Cry of a Restless Soul
Summary:
I've made a couple of changes around this tale, adding a sort monologue at the beginning of very "part" of this story. This chapter will be the last one for Part one: Lost Horizon. This chapter contains some fight scenes in it, but they're amatuerish compared to the last chapter in my opinion. I actually didn't like this chapter very much, but I rushed it so this is what I get for it... please enjoy!
Chapter 9:
Cry of a Restless Soul
The familiar shinning rays of sunlight seeped through the also familiar stain glassed windows around the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts. Harry Potter moaned painfully from his reserved bed in the Hospital Wing. He stretched, rising and rubbing his eyes with the back of his right sleeve.
"You're awake I see." Harry was startled at the voice of his headmaster who seemed to be standing on Harry's right side.
"P-professor?" The wounded boy stuttered.
"You have made a speedy recovery from being hit by the malevolent killing curse again. Though this is not expected, it is very welcome." Harry thought a smile appeared on the face of his headmaster, but his line of sight was rather limited at this point, he reached for his glasses on the bedside table, putting them on and savouring the feeling of sight again.
"H-how did I sur…su…"
"Survive?" Dumbledore supplied and Harry nodded. "I have a theory, but that is it. This theory is that your good mind friend, Voldemort, took the blow."
"What!" Harry exclaimed and Dumbledore chuckled.
"Yes indeed, can you feel anything in your mind? You have felt Voldemort's presence before have you not?" Harry nodded and raked his mind for any sort of thought that didn't belong there.
Harry was able to tell if Voldemort was currently nesting inside his mind if different feelings sprouted out of nowhere inside of his mind, greed, evil, savagery, and other sorts of emotions that Harry never felt before. He smiled when he could not find anything and looked back to Dumbledore.
"Yeah he's gone." Harry said, relieved beyond belief.
"Very good, this is only temporary of course." The Boy-who-lived groaned slightly at this and Dumbledore chuckled.
"Because Voldemort didn't take the killing curse himself?"
"Partly Harry, Voldemort was inside your mind at the time when your good friend Goyle shot his killing curse at Ms. Reynolds. I suspect that Voldemort, as cowardly as ever, retreated from your mind as soon as he saw the danger.
"Most likely, Voldemort took the full brunt of the killing curse, owing to the fact that he has inhabited your mind for a lengthy duration now, leaving a large portion of himself there." He explained and Harry felt himself lie down again, sighing slightly.
"Who's Ms. Reynols?" Harry asked him, not remembering the name.
"Ms. Reynolds? Ah, you know her as Eleanor."
"Oh," Harry didn't have anything else in mind; he honestly wanted to be alone at this moment. Harry closed his eyes, trying to send the hint to the elderly Wizard, but he continued on.
"You have been unconscious for only a day Harry." He stated calmly. "I hope that comforts to you rather then despair." Harry replied with nothing, rather choosing to stare at the ceiling above.
"Now I have a question for you young Harry." Harry opened one eye at this, not knowing what to answer with. "You have, in your possession, a stone of great power yes?" The dismissive Boy-who-lived sat up at this, rapt with attention.
"The Stone of the Damned? You know something about it?" Harry spoke quickly, allowing Dumbledore to hold up a hand to silence him.
"Yes, I doubt though whether I know more about it then your good friend Hermione." Dumbledore smiled, making Harry's attention fall away. He sunk down onto his bed, wanting to be left alone again. "The Stone is dark indeed, inside it holds the restless souls of the murdered. Released, these souls can damage humanity ultimately.
"Have you not thought about why Voldemort has been so persistent in taking total control of your body Harry?"
"He wanted me to join the Death Eaters didn't he? This could just be another way to gain the upper hand…"
"Yes indeed Harry, but Voldemort is no fool." Dumbledore shook his head, the smiling expression now gone to be replaced with a slight frown. "Voldemort recognizes your power Harry; he is merely trying to find out where the stone is kept."
"He would have figured that out b-"
"Yes Harry, that was Mr. Malfoy's purpose when you, luckily, intercepted him earlier yesterday." Harry raised his eyebrows at this acquisition. "I have been… monitoring the Death Eater for quite awhile and have found, with relative ease, his method of contacting his father."
"Which is…?" Harry said quite impatiently after a moment of utter silence.
"Owls," Dumbledore stated simply and Harry snorted. He knew Goyle and Crabbe were rather dense but Malfoy had some intelligence did he not? "I thought it was rather simple. You know of the saying, 'too easy', do you not?" Harry nodded.
