Wow, this took forever to post. But as I said, school just started and things have been insane. Thank you very much for your patience.
Chapter 27: Division of Hogwarts
Harry's euphoria from winning the Quidditch Cup remained with him for many weeks. Since the match, Harry had found it easier to relax, even though Voldemort could come for the Serpent's Stone at any moment. Malfoy pretended that the match had never happened; instead he reverted back to his old routine of trying to bully Harry at every chance. Harry was never offended though, because he knew that Malfoy was furious about the Cup.
The rest of the Gryffindors were equally as excited for their victory. This Quidditch Cup seemed different from all the rest; it seemed as if it was the last match Hogwarts would ever see. None of the students save Harry and his closest friends knew of the Serpent's Stone, but that didn't stop them from knowing that something was bound to happen. Harry was reminded of his second year, when many students were afraid of the school due to the Chamber of Secrets.
Fear was starting to circulate through Hogwarts in the following weeks, and the Daily Prophet, which a majority of the students received daily, did not help it. Everyday, it seemed that there was another article with grim news about attacks on muggle and wizarding families. During breakfast, when the mail arrived, students would frantically scan it to see if anyone they knew had been attacked. Harry was becoming increasingly aware of the seriousness of the situation, of the war. Before, it had been so distant, an unreality. Now, it was as if it was knocking on the front door, waiting to strike the first person that dared to open it. Hermione was obviously the most nervous in the entire student body. Her parents had just moved into a new home, and Voldemort's forces were undoubtedly searching for them. The Aurors had given their word that the house was the safest it could possibly be, but that didn't quell Hermione's fears.
Dumbledore's Army had completely consumed Harry's life. The other members of the club saw it the same way: as the only hope for Hogwarts. Harry did of course recognize that he could be overreacting, that Voldemort really was bluffing, but he didn't get his hopes up. The meetings for the DA had been increased since the finale of the Quidditch season, nobody seemed to mind; in fact, they requested to have meetings every night. Harry was more than happy to oblige, setting up nightly practices.
"Good work," Harry said at the finish of the most recent meeting. "See you all tomorrow." Everyone made for the door and carefully exited as they had learned to do months earlier at their very first practice. The DA had achieved an unfathomable amount of progress since it had started. Harry, who truly didn't feel the need to practice anymore, became more able to help the other students harness their abilities into using it for good. For the most part, everyone excelled marvelously.
Walking back to Gryffindor Tower, Harry's mind wandered into what had been happening this year alone. He was used to having his life in mortal danger, but not the fate of the worlds'. This was a lot for a sixteen-year-old boy to take in and he felt that he wasn't ready to take it. But he knew that he had to, he had a destiny to fulfill. Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, was not meant to live at all; he was meant to die at the hands of the man who had killed his parents. Harry gritted his teeth, I don't have to die, he thought.
"Something wrong?" Hermione asked. Harry looked down at her; she was so beautiful when she had that look of concern in her eyes. But then again, when wasn't she gorgeous? "Harry, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, snapping out of it. "Just thinking about things." Hermione nodded, though she looked as if she wasn't satisfied with this answer. The rest of the trip was spent in silence and upon returning to the Common Room; Harry wasted no time to depart for the dormitories. He needed to relax, get some sleep, anything that would take his mind off of the future. It was hard, considering the fact that he could have no future beyond his duel with Voldemort. He could die, he could end up like the Longbottoms, or he could succeed. But what waited for him past that? He was nothing other than 'Harry Potter'. He didn't want to be 'Harry Potter'; he wanted to be Harry. He slowly drifted off into a dreamless sleep and didn't even wake up as the other boys came in and went to bed.
The next morning, a Saturday, Harry woke late in the day. He made no effort in getting up and ready in any hurry. When he reached the Common Room, Ron and Hermione practically jumped on him.
