A/N: As usual, Super MKatR keeps doing an excellent work as a beta. Thank you!

Chapter 21 – Calm and Distress

The following weeks went by with an unnerving sense of calmness. Later, Harry was sure he was only able to move on through that phase with his sanity intact due to his friends. After what he saw in the Forbidden Forest, Ron finally understood Harry and apologized, Hermione was also very ashamed of her stingy behaviour.

'I'm so sorry, Harry.' Ron said, crestfallen. 'I believe you now. I was a moron.'

'It's alright, Ron.'

'No, Harry, it isn't.' Hermione disagreed. 'It isn't alright, you're right the whole time. You need to be able to fight. We were terrible friends. I'm sorry.'

Harry was grateful for having Hermione and Ron back, and now with the addition of Neville to the group. Everything he could think of was Peter, Voldemort and the Philosopher's Stone. He was obsessed. The Marauder's Map was always around to monitor Peter, who never showed up again. Harry also used to map to watch over the activities in the corridor on the third floor.

Everything was calm and the waiting was killing him. The only abnormality was the constant pain in his scar and he was a bit scattered. The ideas of Pettigrew escaping forever and of Voldemort appearing at any moment were tormenting Harry. Hermione tried to calm him by reminding him of Dumbledore, who certainly knew the danger and had once promised to protect all students, and that while he was in Hogwarts nothing would happen.

Ron always had to drag him to the meals, Hermione made sure he wouldn't neglect his revisions, Neville always tried to distract him with duels and then every night Harry needed Ginny's company. Since the night, when they had had that terrible encounter with Voldemort and the dead unicorn in the forest, Harry had been having awful nightmares of the hooded figure that represented his worst enemy. He would always wake up sweaty, his heart jumping and lots of pain in his scar. Soon, he stopped sleeping as he should, getting only a few hours each night. Ginny was getting concerned, causing her to have trouble sleeping.

'Ginny, you need to sleep.' Harry insisted once more with the redhead girl, who had taken as a personal mission to ensure that he would sleep as he should.

'No, I'm fine. I'll make you company until you fall asleep first.' She answered through the mirror.

'You're already falling asleep, silly. I'll be good.'

'Yes, sure... For days, your face has been looking awful… I know that nightmares are terrible, but not sleeping won't solve your problem. Maybe you should visit Madam Pomfrey…'

'I don't want to take a Potion for Dreamless Sleep. I'll get better, I just need time.'

'Then, you better sleep! Or do you want me to sing a song so you'll sleep?' Ginny asked in a threatening tone. 'I'll sing!'

Harry chortled, remembering Ginny's musical "talent". 'I doubt your singing would lull me to sleep, Gin.'

'Harry! You'll wake the other boys laughing like that!'

Harry smiled. 'No, I won't. Muffliato, have you forgotten?'

'Ah, of course. I've been using it too, otherwise my parents would think I'm mad, talking alone in the bedroom all the time.'

'Really? I haven't tried that one wandless…'

'It isn't much different than doing any other spell wandless, you just need to find the right trigger.'

'Speaking about that, how is your progress?'

Ginny had been practicing wandless magic with a lot of dedication in the last months. Frequently, she and Harry exchanged information about what it worked and what it didn't work. By now, Ginny knew Lily's methods as well as Harry.

'Excellent! I'm already doubting if I really need a wand to do magic.'

'Don't be so convinced!' Harry laughed, amused.

'And you?'

'Great! My mum's diary helped a lot. I think I can do almost everything wandless now.'

'Yes, it's like flying on a broom. After you learn, you do it without thinking about it.'

'That's right…' He said pensively.

'What are you thinking about?' Ginny asked, noticing his silence.

'I didn't imagine it would be so easy to learn this. My mum took a long time to learn wandless magic.'

'I wouldn't say it was exactly easy to learn. We've been practicing for months, and, at the beginning, it was hard to learn it. And your mother's notes saved us from years of practicing. Almost everything she suggested worked.'

'Well, I guess you're right.'

'Harry, redheads girls are always right.'

Harry laughed. Ginny had a good, relaxing effect on him, he felt like his problems had disappeared, while she was there.

'How have your exams been?' She asked.

'Easy, I think. Hermione and I were able to cover all points from our revision in time. They have been better than I had expected. If it wasn't for other things…'

'That silence is disquieting.' She remarked.

'Well, I've made my mind.' Harry said. 'If this continues through the end of this week, I'll go to Dumbledore and I'll tell him everything. I'll give him the map, I cannot let Pettigrew escape.'

What Harry didn't know was, some miles away, within the view of Hogsmeade Village, a gloomy meeting was taking place. Two hooded men were coming up with a sinister plan, in the darkness.

'How are our plans going?' A fleshless voice asked.

'A-as we h-had pla-planned, s-sir. Du-Du-Dumbledore has al-already been ta-taken care of.'

'And about the girl, Wormtail? Are you sure you won't fail me?' The voice asked.

'Yes, master.' The shorter man squealed. 'I won't disappoint you.'

'We'll see.' The voice replied.

History of Magic was the final exam, and it was very easy to Harry's satisfaction, who was too uneasy and distressed to focus. It was an uncomfortable day. Harry felt something was disturbing him, but he couldn't identify it. Ron, Hermione and Neville were too relieved with the end of the exams to understand Harry's affliction.

'Harry, please, try to relax a bit.' Hermione tried to help him. 'Remember what I said the other day, nothing will happen while Dumbledore is here. Stay calm.'

'Dumbledore…' He mused. 'I'll end this now. I'll look for him.'

Harry stood up, letting his concerned friends. 'I'll be right back.' He said.

Harry, with an oppressive feeling of anxiety, ran towards the Headmaster's office. He needed to take off that weight from his own shoulders. Dumbledore would know what to do.

'Where are you going in such a hurry, Potter?'

Harry hadn't even realised that he had passed Snape in the corridor until his least favourite teacher had spoken.

'I need to see Professor Dumbledore, sir.' He said, trying to be as polite as possible.

'The Headmaster isn't in the school, Potter. He has more important problems to solve than afflictions of pampered students.'

The man turned around and kept walking. Harry didn't move from his place. A very bad sensation began crawling in the pit of his stomach. Something was very wrong. What would he do now? Harry began walking, not focussing on where he was going. He was trying to put things in perspective and organize his thoughts, to no avail. A sensation of desperation was starting to suffocate him. He had the feeling that someone was following him. He tried to turn around to confirm his suspicion, but he wasn't fast enough.

'Stupefy.' A voice murmured.

Everything went dark.

Far away from there, Molly Weasley was in a state of panic. She looked everywhere, in the bedrooms, in the living room, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, in the attic, in Arthur's shed, around the house… She even looked inside the cupboards! Maybe she was being pranked.

'GINNY!' Molly shouted many times. 'GINEVRA, WHERE ARE YOU?'

She screamed so loudly that perhaps the whole village of Ottery St Catchpole heard her. There was no answer. Now, desperate, Molly began crying.

Ginny was gone.

A/N: Hello! The end of the first year is close. What do you think it will happen? The next chapter's title is The Philosopher's Stone. I'm sorry it took me so long.

See you in the next chapter,

Inês

scrappy8: I'm glad you like the chapter. Thank you. I'm not completely well yet, but I'm a bit better.

Mongo: Sending first year students to the Forbidden Forest is not the best detention idea, but hitting them is a bit extreme. Thanks for sharing it.

Guest: You're welcome. Thank you, I hope you have a nice day as well. Two weeks to update isn't a long time, is it? Karol (the original author) used to update quite often, but then for a long time she didn't update. Her last update was last month.