Chapter Four
Blood Red
Harry awoke to a sound near the floor. His hand fumbled for his glasses and saw it was Crookshanks who had strolled into the room. It wasn't until the orange cat walked into the morning light streaming through the window, that he saw a dark stain on the soft fur.
Harry went to the cat and ran his fingers through the dark red patch. "What's this?"
Ron stirred beneath his covers.
Harry saw the red from the cat cover his fingers.
The redhead boy sat up from his bed and saw a claret substance covering Harry's hands. "Harry, you're bleeding," he said groggily.
"No, this is from Hermione's cat."
"What?"
Harry pointed at the blood soaking the side of the cat.
Ron looked closely at the stain. "Well, it's not coming from him," he said stroking Crookshanks, who was now purring softly.
Ron carried Crookshanks towards the doorway of the girls' dormitory and knocked three times. "Hermione!"
Footsteps approached the door and a brunette girl opened it.
Ron began to explain the heap of fur and blood in his arms. "Crookshanks just came into our dormitory and-."
"What the hell happened to him?"
"Nothing Hermione," replied Ron. "I was just trying to explain that he came into our dormitory covered in blood, which isn't his."
"Well then," said Hermione smartly, "whose blood is it?"
"How are we supposed to know!" bellowed Harry with morning grumpiness, regretting his anger seconds later.
Hermione's eyes began to water.
"Sorry Hermione; didn't get much sleep."
Hermione grabbed her cat and went straight into the girls' dormitory without a second glance.
Vanessa woke suddenly and looked down at her sheet and screamed, for blood stained most of it.
She looked over herself to find her palm slit and a tuft of orange fur. "What the-?"
She ran to find Madame Pomfrey when another first year came up to her. "What's wrong?"
Vanessa showed the girl her palm and ran off.
Professor McGonagall came into the Gryffindor common room. "I have your schedules," she announced. "First years over here." The professor beckoned them to her.
The young Gryffindors circled around her.
Professor McGonagall spoke to the first years around her. "Grab the one with your name." Later on she came to the sixth years.
Harry looked down at his schedule then back up. "Double potions on Monday. Ugh! That's going to ruin my week."
"Bloody hell!" exclaimed Ron when he saw the teacher listed for Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. "How'd that lousy Malfoy get a job here?"
"Dumbledore must want him here for something…" thought Hermione aloud.
Vanessa sat quietly as Madame Pomfrey carefully wrapped her hand.
When the nurse finished she questioned Vanessa about what had happened. She politely replied with a quiet "I don't know."
A witch clad in green came into the hospital wing. "Everyone, follow me."
The first year witches and wizards followed Professor McGonagall excitedly.
Once the groups were in the great hall, the professor sat the sorting hat on the stool as Dumbledore walked in. The headmaster sat in his large chair while Professor McGonagall found where she had left off in the list.
"Vanessa -."
Pansy Parkinson rested her head on Draco Malfoy's shoulder. "I don't know what I'd do without you." She looked up into his gray eyes. "What's wrong?"
The pale-faced Slytherin looked back to her. "Nothing, nothing at all." His thoughts wandered to the Gryffindor he loved. Ginny.
Pansy saw the distant look within him. "I love you."
"I love you too," he muttered while thinking, like a sister.
Harry sat in the common room with Ron and Hermione, trying to find answers to the questions they'd been asking since the scream in the hallway. The secret door to the room opened and a dark haired girl as well as many other first years ran in.
The girl came up to Harry.
"Vanessa?" asked Harry in disbelief.
"Yup," she said nodding furiously, "I'm in Gryffindor, just like you!"
"But… you're a Malfoy…" stated Harry.
The girl shrugged. "I guess I'm just not the Slytherin type."
Hermione reached out to shake her hand. "I'm Hermione Granger."
The adolescent girl tentatively put her hand in Hermione's and shook gently.
"What happened?" questioned Hermione seeing the bandage wrapped around the girls hand.
"Er… actually, I'd like to know that myself."
A girl lay sprawled across a Hogwarts' four-poster bed, covered in blood.
Harry cautiously walked up to the unmoving body.
"Harry?" questioned the girl weakly.
He looked into the brilliant brown eyes of the girl with the Gryffindor robes. "Hermione?"
The girl didn't speak, but her hands twitched slightly, showing a gleaming blade hidden within them.
"Hermione…no, this isn't happening. We have to get you to the hospital wing." Harry delicately put his hands under her limp legs and back to lift her.
Hermione opened her mouth and whispered, "No Harry, you know it's too late."
