Chapter 12 - A Mysterious Encounter
By: Zero Star (zrostar)
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~ A red spark floated amid the familair setting. It was the only thing visible. It drifted slightly, to and fro, but was held tight by the sea of midnight. For the first time in an eon, an emotion trembled strangely around it. Fear. Complete and utter fright. A trapped soul realizing his fate, while in the belly of a dark monster. He jerked in terror, struggling against the bonds with all his might, yet he could not move. ~
Harry awoke gasping.
It was three in the morning, and he hadn't been sleeping that long. Blast it, what was he going to do now?
Part of him wanted to escape to the dungeons to ask Snape if he had just had the same dream. Then again, thinking of Snape made Harry want to burn his potions book. Another part of him was completely restless. Fear has a way of waking someone up, quickly and effectively.
Harry huddled in his blankets for warmth. Those dreams always seemed to make him cold, far deeper into his body than was natural. A cold that penetrated his mind and soul.
Should he tell the Headmaster? What would that get him? More fuss and worry. He was alive, that's all that mattered. If anyone else is brought into danger, he will tell.
Finally deciding not to wander the halls tonight, Harry searched for an alternative. He reached for the trusty Mauraders map. He felt that turning his thoughts from dark foreshadowing, to a potential adventure would do him good.
He unrolled his father's map, careful not to make a sound and read by the full moon light streaming through the dorm window.
"Some place Snape may find it..." He whispered to the map as the blue print of Hogwarts unvieled itself. "Out of Gryffindor territory..."
He took a moment to evaluate what was before him. Most people were asleep, save for Filch and his cat. Out of the corner of his eye Amun Cherti was pacing the Great Hall. I wonder what he's up to now... Harry vaguely wondered. Uncontiously he glanced at the small roaming figure labeled 'Severus Snape.' It was moving slowly out of his office into various chambers of the dungeons.
"Ah... so you are awake." Harry continued to watch the icon when he recognized several of passages Snape was taking, were the very same that he and Ron had decided not to explore when first evaluating the map. They had decided not to because they were so close to the dungeons and potentially dangerous. Not to mention riddled with strange trap doors and heaven only knows what else! No doubt that's where they would find the stash Freg and George mentioned.
The small figure of Snape drew farther and farther from it's quarters and the Slytherin dorms. Harry almost dismissed it for a late night walk when it hessitated at a secret passage shown on the map. Harry watched with baited breath. Where was he going?
Through a revolving bookshelf in the middle of a hallway, away from nearly everything in the entire sublevel of the castle, a small room appeared on the etched map. The room was titled "Slytherin Portrait Room."
"AH-HA!!!" Harry exclaimed, before quickly quieting himself.
Hogwarts has a long history of hiding things behind paintings. Fred and George seemed to have found a remarkable place to hide thier items from other Gryffindors. Infact, the room was so removed from anything else, even the Slytherins would rarely enter there... save for Snape... what held interest for him there? He and Ron would just have to find out later.
The dot labelled Snape was going no were else tonight. It was in the portrait room where he had settled himself.
With a smirk of triumph and the hopes of a new adventure, Harry went soundly back to sleep, unaware of how long he'd been watching the map. A gentle morning light was beginning in the east, as his eyes closed for the second time.
----
Breakfast was tiresome. Hermione had spent half the night indulging in some of her beloved "light reading," Ron had had a nightmare about deamonic professors with stringy black hair, and Harry, was as sleepy and tired as he always was.
"I think I found out where Fred and George hid their stuff." Harry confided in them, sleepily. "There's a lot of rooms in the dungeon that don't seem to have much use, but somewhere in the middle of them, is an old portrait room. I saw it on the map last night."
The other two seemed very interested.
"How do you know that's where it is, the letter said 'Let's hope Snape never found it.'" Hermione mumbled between bites of her scrambled eggs.
"I'm not certain," Harry furrowed his brow. "But I saw Snape go into that room last night. The only way to get there is through a secret passage. It's kind of remote, so I would bet he's the only one whose been in their for ages."
Harry carefully pulled the map out of his cloak and showed the area to his friends, careful to keep the secret between only the three of them. He pointed out the place Snape had travelled, but was surprised to see the dot of Snape had just left. It was walking in the direction of the potions lab and his office, as they spoke.
Ron gave his friends a broad smile. "I can't wait to tell Fred and George, ha! To bad we couldn't get to the stash right now, we got the whole day ahead of us!"
"I wonder if Gryffindor has a portrait room..." Hermione was thinking how interesting it would be to see the various Gryffindors of the past.
She poured herself a fresh cup of tea. "Remember Ron, be ready to impress our new Defense teacher, tonight."
"As long as it's someone new, I'll think about it." Ron retorted, grumpily.
----
After some talking and socializing, Hermione decided to go to the library. Perhaps she could find information on the portraits at Hogwarts.
Ron and Harry debated if they wanted to take a nap or bother Hermione. Finally, they decided to look at the mauraders map more closely. Returning to the boys dormitory for privacy, Harry removed the map from his cloak once again.
This time it bustled with activity. Very different from it's idol form at night.
"Here's where I saw Snape go last night." Harry spoke to himself, running his finger over the halls Snape had taken. The Portrait Room was still there, but Snape was sitting very still at his desk in class.
They spent the next hour discusing what would be an appropiate method of getting there and the best and most direct route.
"After class, the common room will be flooded." Ron placed a hand on his chin.
"Yes, so that means we can make an excuse to go to the library." Harry thought, but then he realized the class was at night and would be released after the library was closed.
"Ah! We can make an excuse about going to bed early, then sneak down in your cloak! Every one can see how tired you've been." Ron grinned.
"Alright..." Harry reluctantly agreed. "But we will have to be careful not to bump into anyone."