"It's a Muggle saying isn't it?"
"Yes that is correct, but that is not the point. I was thinking that as I monitored the letter conversations, which usually had Mr. Malfoy scolded his son on his cockiness and had various insults driven towards me." He said calmly and Harry felt a smile creep up on his face.
"Voldemort wishes for that Stone, not to unleash it unto the World Harry." He added seeing Harry's eyes roll.
"Oh really?" Harry said sarcastically and the smile returned to Dumbledore's face.
"Yes, Voldemort wishes to consume all of the restless souls, for he feeds on anger and fear, just as you learned during your summer holiday, though he does not know that the Stone empties all its souls for the next master.
"The Stone was emptied when young Fred Weasley accepted it from the previous owner of the land." Harry frowned again at this statement.
"You knew him?" Dumbledore chuckled when Harry had finished speaking his question.
"I wish I did Harry, he was very selective with his customers, not putting any advertisements at all and not welcoming any customers who were merely browsing."
"How would he earn money then?" Harry asked, shaking his head slightly.
"I sent Order members to monitor him, but it seems I was foiled; for he had given the Stone to Mr. Weasley as soon as any Order members arrived to investigate, we have no description of him and no idea where he might be." Dumbledore looked down at the tiled floor, looking quite tired.
"P-Professor," the elderly headmaster's head moved upward to link with Harry's eyes. "D-do you think he was a Death Eater?"
"No Harry I do not, he was no enemy but he was no ally either. The man who used to run the shop called 'Keeper's' was a neutral character. His opinion was on neither side of this growing conflict, and did not want to get involved. When he heard of my orders to monitor him, he did what he thought was right and sold the store.
"He has disappeared now, seemingly gone from the world. But we have gone too far in this topic Harry." The Boy-who-lived saw, out of the corner of his eye, Madam Pomfrey trotting towards them. Harry took the hint, and nodded. "We shall speak further at a different time, please come by my office as soon as you are able too; the password remains the same."
Harry watched as Dumbledore walked away, his footsteps not uttering a sound as he calmly whistled while staring at the stone bricked walls that aligned themselves around the Hospital Wing.
"So you're up then?" Harry's gaze moved from the retreating back of Albus Dumbledore, to the snotty looking face of Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse.
"Apparently," Harry replied looking away from the older woman.
"Oh someone's in a bad mood today. Luckily you seem to be in good enough shape to leave." She said as she looked over Harry's temperature. She placed her hand on Harry's chest, feeling his breathing and then nodded.
"So can I leave?"
"Yes, yes go ahead. You didn't even have to come here; you've got some luck really. Hit by the killing curse and nothing happening to you… children these days!" She added with a mutter, as she walked away; Harry got dressed and left the Hospital wing far behind him.
Harry rushed to Gryffindor Tower at full speed, edging past other students with relative ease, until he turned a corner at the third floor. He bumped into an adult, sending him and the adult crashing to the ground.
"Oh Merlin sorry… Harry?" Harry opened his eyes and rose from the ground to see Ludo Bagman rubbing his head. "Oh Harry boy! That is you!"
"Er… hello Mr. Bagman…" Harry mumbled rising. "Sorry about that…" he added, seeing Bagman wince as he rose. Though, to his surprise, Bagman flashed him a wide smile.
"Not to worry dear boy, I was in a somewhat rush too. Oh, you are Quidditch Captain for Gryffindor are you not?"
"Uh?" Harry said looking up from the ground. "Oh yeah… yeah I am."
"If you want, I could get you a good time for your first practice." Bagman whispered, chucking another wide grin in with it to make the classic Bagman combo.
"Er – I've already scheduled the first practice for Saturday."
"You have?" The grin disappearing on Bagman's face. "I thought the Ravenclaw team had that spot… are you sure Harry?"
"Oh right." Harry immediately remembered about the book McGonagall was talking about earlier. "I haven't signed the book yet!"
"Harry, Harry dear boy, I could still get you a good spot on Saturday still…" Bagman's grin returned, as white as ever and Harry sighed.
"Yes… yes that would be appreciated." Harry said guilt flooding into him like water down a river, though Bagman didn't seem that guilty right now.
"Oh good, good choice Harry, I'll just tell Minerva that you're too busy at the moment to sign the book so I will instead. Good work Harry, now I must be off." He said this rather speedily, dashing off the next second with the sound of whistling echoing in his wake.