"Harry! You'll never believe it! Guess who's here, guess who's back!" Ron said. Harry, in no mood to think, stared at him blankly waiting for him to go on. "Cho! She's back from St. Mungo's. Saw her at breakfast this morning and everything."
"Why didn't you get me?" Harry asked.
"Apparently, she doesn't remember a thing," Ron continued, ignoring Harry's question. "But I bet she's just scared, afraid Malfoy'll get her for talking."
"You should've gotten me," Harry stressed.
"You must have been very tired to sleep that late," Hermione said. "We thought it was best to let you get some rest."
"Not if Cho Chang comes back from St. Mungo's. When that happens; you get me. Same goes for Zacharias Smith, when he's out of the hospital wing, I want to be there."
"Sorry, Harry," Ron said. "We just thought that, y'know, you were tired."
"Fine, just don't do it again. We should try to talk to Cho now, see what she can tell us," Harry said.
"I told you; she says she doesn't remember anything," Ron sighed.
"I don't care," Harry said. Ron and Hermione followed him out of the portrait hole and into the corridor. "Either of you happen to know where the Ravenclaw Common Room is?"
"Nope," Ron and Hermione said in unison. Groaning, Harry started walking in a random direction. Ron and Hermione walked close behind. Harry kept his eyes open for anyone from Ravenclaw; it didn't take long. Being Saturday, many students were strolling about through the castle and outside.
"Hey," Harry called when he saw someone he knew to be a Ravenclaw. "Where's your Common Room?"
"Why?" the kid asked, suspicious of Harry.
"We want to talk to Cho," he answered.
"Well, you don't need to go to our Common Room for that, she's outside," he said, pointing to the enormous doors that led to the grounds.
"Oh, thanks," Harry said before taking off in that direction. He had expected it to be hard to find Cho; the Hogwarts grounds were massive. Once again, however, he was proven wrong. He found her surrounded by a group of students all of whom were clearly asking her about her harrowing tale.
"I told you, I don't remember," she said earnestly as Harry, Ron, and Hermione approached. "Excuse me," she said once she saw them, extracting herself from the group so she could see Harry and his friends alone. "Hey Harry, Ron, Hermione," she said when she reached them. For a moment, Harry could only stare. When she had gotten so close, Harry could truly see the damage that had been dealt. There were no physical wounds, but Cho looked absolutely exhausted. She appeared thinner, her black hair no longer looked as lively and her skin had lost it's deep tan, the dark circles under her eyes were prominent in the noonday sun.
"Cho, you look…good," he lied. Cho rolled her eyes.
"I know I look like death, but it's better than actually being dead," she said.
"Listen, are you sure you don't remember anything?" Harry asked. A nervous flicker crossed Cho's eyes.
"I uh…" her voice lowered to a whisper. "You can't tell anyone, they'll think I'm crazy!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione quickly nodded. "Okay, I remember seeing someone out of the corner of my eye."
"Who? Malfoy?" Ron interjected. Hermione gave him a sharp nudge in the ribs.
"Maybe," Cho said, glancing nervously over her shoulder. "But I really can't be sure. The thing is, I don't think that he was working alone. I only saw the one, but I swear I could hear others or feel their presence, y'know? " Somehow, Harry did understand. It was one of those unexplainable human gifts, being able to feel when another person is near.
"Listen Cho, you should keep your story to yourself," Harry advised.
"That's what I've been doing all day!" she said exasperatedly.
"Good; I don't want you getting into more trouble with these people, even if they are only students. They're obviously dangerous. What kind of spells were you attacked with?" Harry asked.
"The nurses didn't go into specifics with me, but my parents said that it was Dark." Harry was not the least bit surprised.
"You coming to the DA tonight?" Ron asked. Cho smiled warmly.
"To be honest, that's the only place I feel safe," she said.
Sure enough, Cho was one of the first to arrive at the DA meeting that night and she was the very last to leave. Harry, Ron, and Hermione took it upon themselves to personally escort her back to her Common Room, seeing as she was still nervous. As they were walking back, Harry suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He stopped and outstretched his arm to stop the others.
