Chapter Fourteen
A/N: Hey and hello. Thank you to all my reviewers. Crazygonutz, I'm not entirely sure what they are going to do myself. . . I suppose that will come to me at a later point. At the moment, I just left it necessary to say what happened. To tell you all the truth, I'm not exactly sure as to the details of this story, I just know the basic plot. Snappish79, you are always one step ahead of me. I actually have the next three or four chapters pre-written, and you have speculated something that is going to happen. ANYWAY, enough of my babbling.
Disclaimer: No matter how hard I hope and wish, Harry and all that goes with him is not mine. . . ::sniffle::
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting up late in the common room for the fourth night in a row. School had begun to become overbearing with all of their classes, and Ron and Harry's Quidditch practices. Nighttime after the common room had emptied was the only time they had to themselves anymore. It was during these late night sessions that they discussed the important issues at hand.
"Why now?" Hermione asked. "After all this time, why would Neville's parents turn around now?"
"They were subjected to a lot of pain." Harry said. "It must have just taken a very long time for it to fix."
"I don't know. . ." Ron said of the fifth time that evening.
"I know. It just doesn't make any sense!" Harry said, frustrated.
"Quiet, Mr. Potter, or you shall wake the whole of Gryffindor." Professor McGonagall stood in the open portrait hole in her tartan dressing gown. "The headmaster wants a word with you, Harry."
Harry cast a furtive glance at his two best friends before following Professor McGonagall out of the tower.
As soon as he left, Hermione slumped into the couch and placed her head in her hands.
"I just don't get it!" she cried in a very flustered tone. Hermione Granger was NOT the type of girl who didn't understand things.
"It'll be okay, Hermione." Ron patted her arm awkwardly. "We'll figure it out."
"You're darn right we will!" Hermione stood up quickly and yanked Ron up with her. "You know where Harry keeps his cloak?"
"Yeah. . ."
"Go get it." She shoved him up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.
Ron, as stealthily as humanly possible, crept through the fifth year boys' dormitory in search of Harry's invisibility cloak.
Hermione was tapping her foot impatiently when he got back, cloak in hand. "About time! Come on!" Hermione threw the cloak around them both and slowly crept out of the portrait hole.
"Hermione, where are we going?" Ron hissed.
"To the library, of course."
"The library?"
"Ron, if you haven't learned it by now, I don't think you ever will: the library can help you with EVERYTHING. And if you're not quiet, you're going to get us caught."
"Me? I-"
Hermione put her hand over his mouth. "Sh."
Ron swallowed the lump that was in his throat and nodded.
A few twists and turns later they stood inside the dark library, abandoning the cloak on a nearby table.
"Lumos." Hermione muttered, the tip of her wand lighted. She began searching up and down the rows of books, stopping every now and then to take a heavy volume off the shelf, look at it, and place it back.
"What are we looking for?" Ron asked after ten minutes of silence.
"This!" Hermione said with relish. She lifted a deep red volume with faded black lettering off of the shelf and brought it to a table in the center of the room.
Ron walked over and sat down next to her. "What is it?"
"It's about the unforgivable curses. I remember I check it out fourth year. There's a whole chapter of the Cruciatus curse."
Comprehension began to slowly dawn on Ron's face. "Oh. . ."
Hermione flipped through the pages until she landed on the one she was searching for. Indeed there was a whole chapter on the Cruciatus curse. She began muttering to herself as she perused the small lettering.
"What does it say?" Ron asked.
"Everything." Hermione smiled.
"Come in, Harry, come in." Professor Dumbledore smiled at Harry from behind his desk.
Harry entered Dumbledore's office for the second time in a month. All around him the past headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts sat dozing in their portraits.
"Please, sit." Dumbledore motioned toward a chair in front of his desk.
Harry sat down and politely waited for Dumbledore to speak; feeling for the second time in a month very very confused.
"I understand, Harry, that you and your friends have heard of the dreadful attacks on St. Mungo's Hospital?"
"Yes, sir, we have."
"Am I also correct when I say that you have been discussing it at great lengths?" he gave Harry a knowing look.
"Yes, I mean, we know that Neville's parents were the ones attacked."
"I know that you, as well as Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley, have a knack for solving mysteries, Harry. It is this gift that the three of you share that I wish to speak to you of. You have all become quite close with Mr. Longbottom, and I must ask you to not report any of what you may find out to him."
"But sir-"
"Harry, please. Neville has been through a very hard month, as I'm sure you can gather."
"I understand but-"
"He will be returning to school tomorrow. I think you will agree with me that he will not need reminding of what has happened over the past few weeks."
Harry thought about this.
"Mr. Longbottom is a very brave person Harry. He has had to deal with something that I'm sure you understand. His parents have been taken away from him because of Voldemort. Neville has never gotten to know his parents as most students at this school have, because of circumstances beyond his control. He does not need reminding of the pain that has been caused to him. This is why I ask you to please not look any further, and most importantly, not to speak with Neville about what happened. He will talk about it when he is ready."
Harry left Dumbledore's office with very mixed emotions. He felt pain for Neville. Harry knew what it was like to not get to know your parents. He also knew what it was like to have people gape at his scar, reminding him of the reason why he had no parents. It was for these reasons that he at first resolved not to speak to Neville on the subject of St. Mungo's. However, as he thought on, Harry grew angry at Dumbledore. How could Dumbledore tell him to stop searching for information on the subject? What position was Dumbledore in to say that? Hadn't he just the previous year told Harry of the prophecy? The prophecy that specifically stated the HE, Harry, had to kill Voldermort. How was he to do that if Dumbledore forbid him from trying to get an upper hand? All of the anger Harry had felt in the past year welled up inside him once more.
Harry entered the Gryffindor common room near furious.
"Harry!" Hermione bade him over. "You'll never guess what we found!"
Harry paused momentarily and looked over in his friends' direction. He then proceeded in walking up the stairs to the boy's dormitory without as much as a goodnight.
"Uh oh." Ron said. "This can't be good."
Hermione bit her bottom lip. "What could Dumbledore have said to make him so upset?"
"Should I go talk to him?"
"No." Hermione shook her head. "We need to give him some time.
A/N: Hello. Okay, so I thought Harry was a bit too happy so far in my fic. I thought the journal would add to the idea that he was hiding things. . . but I think a healthy outburst of anger from our favorite teenaged hero was just what was needed. What is a J.K. Rowling type story without the famed trio fighting at least once? Oh and by the way before I start getting reviews saying that Dumbledore doesn't make sense in my sorties, I'd just like to say that Dumbledore NEVER makes sense up until the last minute. I swear he will make sense, even if it's not all deep and meaningful as in the real Harry Potter books.