Harry shook his head with a sigh and mirrored Bagman's dash toward Gryffindor Tower. He entered the portrait hole, muttering the password to the Fat Lady before doing so, and then saw Hermione sitting by herself, reading a textbook though Harry couldn't exactly see what it was; he just naturally assumed it was a textbook.
She looked up at his entrance, a slight smile appearing on her expression. She waved, her book now closed on the table in front of her. Harry plopped down beside her, sighing again.
"You're okay then." She observed and Harry snorted.
"If I weren't I would be dead right?" She laughed nodding all the same. Harry looked around for her boyfriend, wanting to tell them both what Dumbledore had just told him.
"Ron's in class right now." Hermione told him, answering his unsaid question. "I'm on my break, McGonagall told me this morning that you don't have to attend classes today if you don't want to."
"Eh, what could I do if I wasn't in class?" Harry yawned after saying this, picking up the book Hermione was reading before Harry entered the common room. "Advanced Potions Theory, exclusive addition of various chemical theories, so this is the N.E.W.T Potions textbook eh?" She nodded at this.
"You're lucky you aren't in Potions anymore. Everything's change dramatically…"
"I consider myself intelligent for not taking another course with that slime ball." Harry said, tossing the book into the seat next to him.
"That slime ball has also saved your life before." Hermione stated calmly.
"He's probably got his own objectives." The Boy-who-lived countered, knowing yet again that Hermione was right.
"Of course he has his own objectives Harry." The boy in question looked up at this comment, one eyebrow raised. "Snape has been claimed a Death Eater and is a spy for our side, he's got other problems besides marking and teaching you know."
"Hey Hermione," Harry said suddenly, expanding on something Ron said a while ago. "What if Snape's actually spying on ou-"
"He isn't." Hermione stated firmly, frowning slightly. "If he was why would he try so hard to keep you safe?"
"Maybe he's letting Voldemort get the final kill…?" Harry mumbled, looking away from Hermione and into the fire. Hermione was silent after this, also contemplating.
"Snape may be strict Harry." She said suddenly after a few moments of silence, drawing Harry's attention again. "But he has a good heart; he knows what the Death Eaters are like."
"But he loves the dark arts Hermione!" Harry countered again. "Everything about him points to the Death Eaters!"
"Harr-" before he knew it, the Boy-who-lived was standing, startling the nearby Crookshanks, causing the orange cat to hiss violently.
"NO HERMIONE, YOU DIDN'T SEE HIM COME BACK! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE LIKE!" Harry felt his mouth open and close several times; he saw Hermione sitting quite still and calm, watching him with mild interest. Harry sighed, sitting down beside her again. "I'm sorry."
"You have no need to apologize Harry." He looked up again, an astonished expression on his face. "No one in this school has any idea what you're going through. Not only are you in constant danger, but you're entering your adult years. Your mind is starting to think of g-"
"ALRIGHT HERMIONE!" Harry stopped her, causing her to laugh. "I don't need you to be my mum!" Harry said a smiling crawling onto his face. Then at that moment, Harry felt his heart stop, his eyes were locked with those of Hermione's. Glinting with glee, her smiling expression started to drawn him in, causing him to feel slightly queasy, he dropped his hands, Hermione looking quite lost and Harry knew his expression mirrored hers.
Then Harry barely noticed something behind Hermione, he lifted a finger, pointing to the window behind her. She turned around to look at what Harry was indicating, breaking the moment between them, Harry shook his head, feeling the odd feeling inside of him lift quite suddenly.
Harry's snowy owl was banging on the window across from Harry; he stood up and opened the window for Hedwig to enter. She landed on the table in front of Hermione, lifting her leg out for her. The Witch looked up at Harry; he nodded thinking that she was asking for permission.
The girl tentatively took the letter, the white owl hooting softly then taking off to its owner's shoulder, where Harry absently rubbed his hand along the magnificent wings of the owl.
DA's leader waited patiently as his best friend read and reread the letter repeatedly. She looked up at Harry with a grim facial expression.
"Hagrid wants to speak with me." She answered Harry's thoughts as to what the letter was about. "It's about Grawp."
"Oh no," Harry blurted out and Hermione grinned at this.
"Oh no is right," The Witch repeated. "He wants us to come check on him."
"Us being…?"
"You, Ron, and I," Hermione said, looking away from Harry with a frown on her face. Harry gave Hedwig a little shake, waking her from her slumber and she looked at him with beady, blurry, eyes and Harry nodded. He watched as she flew out the open door and soared blissfully through the empty air; he shut the window just as she flew out of view and turned back to Hermione, setting himself down beside her again.
