Harry Potter lost in Hogwarts Fanfiction
Mystery
The halls of Hogwarts are dimming as the night falls on the end of another day, with the seventh floor of the great and massive castle being one of the last to have light still lying against its ornamental walls. Some say that is at the last light of day, at twilight, is the most magical time of the day. When the world hovers between life and death, only for it to be reborn later like a phoenix. But for one student of this illustrious school of witchcraft and wizardry, all it means is the end of another day of fruitful search.
Sixteen-year-old Harry Potter glares down at the piece of parchment, a map of the school which marks where everybody is. And now, before his very eyes, the name of one such resident vanishes. And they were just around the corner as well.
"not this time!" Harry growls, running as fast as his legs around the corner, only to be greeted by an empty hall, no sign of his quarry. Frustrated, Harry slams his fist into the wall, bruising it, though he doesn't notice.
"Where did you go?" Harry glares at the parchment. "I saw you! So where did you go?" Harry scans the map again. A brief flash of inspiration strikes him before he shakes his head. "Room of Requirement isn't even in this hall." He groans and rubs his eyes. Ron and Hermione have been getting concerned about his obsession lately, but Harry is adamant that Malfoy is up to something. The bags under his eyes, his lack of appetite, and sudden disappearances all point to something that is stressing him out. Even if NEWTs is next year, it shouldn't be making him act like this, like what Hermione thinks. And Dumbledore isn't going to help.
Movement catches Harry's eyes and he glances down to see Filch is nearby and heading straight for him. It isn't curfew yet, but Harry really isn't in the mood for Filch's snide remarks. Harry pockets the map and heads for the Gryffindor common room, letting his feet guide the way. Hermione will chew his ear out if he doesn't finish the essay Snape set for them.
Harry had had enough of Snape to last him a lifetime last year, with those Occlumency lessons. He still bristles at the way Snape violated his mind, over and over and over again before he finally snapped and cast protego before Snape could. And he saw the way his father acted. He'd never thought he'd feel sorry for Snape, and paid the price by being forbidden to return for more lessons, not that Harry was complaining. They didn't help, and just made the connection with Voldemort worse.
But he saw a side of his father he'd never even known about. Harry was both grateful and unsure about what he learnt about James Potter. Harry hated to think it, but his father looked a lot like a bully in that memory. Years of torment by Dudley and his group of single brain celled goons had given Harry a harsh view of bullying. It left him conflicted. Sirius' reassurance that he grew out of it was small comfort.
Harry immediately snapped away from the thought of his Godfather, of him falling through the doorway. It hurt too much.
A chill brushes over his arms and he shudders, looking up and expecting to maybe see a ghost that he had accidently walked through. And stopped.
"Where am I? Is this the dungeons?"
He is walking down one of the many long corridors that populated the dungeons, with its dark and dank atmosphere. The corridor is cold, despite his robes. But that isn't what confuses him.
"I was just on the seventh floor? How did I get down to the dungeons?"
Did thinking of Snape make him come down here? But surely he would have noticed climbing down stairs. Or was he that caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice? Wait, what's the time?
"Oh, Ron and Hermione are going to kill me," Harry groans. If he managed to get down to the dungeons, then by the time he gets to the common room, he's be squirting the very edge of curfew. If he hadn't broken it already. And he really can't afford a detention right now.
Harry reaches for the Marauder's map, only to grab empty air. His hand flails about for a moment, looking for the comforting feel of parchment, only to grab fistfulls of robes.
"No, no, no, no!" Harry says frantically, pulling at his robes. "Did I drop it? I put it into my pocket. Okay, calm down, calm down, you have magic, you can fix this. Accio!"
The summoning spell cast, harry waits.
And waits.
And waits.
But no map. No sound of fluttering parchment.
Nothing.
Harry groans, yet again, crouching down as his mind fills with static. Losing the marauder's map is just the right kind of end to a day like this. At least nobody will know what it is without knowing the pass code. And the only other people besides the Golden Trio to know would be Fred and George, who left in spectacular fashion the previous year.
