So Harry, Ron, and Hermione were wandering the halls of Hogwarts under the invisibility cloak one night. I am not sure as to what manner of mischief they creating, but at the moment that's not important. The important thing is that they were wandering around Hogwarts at night under an invisibility cloak. Hedwig was there too, by the way. She was there because…because…well just because.
Gently the snowy white owl landed on Harry's shoulder. Delicately she nibbled on Harry's ear affectionately. Harry smiled appreciatively at his pet, and then turned to consult the Marauder's Map with Ron and Hermione. The trio stared, shocked, at the piece of parchment.
"What the goblins is that supposed to mean?" whispered Ron perplexed. The map had changed dramatically since they had last looked at it. Where before there had been a detailed outline of the Hogwarts castle, with all the useful little secret passages, and Snape safely lurking in his dark, dank little office, now there was only a blank parchment on which there were two words printed big and bold in ornate curls a flourishes.
You're Lost
"I think it means we're lost," said Hermione sensibly.
"Oh, really, I had no idea Hermione," said Ron sarcastically.
"But how can we be lost?" said Harry, starring blankly at the map. "We've lived here for years now. We shouldn't be able to get lost at Hogwarts, and this map shouldn't malfunction. He rolled it up and hit it against the wall, but when he unrolled it again, there were still the same two words scrolled across the surface.
Suddenly, Ron, who had come out from under the protection of the invisibility cloak noticed something.
"Harry…er…did you machine wash your cloak?"
"No… why?" said Harry uncertainly.
"Well…I can see you." said Ron. It was true. The invisibility cloak was no longer working.
"That's funny, why wouldn't it be working?" said Harry, and took he it off and squinted the tag.
Made in Taiwan
100 Invisible Material
Dry-Clean Only
There was something else very tiny written under that, but it was too dark for Harry to make it out so he tried to make the tip of his wand glow. To his surprise his wand didn't do anything. He should have been able to master that small spell, but no, his wand was as useless as if it were just any stick he had pulled off a tree. Panicking, he looked at his friends.
"My wands not working!" he said, "Nothings working!"
Hermione and Ron both tried their wands, with the same result.
"Harry" said Hermione, frightened, "Your scars not hurting, is it?"
"No…" said Harry, putting his hand to his forehead, "I don't think even Voldemort could have such an influence over our magic like this. But if not Voldemort, what could it be?"
Harry, Ron, and Hedwig starred at Hermione expectantly. Hermione was inspecting her wand carefully; her face had gone very pale.
"I don't know!" She said in a frightened voice.
At that moment Hedwig bit Harry hard on the ear.
"Ouch!" said Harry, and rubbed his ear with his hand. Hedwig left his shoulder and flew down the dark corridor. Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed her. The corridor, they found, was quite long and confusing. Possibly it would not be confusing in the daylight, but as their wands were not working, there was no light, and the three friends had to hold hands to keep from losing each other. All that they could see was the white spot flying in front of them that was Hedwig.
After Hedwig had flown ahead for a while, she stopped, and flew back to perch on Harry's shoulder again. Harry, Ron, and Hermione found themselves in front of a large tapestry depicting witches and wizards of old, dancing in some sort of ancient ceremony around a large bonfire. One wizard with a large red hat, possibly the high priest at the ceremony, was reading aloud from a large book. Great, thought Harry, We really are lost. Harry couldn't remember ever seeing this tapestry before in all his years spent at Hogwarts. Harry sighed, the tapestry was the end of the corridor, and now there was no where else to go but back. Going forward was the only way to figure out why the magic had disappeared. His instincts were telling him to go on, but now there was no way to go forward. He was just about ready to turn around and go back, when a thought struck him. As far as Harry could tell, they had never left Hogwarts, and in Hogwarts there were always more secret passages. Corridors go places; they don't just end with weird tapestries. He pulled the tapestry up, and, instead of dark, stone wall, like there ought to have been; there was a heavy, engraved, wooden door.
"Wow, Harry, how did you know that was there?" said Hermione, astonished, and a little bit frightened.
"I don't know," said Harry, "I just thought it was kind of was weird for the corridor to end so suddenly, right here." The door had no handle, so Harry tried pushing on it. It took all three of them pushing before the door suddenly gave way, and they all toppled down a small, steep flight of stairs. Hedwig flew gracefully down after them, as they tried to untangle themselves from each other. Harry had broken his glasses again, but luckily no one seemed seriously hurt.
"Ouch! Ron, your foot's in my mouth!" said Hermione. Ron wasn't listening. He was, instead, frozen, starring up at the scene in front of them.
The scene before them was the same scene they had scene on the tapestry: they were in a large circular room with a bonfire in the center. There were twelve people in wizard's robes, and one man with a large red hat standing on a pedestal, reading out of a very thick book. Apparently the apparition of the threesome had shocked and confused the people in wizard robes, because they all stopped dancing and some ran into each other.
"I think we walked in on something," said Ron in a small voice. The wizard with the red hat was the first to recover.
"Welcome, strangers, to our secret society," he said grandly and with dignity. "I believe you are the first to have discovered us, in all the years that we have existed beneath the floors of this abandoned castle. But please, tell us who you are, and how you came to discover us?"
Ron was stuck starring with his mouth open, and Hermione didn't look capable of responding either, so Harry said uncomfortably,
"Er…I'm Harry Potter, Sir," Apparently this was the wrong thing to say, because immediately everyone in the strange gathering fell down on the floor in awe.