"You didn't take Care of Magical Creatures did you?" Harry asked abruptly and Hermione nodded.
"It was just…"
"Too dangerous?" Harry supplied and she nodded. "I didn't either, I was actually getting quite tired of cleaning up everything and having to live through Malfoy's complains constantly." She nodded at this addition.
"We're going to go see him right?" Hermione asked him, a fearful look on her face, Harry nodded, placing his own right hand on her left shoulder.
"He's still our friend isn't he?" She nodded. "He'll be sad that we haven't taken it again, but he'll accept it, don't worry. We're still his friends, and that'll be enough for him." Harry lifted his hand, rising from the loveseat. Hermione Granger soon followed, brushing her robes.
"S-shouldn't we wait for… Ron?" Hermione said, not bothering to hide her nervous manner. Harry laughed openly at this.
"Would Ron honestly be any help?" The Boy-who-lived said with another laugh and the corners or Hermione's mouth twitched. But, the next second they were gone, as if never there.
"Don't talk about Ron like that." She said sternly. "He's a strong man."
"Oh a strong man is he? You'll probably change that to a fast man when he starts to run from Grawp. Now come on." Hermione laughed at Harry's joke, but both of them knew he went slightly out of line there. Ron was indeed a strong man, both with willpower and in the physical realm, and the two of them knew that.
Harry now felt guilt flood into him easily, Ron was also rather sensitive, jealousy raked at Ron's mind. Since he was the best friend of, most likely, the most famous Wizard at this time; he was always shunned to the side while Harry soaked up everything.
Harry pushed these thoughts about Ron to the back of his mind as he entered the entrance hall of Hogwarts, he could barely hear Hermione talking about her coming Ancient Runes test, but shushed her all the same. He stopped her walking with an outstretched hand to her stomach region, he heard her say something unrecognizable, but Harry deciphered the meaning all the same.
"What?" That is what the unknown sound translated to in Harry's mind; he pushed her back, out of view of the entire hallway. Harry crouched down, Hermione following suit after seeing what Harry was acting alert all of a sudden for.
In front of the front door to the school was a Death Eater. Harry squinted to see the familiar smug expression of Lucius Malfoy, the father of Draco Malfoy; Harry's ultimate rival. He also saw Dumbledore, calmly gesticulating to the taller man while Malfoy nodded inconsistently, looking rather bored.
"Let's get closer." Harry whispered to her, moving along; still crouched, beside the banister. He made sure he was hidden, and heard Hermione stop beside him. Harry had to block all of his thoughts, and concentrate only on hearing the two people talking to understand what they were saying.
"…on committed an unforgivable crime Mr. Malfoy. The usage of this curse is beyond any punishment I can offer within these walls. Other then total exile from the school," Harry could not see anything from where he was sitting, but he knew enough about each person talking to know what was going on.
"No excuse I give can undo what my son has done. But know this Dumbledore; he used that curse, just as so many people have done before him, for a purpose. And just as you are here teaching, my son wanted to end the life of someone who didn't deserve to live. This, Ms. Reynolds, I hope dearly that she is in fair condition, but my son used his logic, and tried to deal with this… girl his own way."
"Death comes swiftly Mr. Malfoy." Dumbledore continued with the same tone. Harry couldn't help but notice how odd it was for these two people talking so casually together. "But death should never be dealt out by anyone; ending life is an unforgivable crime. Surely even one such as you realizes that!"
"Something you cannot comprehend Dumbledore, is power. The weak cannot control it, but the strong can, that is where we go separate ways Dumbledore. You let the weak come here and study, trying effortlessly to find that inner power but you do not understand that some people don't have it. You cannot teach power Dumbledore, you cannot simply give it to someone, it is born with you.
"With all your Muggle-born students moving around here, stinking up the place, the weakness is spreading, less power to find anywhere. My son, who no doubt is very powerful himself, was merely ridding the world of yet another weakling. Now then, if you want to remove my son from this school I shall accept, and take my son right now." Harry felt his hands curl into fists, hating this speech with every bit of him. He was about to rise, deciding mutely which curse he should perform on the adult, before Hermione placed her hand, quite gently, on Harry's shoulder; breathing deeply, he sat back down, and strained his ears again to listen to the conversation.
"I have been criticized by more powerful people then yourself Mr. Malfoy, and have even felt insulted by some of them. But you were not insulting me in that little... speech if you will. You were insulting fellow humans, using discrimination for your own… explanations. That is rather pitiful Lucius, you are pitiful."