"Harry, wha?" Harry quickly silenced Ron's question by a strong stare. Getting the point, Ron slowly took out his wand as Harry and Hermione had already done. The corridors were well lit by the torches that lined the walls, only in corners and behind decorations were there shadows. The light from the flames danced around the walls, playing tricks with Harry's eyes. The only sound to be heard was the breathing of the three students and the crackle of the fire. Not knowing what else to do, Harry slowly walked forward towards the Gryffindor Common Room. The trio continued down the hall as silently as they could, carefully glancing around each corner before proceeding.
"You have been ordered to stop," came a forceful voice from behind them. They whipped around ready to strike, but were faced by well over a dozen heavily robed figures that appeared to be students. The robes were black and had large hoods on them so it was impossible to tell who was underneath it.
"We've been ordered? By who? You?" Harry asked.
"By the Serpents of Salazar," said the boy in the center.
"This is stupid," Ron said. He turned to walk away, but he found his path barred more Serpents. "Or maybe I'll just stick around," he added, returning to Harry's side.
"Serpents of Salazar did you say? That's an interesting name for a club," Hermione said, as if their current situation was nothing to worry about.
"Shut your mouth, Mudblood!" one of them hissed. "You do not understand what is beyond your power. We are not some mere club. We are the order by which to purge Hogwarts of the inferior."
"What do you want?" Harry growled. He took great offense at Hermione being called a 'mudblood'.
"We are aware of your actions against the Dark Lord," one said. Ron chuckled.
"Who isn't?" he said. Harry's lip twitched into a smile.
"SILENCE!" they roared. "Soon you will pay the consequences."
"But not now? Then why did you bother stopping us?" Ron asked. Harry knew that Ron wasn't afraid of these people because he, Harry, was there to protect him.
"You must become aware of what fate awaits you."
"Sounds great. Listen, I'm pretty tired; can I go to bed?" Ron said. Harry marveled at Ron's ability to make the Serpents look ridiculous. Something however, twitched in the back of Harry's mind: Don't mess with these kids he suddenly thought. He nudged Ron to stop talking to them like that. They were seriously outnumbered and the group was obviously deep into Dark Magic. Harry silently scorned himself for even thinking that this wasn't serious. In fact, what stopped these people from being as good at Dark Magic as he was at Light? That thought scared Harry to the very marrow of his bones. Harry kept a straight face, trying to look unafraid.
"You said we had a fate awaiting us, explain," Harry said.
"The Dark Lord shall strike. News of the Serpent's Stone reached him long ago. It will not be long until he comes to retrieve it." Harry wanted nothing more than just to run to Dumbledore's office at the moment. The location of the Stone had truly reached Voldemort, no bluffs, no lies.
"Why didn't he get it before? Is he scared or something?" Ron asked defiantly, Harry wished that he would stop.
"He fears nothing!" Out of nowhere a spell came soaring past them. Knowing nothing else better to do, Harry grabbed them each by their wrists and took off towards their Common Room. He tried using Light Magic with only his mind, and it felt as if it had worked. They ran at an unbelievable rate back to Gryffindor Tower and weren't even tired when they toppled through the portrait hole in a panicked frenzy.
"We have to see Dumbledore," Hermione said.
"Now? With them out there? I don't think so," Harry said.
"You can take them, Harry!" Ron said.
"Didn't you see how many there were? We'd be crushed!" Harry said. Ron looked down at his feet.
"I suppose you're right," he mumbled. "I just wish that we could take them on. I reckon it was them that attacked Cho and Smith."
"Had to have been," Hermione said.
"Listen, we'll see Dumbledore first thing tomorrow, okay?" Harry said. They nodded and they each went their respective ways to their dormitories. As Harry shut his eyes to go to sleep, he hoped that he wouldn't be woken the next day by Voldemort's attacks. Harry kept his eyes shut, but never fell asleep.