway should we take back? This one, or Honeydukes?"
"Do you remember which knot it was that we had to prod?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah! Let's go." Harry said, "I - we need to talk to Dumbledore and Lupin." They moved to the passageway. They were headed back to the school. They were about half-way back when Harry suddenly grabbed his head, "Arrhh!"
"Harry?!" Ron and Hermione yelled. Harry's scar was screaming in pain, "What is it?"
"M-my scar." Harry said, "V-vol-"
"Where?!" Ron sounded panicked.
"Let's not wait to find out." Hermione whispered. She grabbed Harry, "Come on. Harry can you walk? We need to move."
"Y-yeah." Harry stammered. Ron carried Harry as Hermione lit the way. Harry started to walk on his own after a little ways. "I'm fine now."
"What was that?" Hermione asked, "I thought that only happened because of the dreams"
"Or when I'm close to-" Harry didn't finish, knowing how much they shuddered, "Dumbledore said it might be a warning."
"Well, we're almost there. Get ready." Hermione said. "Harry, you ready?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Harry said. "Let's go."
They surfaced and narrowly missed getting hit by the Whomping Willow. Harry wanted to go directly to see Dumbledore and Lupin. Ron and Hermione went with him. "Let's just hope Lupin's in his office this early." Ron said. Harry knocked on the door. No answer.
Araya came walking down the hallway. "Remus doesn't usually go to his office before breakfast." she yawned.
"Where can we find him?" Harry demanded. Araya looked at him, a little shocked. "Sorry Professor, it's just really important."
"I think he might be in the staff room." Araya offered, "If you want, we can go look."
"That's alright." Hermione said.
"Okay. If you lot are going to roam the school looking, I suggest you clean up a bit. You look dreadful." Araya said. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Harry, you might try looking in the dungeon. Second floor down, third door on the left. I think I remember Lupin saying he was going to set up a demo down there. I'd knock and call loudly first though."
"Thanks Professor." Harry said, as he headed off down to the dungeons. Again Ron and Hermione were left to run behind him.
The second level of the dungeon was rarely used. It was very dank and had a mouldy smell. They reached the third door on the left. Harry pounded on the door as hard as he could.
"Professor Lupin!" Harry yelled, Ron and Hermione were out of breath when they caught up. "Professor Lupin! Please be here. I need to talk to you!"
Harry tried the door, it was locked tight. "Allohemora!" Still Harry couldn't open the door. Harry crumpled to his knees, exhausted.
"Harry?" Lupin said, opening the door just enough to slip out. He closed it behind him quickly. "Ron, Hermione. You shouldn't be down here. What happened?" Lupin finally took in all the dirt and Harry's obvious distress.
"We spent all night looking for Sirius." Hermione said, "We were worried because he hadn't written back."
"We couldn't find him." Ron said, having caught his breath. "Now we're really worried."
"We were hoping you could help us." Hermione added, "He didn't tell you anything did he? Like he needed to relocate?"
"No. Nothing like that, sorry." Lupin said. "Harry?"
"I-I-" Harry swallowed, "I just don't want anything to happen to him."
"Harry, you should see something." Lupin said. "Sirius is here."
"What?!" All three said at once.
"But...h-he wasn't on the map." Harry said, shocked, "How? Why didn't you tell me? My letters?"
"Harry, please." Lupin said, "We used a masking spell to hide him. As for you letters and the reason I didn't tell you..." he took a deep breath, as if trying to find the right words, "Sirius is in no condition to talk to you. He - well, he's really sick."
"What?" Harry said, "I want to see him."
"Harry," Lupin pleaded, "I warn you, he's unconscious most of the time. When he's awake, he's incoherent. We didn't want to put you through that." Lupin looked into Harry's eyes. "Do you still want to see him?"
"W-what happened?" Harry asked.
"We're still trying to figure it out." Lupin replied sympathetically, "Harry?"
"I - I want to see him." Harry said. "He's family."
"Alright." Lupin said. He led Harry into the room, "You two shouldn't come in. Not yet, anyway." Harry saw the room was very dimly lit. Professor Dumbledore sat beside the cot. He looked up quizzically. Lupin had his hand on Harry's shoulder.
Harry saw a lump on the bed. He moved closer slowly. His eyes were getting used to the poor lighting. He was able to make out Sirius' dark hair and noted the contrast of pale skin. It looked drawn and dead, like...Cedric's had.
Harry started to shake and back up. He looked to Lupin who kindly put his hand on his shoulders. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-" Harry said in a small voice that bombed in the room.
"Harry," Dumbledore replied, "It's alright."
"H-Ha-" Sirius voice yelled from the bed. "Are - He - lop - trr - " Sirius' eyes looked unfocussed and glazed, "Hrr - Ssff, lop - trr - brrythhss."
"You should go." Lupin whispered to Harry. Harry's eyes were fixed on Sirius.
"Help him." Harry pleaded.
"We're trying." Dumbledore said, pulling Harry out. "We're doing what we can." Harry stared at the door, "Harry, are you alright?"
"I - I-" Harry was still looking at the door.
"Harry, have you told him about your scar?" Hermione said. By the look on Dumbledore's face, she could tell that he hadn't. "Well, on our way back...um...Harry's scar started to burn."
"Do you remember where?" Dumbledore asked.
Hermione shook her head.
"Not really. Sorry, sir." Ron said, "We were underground. I guess we were about half-way back from the Shrieking Shack." Ron noticed Harry was still transfixed, "Harry? What happened in there?"
"I - I think that Sirius was trying to warn me." Harry said, still entranced.
"Hmmm..." Dumbledore said thoughtfully, "Possibly. I think you should get ready for class. That includes you, Harry." Harry finally looked at Dumbledore. "As for going off school grounds...we'll discuss that later. Off you go."
They headed up to the tower, a lot more sullen. Harry was dazed. Ron and Hermione didn't dare to ask. They'd heard Sirius as Dumbledore pulled Harry out.
"Sirius knows he's here." Harry mumbled. "He's worried about me."
"Of course he is." Ron said, "Harry, will you be alright to go to class?"
"Yeah, besides, Dumbledore said I had to." Harry replied, "And we don't need to make him mad. We're already in trouble."