"Why you, COME!" Harry stood up to see Death Eaters entering the school from every angle possible, all cloaked in black and their wands drawn and pointed at Dumbledore.
"Kill me if you will." Dumbledore said quite calmly for someone who had… maybe ten wands pointed directly at him.
"Y-yes, let's kill him Lucius!" Harry didn't recognize the voice but knew it was a new Death Eater, maybe even a student at this very school.
"Let me rip his guts apart!" Hermione gasped at this voice, Harry knew it too. Macnair, the supposed executor of Buckbeak, Harry was surprised that when he thought of this; Hagrid entered the front door at that very moment, halting his hum of an unfamiliar tune as he saw the circle of Death Eaters.
The elder Malfoy cursed quite loudly, trying to rush away from the half-giant as quickly as possibly. Unfortunately for Lucius Malfoy; Hagrid had a large sack of seeds over his shoulder. The half-giant threw it with all his force, hitting another Death Eater in the face while on the way to its target. Because of the slight interruption, the sack didn't truly damage Lucius, but it immobilised him as he fell to the ground with it on top of him.
Curses flew across the entrance hall immediately; Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen from where Harry and Hermione were perched. Hagrid picked up a Death Eater but the neck and tossed him unceremoniously to another Death Eater, who tried to scramble away but was crushed to the ground by the weight of Macnair.
Hagrid then jumped on top of the two bodies, crushing both of them into the ground, with screams of pains echoing around the entrance hall. Hagrid rose, stunning spells hitting him from every angle.
"KILL HIM!" Lucius suddenly screamed, and Harry rose from the ground. Rushing down the stairs, stunning an unsuspecting Death Eater who had his back turned to Harry, the other was now alert of Harry's presence and was about to use a curse on him when he fell to the ground, stupefied. Harry didn't need to turn to see Hermione's smile and her wand pointed at the spot where the Death Eater was previously standing. Harry rushed forward, stunning another Death Eater while blocking an unknown spell that was directed at him.
"Potter's here! HE'S HERE!" Someone cried out, Harry found the Death Eater; who was currently yelling randomly. Harry smirked, adrenaline streaming through him with relative ease.
"DURANE!" The spell hit the Death Eater, speeding him up superbly; his yells were now rather… unrecognizable. Sounding like slurs of multiple words, he grabbed his mouth, horror struck. Harry didn't recognize the face of the Death Eater, but he knew that it was a Death Eater nonetheless.
Harry didn't see the transaction of the various facial expressions on this unknown Death Eater though, for now he was duelling with Lucius Malfoy, who seemed to be quite injured from the attack of the sack.
"My Master shall reward me well for killing you Potter!" He hissed with a wide smile. Shooting a non-verbal spell at Harry while he blocked it with a simple shield charm.
"STUPEFY!" The stunning spell was not aimed for Harry Potter, but rather at Lucius Malfoy, Harry turned to see Ron and several other DA members charging while shooting multiple spells at multiple Death Eaters. Harry smiled at his best friend, who nodded back to him.
Harry saw Ernie Macmillion use the Duration Jinx on the same Death Eater Harry had just Jinxed, causing him to slow down to normal speed. Ernie then stunned him, making him fall to the ground unconscious. One by one all of the Death Eaters fell to the ground, stunned or petrified and cheers erupted from every corner of the grand entrance hall.
"You're going down Potter!" Harry looked over to the Dungeon entrance to see the younger, naïve, Draco Malfoy looking daggers at him. Harry smirked, raising his wand, he noticed Hermione raise her own as well but he stopped her with the raise of his left hand; showing her that he wanted to go solo here.
"I'm going down then?" Harry repeated; the smirk now blossomed fully on his expression.
"SEVERUS! COME!" The Boy-who-lived's heart skipped a beat, the billowing cloak of Severus Snape appearing at the dungeon entrance. "Deal with him!" Snape said nothing, but raised his wand and pointed it to his old student.
Harry stood, quite frightened, for he knew that Snape was obsessed with the Dark Arts and it seemed Snape did not have full control of himself. Harry frowned, crouching down, alertness on his face.
Snape waved his wand speedily, a blur appearing where his hands used to be, moving along in a complex formation that no eye could follow, it ended abruptly, a crashing sound echoing quite loudly in Harry's ears.