"No Hermione! I won't let you die!" he shouted running with her in his arms towards the door as blood left her slit wrists.
Harry reached for the door, resting the girl he loved on one knee. He turned the handle, only to find it was locked. He laid Hermione softly on the floor and gravity sent his glasses clattering to the ground. "No, not you Hermione, why you?"
"Goodbye Harry," said the dying Hermione.
"Damn it Hermione! Don't quit now!" said Harry, tears flooding from his green eyes, memories of the department of mysteries flooding into his mind.
An evil cackle filled the room as Hermione's last breath left her.
"NO!"
"Harry? Harry! Are you okay?" asked the voice of his best friend.
"No," began Harry groggily, tears streaming from his just opened eyes, "Hermione's d-d-dead."
"I am?" issued the voice of Hermione.
Harry blinked to clear his vision. "Hermione! You're not dead!" He wrapped his arms tightly around her, never wanting to let go. "But I saw you, your wrists were slit, you were bleeding to death…"
"You were dreaming Harry," replied Hermione pushing Harry off of herself.
Ron got up from the Gryffindor table.
"Where are you going?" asked Hermione.
"Uh…nowhere, be back in a bit!" said Ron running towards the Ravenclaw table.
Harry looked into the eyes of the girl he never wanted to lose, even in his dreams.
"Harry?" Vanessa tugged on Harry's robe.
"What?" He returned to reality.
The first year gave a sly smile. "Do you like her, like her, or are you just friends?"
"Who?"
She thought for a moment. "Her- Herminie."
Harry chuckled at the name. "Can you keep a secret? One that must never be said again, even when nobody's around."
The grinning Vanessa nodded.
He lowered his voice to a whisper when he saw Hermione eyeing the two suspiciously. "She is more than just a friend, to me at least."
A dark brown haired first year came up to Hermione in the library.
"Her-Herminio?" began Vanessa.
"Hermione," corrected the curly-haired sixth year.
"Hermione? Do you like Harry?"
"What?"
"Do you like Harry?"
"Why do you ask?" questioned Hermione.
"Because it seems like, well he-"
"What?"
"Well, you spend the entire day with him."
"So? We're just friends Vanessa." Hermione glared angrily at her.
The first year looked down at her shoes, sorry she'd asked in the first place.
The weekend came, with much time spent sitting in the common room or in the courtyard. On Saturday, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went outside to the large Hogwart's courtyard.
Ron was about to run off again. "I'll be back-."
Hermione cut him short, grabbing the hood of his robe. "Oh no you don't. If you're going anywhere, we're coming with you."
Harry nodded, agreeing with Hermione.
"Suit yourself." Ron went behind the two and pushed them towards a girl sitting on a bench.
"Hello Ron!" exclaimed Luna beaming.
"Hey Luna," said Ron wrapping his arms around her. He kissed her lightly colored lips.
Hermione felt the cold stab of jealousy go straight through her heart. She wanted to be in Luna's place at that instant in time. Harry stood there feeling very awkward. Well, at least until he purposely coughed. Ron let his hold go, as his ears became a deep red.
"Ronnie," began Luna, "your ears are red again." She giggled dreamily.
Harry and Hermione said their "hellos" and began to talk with Luna and Ron.
Luna began talking in a distant way. "I was talking to some Lonnicks the other-." The Ravenclaw girl suddenly became stiff.
"Luna? You okay?" questioned Ron.
She made no movement.
Hermione waved her hand furiously in front of Luna's stone cold unmoving eyes.
The fair-haired girl began to speak in a far from normal fashion. With a deep and whispering voice.
"The darkness is coming
There will be no warning, no mercy
This world will be enslaved
No one will be free
Only one can stop the darkness
Only one can save us
Though not alone can he be victorious
Four must help him
One to bring him
One to hurt him
One to save him
And one to remain loyal, no matter what the odds."
Luna returned from her ever still gaze, breathing heavily.
Ron grabbed the girl he loved as she fell. "Luna, are you alright?" He kissed her lips again and again.
Harry repeated the words Luna had spoken many times to himself, trying not to forget as Hermione went into of shock hearing of the impending doom.
Harry returned to the common room and wrote all that he could recall on a piece of parchment. Ron walked in soon after and sat next to Harry at the bulky table. "So, what do you make of it?" Before Harry could speak, there was a thunderous crash and a wail in the boys' dormitory. He turned around and sat up quickly. The other Gryffindor sixth year followed him cautiously.