"Hermione will know what to do," Harry reassures himself, before slumping down. "Right after she bites my head off. Merlin's beard." Harry shakes his head and stands up. "Just need to get to her. Now, where am I?" This part of the dungeon isn't that familiar to him. Must be one of the back corridors. Harry picks one of the two directions and just starts walking.
He turns around a corner, and right in front of him is the entrance to the Great Hall.
Harry pauses.
"What?"
Confused, he looks back, only to see the door open to the reveal the grounds of the school. The sun is still peaking over the top of a hill, so maybe he hasn't broken curfew. But more importantly, where was the corridor he was just in?
"What…just happened?" Harry peers through the doors, seeing some students walking up to the entrance, though none he recognised. But no sign of the corridor. Harry rubs his eyes tiredly, his vision going slightly foggy.
"Merlin I'm tired. I'm falling asleep just walking. Maybe Hermione will go easy on me if she sees how tired I am." Harry turns and heads for the stairways, not looking forward to the long climb. As he passes through the archway leading to said staircases, he collides with something.
"Oh sorry," Harry says, stumbling back as he apologises to a desk.
Wait.
A desk?
Harry looks up to see that he did indeed walk into a desk. What's a desk doing here? Harry looks around uncertainly. Only to jerk back in shock at what he sees.
Flitwick's classroom. He's in the charm's classroom.
"how…How did I get here?" Harry stutters, quite perturbed. "I was just…I was just at the Great Hall? But-but-but…"
Something is wrong. Something is so wrong here. Is he blacking out? Is he being possessed just like Ginny was? But there aren't gaps in his memory. And the sun is in the same position it was a few seconds ago. Either he's been possessed for a full day, in which case someone would have definitely noticed. That, or he just apparated. But that's impossible. Nobody can apparte inside Hogwarts without preparation.
Harry spins around and rips open the door the classroom. He steps out and stops fast.
"What?"
He recognises where he is. It's not far from Firenze's classroom. But that's miles away from Flitwick's classroom. How did-how did he get here?
Heart beating a mile to the minute, he spins around, only to see an empty wall. No doorway. No classroom. Only an ornamental wall.
"What's happening?" Harry shouts, ripping out his wand, eyes darting around as though enemies are all around him, which there may well be. "Malfoy, if you're doing this, I won't stop till you're begging for mercy!"
No response. Harry gulps and takes a careful step down the hall, eyes watching carefully.
He steps around a corner, and backs straight up into a thin object.
Harry spins around, wand at the ready, a heavy reducto on his lips. Only to find a ladder. A ladder that leads to Trelawney's classroom.
"What's going on!" Harry screams and runs.
McGonagall's classroom. Dumbledore's office. The Great hall again.
Everywhere Harry runs, he appears somewhere other than what he should have. He rounds corners and appears at a different part of the castle. The walls change as soon as he rounds a corner. First, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh floor, he leaps between them as though they aren't there at all. He runs up stairs and ends up in the dungeons. He runs down into the dungeons and ends up at the Great Hall. He runs into Myrtle's bathroom, and finds himself in the trophy room.
It goes on and on, and Harry's breath runs ragged as his body starts to catch up to his continuous running. But he keeps going, spurred on by pure fear and confusion. Nothing makes sense, the world is a mess. Snape's office door leads to Herbology. The Great Hall opens up into the tower of staircases, no one in sight. The entrance to a hidden passageway instead leads him to the entrance to Slytherin.
When his mind finally catches up with his body, he is taking deep breaths at the top of the Astronomy tower, his entire body sweating and soaking his robes. But Harry can't focus on it as he stares out at the entire castle of Hogwarts, what should have been a beacon of light with all the candles.
But it stands dark. No fires, no students, no sound. As though Hogwarts has stood abandoned for months. It takes several minutes before Harry can scream out the question that burns his very soul.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"
Hi, this is just a quick author's note. The idea for this story was burning in my head and I had to write it out. If you want to see more, let me know. If I don't hear anything, I'll probabyl still write more when i get the chance (got some university assignments due soon, so yeah) Let me know what you think and I hope you enjoyed it Please be highly critical as I want to improve my writing abilities. For now, cheers!