Harry was pushed backward, flying upward from the non-verbal, he had no idea what Snape had just hit him with, but Harry fell on the floor above the entrance hall. Harry kicked upwards, using his feet as a boast to stand up. He noticed astonished expressions from all around, teacher and student alike, watching with awe.
Harry sent a stunner towards the following Snape; he blocked it with ease, walking on with a blank look on his pale face. Harry was now fearful, not knowing what to do he moved backward, sending every spell he could think of at the advancing Snape. Harry shot the Duration Jinx at Snape, thinking of slowing him down to a total stop but he blocked it. Harry then found himself in a stairway, running up the stairs, Snape hot on his pursuit, he abandoned all home of victory against the Dark Arts user.
"Severus! End this nonsense!" Harry was relieved at this familiar voice, the voice of Aran Schmitz, his hood lowered and his wand drawn. There he was standing just a level above him. "Potter, go, let me deal with this vermin!" Schmitz spit and Harry nodded; running behind him while Aran took a defensive stance
Harry stayed on the spot, watching with awe as the two Wizards duelled together, one seemingly possessed while the other seemed to be normal enough. Aran leapt backward suddenly, grabbing Harry and tossing him unceremoniously down the fourth floor corridor they were on. Though Snape did not seem to bother with Aran's presence, but he turned and started to walk toward Harry.
"Run Potter! REDUCTO!" A pillar near the towering Severus Snape fell on top of him, Harry was slightly reminded of his duel with Malfoy and his two cronies where he used the exact same tactic, though it proved to be less effective here, for with a flick of two fingers, the pillar disintegrated entirely, particles of dust floating down to the ground noiselessly and harmlessly.
Harry didn't waste time reminiscing this failed manoeuvre, but rather dashed off toward safety. Harry felt his feet dash him off up and up while Aran effortlessly tried to stall Snape's charge. Then Harry saw his form of salvation, the Fat Lady's portrait, apparently his legs were moving him towards Gryffindor tower, yelling the password at her, he leapt inside of the common room.
Panting, Harry walked over to the open window and leaned on the wall next to it. Then suddenly, Harry heard a scream and then dust and sot erupted from the wall opposite of Harry, making him fall to the ground and cover his eyes.
Coughing repeatedly, Harry rose to face Severus Snape again, the wall separating the Gryffindor common room and the rest of the school gone entirely. Harry gaped at him, wondering why Snape wanted to kill Harry so much. Though when he raised his wand, Harry thought it unwise to stand still gaping at him, and ran the nearby stairs towards his dormitory.
Curious Gryffindors poked their heads out their respective doors, no doubt wondering what the cause of the explosion was. Harry rushed past them towards the sixth year dorm, opening the door and seeing it totally empty; he rushed to his trunk, opening it and trying to find something useful for defeating this seemingly invulnerable foe.
Harry then felt his gaze move to the Stone of the Damned, omitting everything else. Harry lifted it with both his hands, opening the satchel with one hand and dropping the stone into his other hand. Gazing at the perfection of the rune like stone, Harry noticed for the first time the eerily green light that seemed to surround the stone.
Then the crash of Harry's door came, drawing his thoughts away from that of the stone's. He watched Snape walk in; Harry glanced at the stone in his sweaty grip and tossed it at him, running out of ideas.
The stone flew with grace it seemed, for everything seemed to have slowed down abruptly, the stone never made contact with Snape but it stopped in mid air, as if held by a string of some kind. Dangling slightly, it lay suspended in mid air. Snape paid no attention to the stalled stone and raised his wand and pointed it at Harry, about to utter the dreaded killing curse no doubt.
The words never left the mouth of Severus Snape, for a cry erupted from the suspended stone, making his hands fall onto his ears, trying effortlessly to stop the high pitched cry that seemed to deafen his hearing. Harry had no trouble adapting to the screech, he looked at the stone, and it glowed its same eerie green colour but shone brighter, a face appearing out of the stone, soon shaping into a body.
Harry was reminded of the encounter with Prior Incanteum back at the end of his fourth year, in which he saw the ghosts of Voldemort's latest victims rise from seemingly thin air. He saw the ghost like being float in mid air, his or her mouth open wide.
Harry had no idea what the gender of the ghost creature was, for it had ragged robes on, it's skull was visible through rotten and sliced flesh though it had no pupils or any facial features at all. The Potions professor was now on the ground, looking unconscious, the ghost turned to Harry, speaking in his mind.
"One," it stated simply, then with a resounding crack, it disappeared, the stone floating back to Harry's outstretched hand.