Harry slowly opened the door, pulling his wand out of his cloak pocket. The window was open, a breeze blowing the curtains. On the ground was a shining object. Ron went to look at it; Harry followed and grabbed the item, cutting his palm on a sharp, jagged edge. Deep red blood seeped from his wound. Ron tore off a piece of the scarlet curtains and handed it to the boy who lived.
Harry wrapped the cloth around his palm. Ron looked down at the object that Harry had dropped, looking for a safe place to grab hold.
"There's a place," said Harry, pointing with his now bandaged hand to what looked like the hilt of a sword.
"A sword?" Ron looked at it closely.
The silver blade was smooth as glass, with a side that was strait and sharp, and another with jagged teeth. Within the center of the blade was a long and narrow piece of wood. The blade and strip of wood led to a very plain hilt of smooth ebony.
Something was shaking beneath Neville's bed coverings. Not until this moment, in which Harry saw the shaking figure, did he realize the entire room was in disarray and most of the beds had splotches of blood on them. Ron pulled the covers off of Neville's bed.
"Dobby?" exclaimed Harry, puzzled at the site of seeing red spots on Dobby's many socks.
The house elf's left ear was severed, nearly completely destroyed.
"Harry Potter sir, Dobby has seen it!" yelped Dobby frantically.
"Seen what?" replied a now very concerned Harry.
"His grand plan, Harry Potter, Dobby knows now of the plan."
"Whose plan? What plan?"
"Dobby cannot say. He would find Dobby, Harry Potter. He would hurt Dobby again…" The house elf clutched his ear and rocked back and forth.
"Who hurt you Dobby?"
"Cannot say. Cannot say. For Dobby does not know what it is. Or if it even has a name." Dobby shrieked, looking distantly past Harry. "Not the curse again, not again."
Ron lifted the elf off of the bed and carried him out of the room and towards the hospital wing. Harry grabbed the blade from Ron as he left the room. The boy who lived went straight to the staff room. Hermione stepped out of a nearby door and saw Harry. She looked around, trying to think of a way to escape the awkwardness around him.
"Hermione! Wait!"
The girl turned around sulkily and finally saw what Harry was holding. "What… what is that?" She pointed to the glimmering blade.
He carefully laid it across his hands, avoiding the sharp edges as much as he could. " It's a sword, found it in the dormitory with Dobby. I'll explain later, we've got to find Dumbledore."
Hermione looked closely at it. "Hmmm… wait, what's this?" She moved her hand carefully across the wooden stick in the middle.
Harry shrugged. "Come on, we have to find someone that knows the password!"
Just then a group of Ravenclaw girls came down the corridor, chatting loudly.
"And then Professor Flitwick took me to Dumbledore's office!" came the excited chatter of Padma Patil.
Hermione shrugged but Harry ran to the group of girls. "Padma, what was the password into Dumbledore's office?"
"Why should I tell you?" returned Padma in a very wily voice.
Harry shoved the sword in front of her face. "I need to talk to him."
Padma pushed the sword away and thought for a moment. "I believe it was… er… Chocolate Strudel, no wait, um… Chocolate Truffle."
Harry nodded and ran off to Hermione with a quick thanks.
"Well, what was that about?" asked the Gryffindor sixth year.
"She knew the password…" said Harry whom then grabbed her hand and pulled her to Dumbledore's office. He didn't let go once they were there.
"Chocolate Truffle."
The staircase appeared as the statue of a bird rose. Harry and Hermione hurried up to the office above.
Ron arrived in the Hospital Wing searching and yelling for Madame Pomfrey. "Madame Pomfrey!"
The Hogwarts' nurse walked into the room in which Ron was standing. "Oh, be quiet will you Mr. Weasley!" She looked at the house elf sprawled across Ron's arms. "Oh my… follow me this way please."
Ron obediently did so.
Madame Pomfrey led the boy to a bed at the far end of the Hospital Wing. "Set him down here." The nurse examined the elf's wound. "Hmmm… I don't know what could have caused such damage, but I can most certainly fix it!" She tapped on the elf's shoulder. "Excuse me, but by what name shall I call you?"
Dobby did not reply but simply stared into the distance as if he hadn't heard.
"His name's Dobby, Madame Pomfrey, he cleans Gryffindor Tower." Ron gazed into the dazed eyes of Dobby, now understanding Hermione's words about S.P.E.W. I'm never going to call it spew again, he thought.
"Dobby, how did this happen?" asked the nurse looking concerned.
The house elf let out a shrill cry. "Cannot say. Cannot say!"
