Chapter 7 - An Interupted Midnight Snack
By: Zero Star (zrostar)
------------------------------------------------------
Harry had trouble sleeping that night. Snape was on his mind. Voldemort was haunting him. Divinations class weighed heavily on his conscience. His sleep was against him. He tossed and turned restlessly in his bed.
Finally, with a sigh of desperation he decided to get himself a snack. At least just getting out of bed would shake the darker thoughts from his mind.
He pulled out his father's well used cloak and became unseen when it slipped about his shoulders. Just knowing he was invisible somehow relieved a bit of stress, no one had to see him.
Maybe he wouldn't go straight to the kitchens, maybe he'd stroll around his beloved school for a while first.
He walked for a long time, just letting his mind wander to the old stone walls around him. One debatably good thing about living in a tower, Harry had to walk all the way down it to get to where he was going.
He paused at the changing stairway to the 3rd floor corridor. Fluffy had been discovered not to far along the hallway to the left. Harry smiled vaguely as he remembered their first adventure with great fondness.
Heading downward he avoided the passage that would lead to moaning myrtle's bathroom, memories of drinking the polyjuice potion, and Hermione's grave mistake in using a cat hair. Although he did allow himself a small chuckle, even Hermione Granger wasn't right ALL the time. Maybe he'd remind her of that next time she's digging through one of her books. Gilderoy Lockhart had also met a fitting judgement in that room... perhaps there was justice in the world after all.
Somewhere between the Gryffindor tower and the great hall was a whole area of things he remembered with equal disgust and fondness. The bloody message from the Heir of Slytherin, being chased from the library by Filch, the Mirror of Erised, the bathroom Ron and Harry had locked the troll into, the steps to the prefect's bathroom and Snape in his pajamas were just a few.
He found his feet had stopped at the hall to the dungeons. He thought about checking on the Potions Master, or maybe even looking for Aragog's cupboard, just for the hell of it. Perhaps seeing if "Pureblood" was still the Slytherin password. Malfoy screaming like a little princess in his own dorm, might make it worth being caught by the Head of Slytherin. Then again... maybe not.
He started walking again. Somewhere ahead of him was the great hall and the Headmaster's office wasn't far. But also not far from the Hall was the kitchen. His stomach gave a quiet rumble. The kitchen it was.
----
As Harry paused at a large wall painting of a bowl of fruit. It looked so real, it made him hungry. It was the door to the kitchen, to enter he had to tickle a piece of fruit in this painting. But as he pondered, he felt a dark shadow befall him, something only a creature of darkness would cast. He could feel it, like a hand from the grave reaching out to him. Harry gave a mighty jump in surprise, but nothing was there when he turned around. No dementors, no monsters, no Voldemort.
"Alright Harry, it's been a long night... calm down." He told himself, to no avial.
"Which fruit, which fruit..." he shuddered a little, wanting to get into the well lit kitchens.
"The pear, I believe." A soft male voice whispered behind him. A dark hand reached for the painting, just over Harry's right shoulder.
Harry's eyes grew wide, and he stiffened like a plank. The sense of danger was all around him, something foul was waiting for Harry to turn around, he could feel it!
The pear giggled a bit and the painting opened to reveal the happy warm kitchens the House Elves ran all night and day.
"Is something wrong, Mr. Potter?" The same voice asked, in Harry's left ear. It was deep and unfamiliar, masculine and very English. Harry's mind raced to place it, but there was no face for this voice.
Harry did all he could do to break the paralyzation that held him, which was a sort of stumble and frightened gasp. He tripped and landed in the kitchen amid several confused House Elves.
The shock still holding him, he could see the Elves welcoming himself worriedly, and another with open arms. He was able to turn his head enough to see him just step through the door. A very tall, wise looking, dark skinned noble man, Dumbledore's guest.
"Oh my! I'm so sorry sir, I thought you were Professor Snape..." Harry lied, rising to his feet and removing his invisibility cloak.
In turn the Egyptian just looked at him, with an eye brow cocked. He was waiting for something. After a long moment he made Harry want to disappear and he looked at the invisibility cloak in his hands, thinking about it. Then it dawned on him.
"Wait! You saw me while I was invisible! Who? How?" He stuttered, but the other held up a hand to silence him. He wore a kind smile.
"A common misconception, that invisibility cloaks make you invisible, Mr. Potter. I'll tell you all about it over some tea." With that the house elves busied themselves to please their guests.
----
"I'm not exactly young," The slightest crook of a smile snuck its way across the Egyptian's lips. "I've learned to spot the creatures that produce such a fine cloak as yours. An invisibility cloak only makes you invisible to the untrained eye." Cherti explained, taking a small sip of tea.