The plan seemed to be settled then. By the next morning, Ron, Harry, and a few others, would be gourging themselves on chocolate frogs and other wonderful treats. Perhaps they would even give some to Hagrid.
Speaking of Hagrid. "I wonder what Hagrid is doing..." Harry muttered. They both eyed the map.
The dot entitled "Rubius Hagrid" was sitting outside of his hut. Ron and Harry stared in shock as another dot was with him. This one labeled only, 'Mandragora.'
"Who is that?" Ron asked. "And what kind of name is that?"
"I don't know..." Harry rose instantly and dashed to a window. Down on the grounds below he could just make out two small figures. One Hagrid, looked like he was in his rocking chair on the pourch of his hut, and the other a much smaller figure covered completely in black, sitting in a great deal of shade benneth one of Hagrid's trees.
"I think it's time we pay him a visit."
----
As Harry and Ron, dashed breathlessly through the enterance of the castle, they could see the two in question. Hagrid sitting on his porch in a great rocking chair, carving something out of wood. He seemed to be speaking contentedly with the person in question.
The other, a figure in black, with a long cape and a full drawn hood was sitting in the grass next to the beautiful gray mare. Occationally a black gloved hand would rise to stroke her muzzle. The gray mare looked so calm as if she could have fallen asleep.
"Is that the person Hagrid wouldn't tell us about? The horse's owner?" Ron asked.
Harry paused, he stared at the shadowy image. He couldn't help it, like he had been frozen. A feeling was seeping into him that he didn't like. The same feeling he had gotten when he beheld Professor Quirrel standing before the Mirror of Erised instead of Snape. The same feeling he got when Lockhart had stolen Ron's wand. The same feeling when he had felt when he thought The Grim was following him.
"I - I don't know, Ron."
The two pondered what to do. The person in black appeared very calm, but also radiated a violent energy. It didn't seem to effect Hagrid or the horse, but it kept the two boys from approaching any closer.
They just stood in dumb-founded silence, staring, when the horse noticed them and made a frightening sound. A low moan, like a spirit from the grave, followed by the sound of it's teeth clacking violently together. Her eyes grew wide as she started to rise.
The black hood turned it's head in their direction. The face could not be seen as it was so heavily shadowed. But it turned back to Hagrid and calmed the mare with a gentle hand across her main. She settled again, but would not take her eye off the two boys.
Hagrid looked at them also. It seemed the conversation was now about the two frightened Gryffindors waiting outside the castle. The person in black turned to comfort his mare yet again. His guest distracted, Hagrid made a "leave" motion to Ron and Harry.
They obeyed, turning back into the castle and away from the agressive aura of the situation.
"Creepy." They both stated in unison, before running straight to the library to find Hermione.
----
"Are you sure it wasn't Professor Snape? After all he hates the both of you, he would be more than capable of frighten you from a great distance." Hermione the skeptical voice of reason that she was, shook her head at them.
"You know that Snape doesn't have anything to do with Hagrid or that horse." Ron whined pitifully.
"Here." Harry offered his father's map. "We saw his name by Hagrid's hut."
"Where?" Hermione looked the map over. "I don't see any 'Mandragora' listed anywhere."
The two rushed to look at the map in disbelief, the man in black had vanished. He didn't seem to be anywhere on the Hogwarts grounds. Not in the tallest tower, not in the lowest dungeon.
"You're just paranoid with all the things that have been happening." Hermione looked at the two of them worriedly, before changing the subject to something more mundain "I've found some information on the various portraits in Hogwarts. Even some on the portrait rooms themselves." She opened her book.
"Already?" Harry was amazed.
"Yes. Now, it says that every Head of House has the oppertunity to have their picture painted or taken to be placed in the various House galleries. However, the more modern pictures often end up in the hallways near the common room. The older paintings stay in the Portrait areas where they were meant to be. So maybe Professor Snape was looking at a painting of the Head of Slytherin while he was a student." Hermione closed the fantastically large book 'The Magical History of Enchanted Art Across Western Europe.'
"Maybe." Harry hadn't thought of that. Perhaps, even the Potions Master had old teachers he admired and missed. Wonder if they were as sickening as he is...
----
Dinner came all to soon. Harry was starting to win a game of chess when it was time to eat. The 5th years were excited about their first DADA lesson of the term. A new professor that hadn't been unvieled yet, in a possition that was said to be cursed by voldemort himself.
"Quidditch practise starts next week." Harry shouted excitedly trying to lighten the tone. His fire bolt had been polished about 500 times since then. He was nervous and happy at the same time.
Ginny, flushed at the thought of watching Harry practise his skills. Hermione gave her a knowing wink, and the two giggled to themselves.
"There's Dumbledore's guest again." Dean Thomas observed. "He only shows up for dinner. Where is he all day?"
"Maybe he works for the Ministry." Ron offered. "My dad does and he's bloody busy all night and day. It's a wonder he's home at all sometimes!"
Harry thought about mentioning his late night encounters with Dumbledore's mysterious guest. He had guessed Cherti was sleeping in the day since he was up all night. But, at second thought, he kept the information to himself.
"Who are the other place settings for and why aren't they ever occupied?" Ginny seemed offened by them. No doubt something she picked up from her mother; to be upset about wastefulness. Three place settings still appeared untouched, and in the day time it was four, due to the missing guest.
Harry noticed that Professor Snape had joined the dinner table tonight. Perhaps he was feeling better. Harry stared long and hard, trying to see if his ashen face had recovered. He didn't look any sicker than before, but he didn't look any better either. However, he did seem restless and thinner than usual. Most of Snapes attention was directed at the Ravenclaw table. He was still eyeing the first year he'd noticed during the sorting.
Harry shook himself. Odd behavior, even for Snape.
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11-16-02