Ron suddenly became dreadfully cold. He wrapped his black robe tightly around him. Madame Pomfrey questioned him, yet he did not answer. He remained focused on the house elf as everything around became blurry. The bed behind him suddenly seemed like a refuge from this sadness. He laid down amongst the white covers and cradled himself.
"Mr. Weasley?" came the puzzled and distant cries of Madame Pomfrey.
A hot tear trickled down his freckled face. He finally knew about sadness and hardships. He finally realized that he did care for house elves, and maybe for… no.
Vanessa walked into the Gryffindor common room. "Harry?"
No answer came.
"Ron? Hermione?"
Still, only a silent chill remained.
"Anybody?"
The fire within the large stone fireplace began to crackle, becoming the only sound within the scarlet and gold room.
This is strange, thought Vanessa, it shouldn't be this empty at one o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday.
The sky grew dark, and the fire dim.
Vanessa curled up into the corner of the big armchair, grabbing her book from her bag.
A fell voice began to speak:
"And hidden it is said
Within a land of gold
In the warmth of a stranger's bed
Not knowing the family of old
Lost from the truth instead
Only lies have been told.
A rose it may appear
But even beauty can be deceiving
Though its roots are not near
They soon will be meeting
And those sad tears
Will not be receding.
This secret cannot rest
It will find its way out
It is on a great quest
Do not doubt
For you are in it's crest
So now you'll never get out."
With the ending of the voice, the dwindling flame rekindled to a furious fire. Tears were now flowing down Vanessa's frightened face. An evil visage appeared among the heightening flames, cackling as its slanted eyes bore into Vanessa's. She screamed and tore out of the common room, as the sky slowly became its joyous blue once again.
Draco Malfoy walked down the corridors of Hogwarts, looking for Ginny Weasley. He had decided that today was the day. He was going to tackle her.
A portrait of a long gone school prefect began to speak to a rather talkative knight (annoying according to Draco) that had walked into her frame.
"A scream?" asked the Ravenclaw prefect in the painting.
"Yes, yes Gwyn. The Ravenclaw, excuse me, Gryffindor girl screamed and ran out of her common room. I do believe she was crying rather loudly," replied the knight.
"Wonder what frightened the poor soul."
"Did this girl have red hair?" asked Draco, hoping it was not so.
"No, I believe it was black, or very dark brown, and anyways, why should I tell you?" answered the knight, very suspicious of his green and silver robes.
"No reason… just wanted to know…"
The knight found this a satisfying answer and resumed his conversation with the prefect.
Draco continued on his search for Ginny. Off behind him he heard the portrait of the prefect speak. "Goodbye Sir Cadogan!"
A figure began to approach him from far down the corridor at a very fast pace. "Who the hell is that?" thought Draco aloud.
The figure drew nearer and nearer, and Draco could make out that it was a girl, a Gryffindor girl at that. Before he could get a clearer picture, the girl picked up speed and bolted into his arms, hugging him tightly.
"Oh Draco, I'm so scared," cried the voice of the girl.
He looked down. "Vanessa?"
The girl nodded, leaning her head into his chest.
The Slytherin boy cradled his cousin in his strong arms. "What happened?"
Vanessa began to explain to him the voice and the fire. Tears still flooded from her eyes.
Draco knelt down on one knee, to look her straight in the eyes.
She looked down at the floor, sobbing.
He gently put his hand under her chin. "Don't worry Vanessa. It' going to be okay." His arms wrapped around her and she felt safe.
Monday came, with Dobby's ear completely healed, but the house-elf was still frantic. Dumbledore finally knew about the happenings and made sure that everyone was escorted to their classes by a professor. As quickly as Monday came, it turned to Tuesday, which changed to Wednesday.
Ginny sat down next to Neville at the Gryffindor table out of habit. She looked around at everybody's face, judging them by their expressions. She began to talk to herself within her head. Neville's still happy as ever. Why won't Ron tell me why he's been so sulky lately? Hermione looks quiet and secretive, wonder why… And why's Harry so sad? She looked past the Gryffindors to the Ravenclaw table. Luna and Cho seem just brilliant. She looked farther, quite on accident, to the Slytherin table. She sighed. Draco, I can't believe how incredibly hot he is. Ginny gasped. Oh my God! Did I just call Malfoy hot?
Draco saw her eyes on his and smiled, unintentionally of course, forgetting that nobody but Vanessa, Crabbe, and Goyle knew about his fancying of her.
Ginny blushed.
"Gin-Gin? Whatcha lookin' at?" asked Neville.
Ginny turned around abruptly. "Oh, nothing." I still like Neville, she thought, trying to remind herself. I still like Neville, I still like Neville, I still like Neville… right?