"Ah, I see!" Harry was finding the conversation enjoyable. He stuffed another crumpet into his mouth. "So," he chewed, "where did you meet the Headmaster?"
The a small table meant for guests was laden with a lovely porcelain tea pot, two matching cups, saucers and no less than 15 plates of cookies, biscuits, scones, crumpets, custards and various other tarts. Harry happily stuffed his face, feeling a bit like Ron. However, his companion took nothing but half a cup of tea and was taking a great deal of time with it.
"Albus and I have been friends for... hmm... forever, I think." The Egyptian pondered with a hand on his chin. "I believe we met in London by accident. He had stumbled onto one of my younger apprentices, and we remained good friends after a brief confrontation - uh - misuse of abilities and all that." But it was his turn to ask a question. "So, Mr. Potter, how do you like Hogwarts?"
Harry felt as if a lot had been cut out of that answer on purpose, but then again, it wasn't his business. Halfway through another tart, Harry answered.
"I love it here, it's like someplace I've been searching for all my life. Family and friends are here, I don't have much outside of Hogwarts." He frowned to himself, that seemed like more than he had wanted to say... he just felt like he could talk to this older, understanding gentleman. Something about the man felt warm like Dumbledore did, almost grandfatherly.
"May I ask about your accent? Your name is Egyptian, but your voice is English." He was hesitant to ask... but it felt natural to do so.
"Yes, I am from Hamunaptra, in Egypt. But I've been in England a very, very long time." He gave a kind smile. "I believe someone wants to talk with you." His dark eyes rested somewhere behind Harry.
Turning around and with great surprise Harry saw Dobby leaping to get his attention. A red sock stuck on each ear, and a blue and green one on each food. The rest of him was clad in a small patchwork suit that didn't seem to match anything. No doubt he'd made it himself, maybe even out of other socks.
Harry laughed and stood to speak with him. "Dobby! You look... great! What's up?" But as Harry asked, Dobby grew quiet and afraid, his tennis ball eyes darting this way and that, his small jaw quivering.
"Dobby?" Harry asked.
"Well, I shall leave you to your friend, Mr. Potter!" Cherti stated in his kind voice. "Good evening, it was a pleasure to meet you... Oh! And don't worry, I won't say a word about you sneaking out." He gave a mischievous wink at Harry, then without another word he swept from the kitchen and was gone.
This seemed to make Dobby very happy. He moved quickly and stuck one large eye into Cherti's tea cup. It was half filled.
"Harry Potter! Darkness draws near and Shadows are close at hand!" Dobby was much quieter than usual. The other house elves backed away and left the two alone completely. "The Headmaster's guest casts a black aura, he has death about him!"
"Dobby what are you talking about?!" Harry couldn't make sense of it.
"I can not protect you, Sir! No one can, if the Shadows are here on the Darkest of Nights no one is safe." The elf broke down in tears.
"That bloody holiday again! Listen! Dobby, why is it so bad, this Dark Night thing?" He was determined to get answers.
Dobby sniveled and moaned for a few moments, then he began to hiccup. "Sir, hic, the Darkest of Nights is when the sky, hic, has no light. Harry Potter it is not safe nor any other creature with good in their hearts! As the shadows over the moon give darkness an even greater power. HIC!"
"Voldemort." Harry frowned, this was starting to come together with the bad omens.
"No, Harry Potter Sir, not just the Dark Lord." Dobby collapsed into a pile of shaking and hiccups.
----
His cloak around him, Potter trudged the long walk back to the common room. Keeping a fierce eye on his surroundings. One person had already spotted him tonight, he made sure another would not.
An ominous feeling permeated him. He thought back to the Headmaster's speech only two nights ago. The voice of Albus Dumbledore even returned to deliver the message again, "Absolutely NO prowling the hallways after dark!"
The Headmaster knew something, perhaps he would pay him a visit tomorrow night.
What was that! He gasped to himself, something moved, out of the corner of his eye.
Passing by the corridor to the dungeons as fast as possible, Harry almost stumbled on a loose stone. He thought he had glimpsed a large black shadow lurking in the doorway.
That's it, back to bed! And he set out at a run for the Gryffindor Tower. If it had been Snape, he wouldn't have been anymore welcome than the other shadows that had been mentioned tonight.
----
Harry has escaped the hallways, but he hadn't escaped his dreams. He lay down, in his bed, frightened, but he'd seen worse. His stomach was now very stuffed, and sleep was starting to take him.
=================================================================
This is what I have in my mind when I write about the Egyptian.
I hope this helps you visualize him a bit better.
http://www.angelfire.com/pr/zrostar/masters/erik.jpg
11-04-02