"Um…and this is Ron, and Hermione, and…and Hedwig," Harry rushed on, trying desperately to do…well…to do what? Everyone in the secret society they had just walked in on looked absolutely terrified. People just don't normally roll around on the floor and grovel when you introduce yourself. The man in the red hat walked up to them. He did not look directly at them, but instead averted his eyes, looking at the wall behind them.
"I am sorry for my disrespect, master, but you must understand; we are but muggles who have formed the secret society to worship Harry Potter, after JK Rowling divulged the wonders of the wizarding world to the muggle world."
"Oh, great, more fan clubs," Harry sighed. "Let's go now," This new type of Harry Potter worship was even worse than Collin Crevey. He turned to go, but the little man in the red hat screamed.
"NOOOoooooo! You must not go, it is destined you meet with us; you may never find your way back here again! We will never have another chance to meet with you again! You must not leave us, not just yet! PLEASE stay a few more minutes; it honors us to be in the presence of Harry Potter!" The little man with the red hat became so distressed at this that he covered his head with his hands and rolled around curled up in a little ball on the floor whimpering.
"I think we'd better stay for a little bit, Harry, or he might hurt himself," Hermione whispered in Harry's ear. The man in the red hat, who had very acute ears, heard them, and immediately brightened. He picked himself off the floor and said,
"Good! You will be able to observe our annual ceremonies!" So Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched the Harry Potter Worshipers Secret Society do dances dedicated to Harry, and various other characters from JK Rowling's books. Perhaps the best dance was the dance depicting the battle at the ministry of magic, but Harry also liked the dance about the love story between Lupin and Tonks. After the dancing was finished, the Society members all sat down around the fire and read fan fiction that they had written. The ceremonies had been going on for a few weeks now, the little man in the red hat told them. Some of the activities that the cult had already preformed were the traditional reading of all the Harry Potter Books, and the traditional observation of all the Harry Potter movies. After they read fan fiction, the society began the ceremony to accept new members into their cult. The new members had to recite a Harry Potter book chapter of their choice, from memory, and demonstrate their ability to speak with a British accent. Then they had to answer forty questions correctly about wizards and the wizarding world according to JK Rowling. After each new member passed the tests, they were welcomed into the cult with a loud, "AAAauuuuuuAAAaOOOOOAaaaaa!" by the other members.
It had been about two hours before Harry, Ron, and Hermione announced that they needed to leave, or people would notice that they were gone. The man in the red hat was very understanding, and let them go. All the clan members gave the trio a long,
"AAAauuuuuuAAAaOOOOOAaaaaa!" as a goodbye, and the friends walked back through the tapestry.
"That was weird," commented Hermione as they walked back to bed. The sky was beginning to become light and whatever mischief the three had been planning would have to wait until another night.
"How did they even get down there anyway?" Ron wanted to know.
They had been walking for a while, and they were well beyond the long dark corridor before Harry remembered his wand hadn't been working. He tried it… and the end of his wand lit up like a flashlight.
"Hey, my wand's working again!" He said. Ron and Hermione tried theirs… and they worked too. Harry checked the invisibility cloak; it was working too. Finally, Harry checked the Marauder's Map. Not only was it working, but there was also a little dot labeled "Snape", that was walking in their direction. They covered themselves with the invisibility cloak and headed off towards Griffindor tower as quickly as possible. Hedwig flew down and bit Harry's ear affectionately before flying off towards the owlry. Secretly, Hedwig wondered when Harry would realize her little ear nibbles meant more than a pet's simple affection. Just wait, she thought, it would be Ron and Hermione together, and Harry and Hedwig together at the next school dance.
"I wonder why none of the magical stuff was working?" Hermione said.
"Hmmm... I dunno..." said Harry, but his mind was elsewhere.
"Harry, what is it?" Hermione asked anxiously, seeing that Harry had a funny expression on his face.
"Well, there still seems to be something wrong about that cult," Harry said; and he rubbed his head, trying to sort through the early morning fog in his brain to figure out just what it was that was so wrong. Maybe it was several things wrong. "There was somthing weird about the little man in the red hat. I cant really say what, but it was something about his face, I think. The little man in the red hat seemed so unhappy when we tried to leave the first time, but then the next time, he let us go without complaint;and we've been at Hogwarts for yaers now, and we've never foundthat passage way. Also, those people said they were a Harry Potter Worship Cult, but the Harry Potter Books were only written a few years ago, and the tapestry depicting them had to be thousands of years old. If they were around for thousands of years, they could'nt have been always Harry Potter Worshipers, they had to have been something before that, but what?"
It gave them shivers to think about. The cult did have aslightly...odd...quality to it (if odd is the right word to desribe it). Underneath their friendly fan fiction and Harry Potter dances, there was something else, ancient, almost gone,almost unseen, but nevertheless, it was there. This was an even stranger mystery for the friends to decode. A mystery, however, that would have to wait untill the next day. Harry, Ron, and Hermione each went back to bed. But as Harry was undressing for bed, he noticed a rolled up piece of paper in his robe pocket. Not remembering having put it there, he unrolled it, and read it.
The HPWC always triumphs. Harry Potter will return to us.
What do you think? Ive got next to no reviews, and Im starting to think that either I've offended every Harry Potter fan out there somehow, or that there really IS a secret society of HP worshippers, and they've all read my fan fiction, and they know that I know their secret, and they're all congregating under Hogwarts to have a joint planning setion before they fly on jet-powered brooms sticks to burn down my house. If I dont receive some reviews (soon!) I'll have to come to face that fact, and replace my smoke detectors. If you are not part of this secret society, I implore you to please reasure me, and review my story now!