Changing Sides
Dislcaimer: I do not own. Thank you very much.
Chapter 14: The Opportune Moment
And a thank you to all of my reviewers.
Previously:
Harry ran to his dormitory and threw off his Quidditch robes so he could move around faster. He dug through trunk and pulled out his Marauder's Map. He muttered the phrase and looked at the map looking for the dot labeled Miranda Wesley. He stopped when he saw the dot labeled Rita Skeeter. And according to the map, the dot labeled Rita Skeeter was standing right behind him.
--
Harry spun around on the spot and whipped out his wand and... there was nobody there.
"What the?" Harry asked out loud. He looked back down at the map. Rita Skeeter had backed away from him and according to the map was on the window. "Window?" He took a few steps to the window and looked out it. He didn't see anyone running across the grounds. Glancing at the map, he saw that he was practically on top of Rita Skeeter's dot. Harry looked down but didn't see anything, then something moved out of the corner of his eye.
It was a small beetle sitting on the window ledge. Harry immediately spun around and looked at it. "Oh, it's just a beetle," Harry said. He began to open the window but then he slammed it shut.
"Wait," he practically yelled. "Rita Skeeter. You are an animagus." It was more of a statement rather than a question. He stared down at the beetle and got down on his knees so he could see it, or rather her. He leaned over to Ron's nightstand and picked up a cup that was on it and put it down on top of the beetle. It started running around like crazy and climbing the insides of the cup. "You have made my life a living hell. I'll be back later." Harry silently cast a sticking charm on the cup. He grabbed the map and ran out of his dormitory.
"Miranda. Miranda Wesley. Where are you?" Harry was saying as he scanned the map for her dot. He wasn't watching where he was going and walked straight into Malfoy.
"Potter!" Malfoy yelled. "You got your filth on my perfect Slytherin robes."
"Oh well you got your ego on mine," Harry said standing up.
"Is that a picture you drew?" Malfoy asked.
"No," Harry said. He pulled the map back when Malfoy reached for it. He tapped it with his wand quickly and stuffed it into his pocket. "Now move Malfoy. I'm looking for Miranda." Malfoy blocked his path. "Malfoy, don't be a git, you remember what happened last time?" Malfoy didn't move so Harry shoved him against the wall and walked past him.
"Don't shove me Potter. I'll teach you a thing or two," Malfoy said. "Petrificus Totalus!" he yelled.
Harry turned around just in time to see the spell heading straight for his face.
"Finite Incantatem!" someone behind Harry yelled and both spells collided and faded away.
"You were lucky this time. She might not always be around to save your neck," Malfoy said and turned the opposite direction and walked off.
"You were lucky this time," someone said.
Harry turned around.
"Ginny, you saved me," Harry said.
"I know, it wasn't really safe the way you ran off like that after falling a good few hundred feet. So I figured that I would come and find you because knowing you, whatever you were about to do would land you in the hospital wing anyway," Ginny explained. "Why was Malfoy trying to curse you anyway?"
"I shoved him," Harry admitted quietly.
"You shoved him?" Ginny repeated. "Can't you be the better person and walk away?"
"I tried but he wouldn't let me go anywhere. Oh, and the fact that Rita Skeeter is an animagus and is in my bedroom," Harry added.
"What?!"
"Yeah, I was looking at the map looking for Miranda and then I saw the dot labeled Rita Skeeter and she's a beetle sitting under a cup that I charmed to stick to the windowsill," Harry explained. "But I really do need to find Miranda."
"Why? What's so urgent?" Ginny asked worriedly.
"Don't be worried. It's nothing."
"Harry, whenever you say 'I'm fine' or 'It's nothing' most of the time you are not fine and most of the time it is a huge deal. So you better tell me what is going on or I will put a Bat Bogey Hex on you, so help me Merlin."
"Okay, okay!" Harry lowered his voice to a whisper. "The reason I fell off of my broom was because Miranda was invading my mind. She saw some things that she should not have seen. Like really bad things. The things that I did this summer, oh wait you don't know about that really."
"No, I do. I'm more like Fred and George than you think, but continue." Ginny said smiling innocently.
This made Harry smile. "Okay, well as you know, well you know where I stayed. She knows about that. She's knows about my dueling him and she knows what happened in the graveyard and more importantly she knows the -- the..."
"The what?" Ginny asked. "Oh, is this why Hermione was looking up the Fidelius Charm? I get it."
"You really are so much like Fred and George that it's unbelievable," Harry said.
"Thanks. But the fact that Miranda knows all of that is really bad. She probably thinks that you actually are a supporter of Voldemort," Ginny said. "I'll help you look for her."
"Thanks Gin." Harry looked down at the map. Then, he saw her dot. It looked as if it was in the wall? Oh. Their Hidden Room. "I know where she is. Let's go."
Harry and Ginny walked up to the spot in the wall. "In there?" Ginny asked.
"Wait, you've been in there?" Harry asked.
"Well, yeah," Ginny said.
"When?" Harry asked.
"With Dean," Ginny answered.
"Ohh," Harry said as the door appeared. He pushed it open and went inside with Ginny following.
Miranda was inside sitting on the windowsill and she had been crying.
"Miranda?" Harry asked.
She spun around and pulled her wand out in a flash. "You stay away from me Harry Potter!"
"Miranda, let me explain," Harry said desperately.
"EXPLAIN?! How can you explain that you were kidnaped by You-Know-Who and then brought to Draco's house where he so kindly helped you out even though he was being forced to duel you and all sorts!" Miranda yelled. Ginny silently shut the door and stood against the wall.
"Wait. Malfoy kindly helping me? No, Malfoy wanted a rematch of our second year. He used curses on me and knocked me out for over a week!" Harry shouted.
"How about You-Know-Who's task then? Explain that!" Miranda yelled.
Harry looked at the floor. "I can't," he finally said.
"EXACTLY! I trusted you, I liked you, I thought I may have even loved you. But you were too good to be true and I knew it. Malfoy was right when he said you were a bad kid."
"And you were going to listen to Malfoy?"
"I guess he's the only friend I have now. Because your friends who don't care that you are on Voldemort's side or support you, like HER!" Miranda pointed her wand at Ginny.
Harry pulled his wand out at this. "You're not angry at Ginny," he said.
"NO! I AM angry at Ginny. I know that she likes you. I know that you kind of like her even though you and I are dating. Correction, were dating! I am furious at Ginny!" Miranda yelled. "REDUCTO!"
Harry dove in front of Ginny casting a shield charm non-verbally.
"Well, I guess staying with You-Know-Who the entire summer has paid off. You learned non-verbal spells. But so have I!" Miranda yelled.
Harry held his shield charm strongly and turned to Ginny.
"Ginny, run! Go get Ron and Hermione!" Harry said.
"Did Voldemort give you a task?" Ginny said on the verge of tears.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Did Voldemort give you a task?" Ginny repeated.
"Er, fine. Yes. He did. That is why he took me to Malfoy's in the first place so I could do it. I can't really talk about it because of the Fidelius Charm. BUT I am only doing it to keep you guys safe," Harry explained. "Please go get Ron and Hermione!"
"So, he kind of like threatened you?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah you could say that."
"Okay, I'm going! Hold on Harry!" Ginny said. She stood up and Harry moved with her to the door so she didn't get hit with any spells. Suddenly she turned around and kissed Harry on the lips and then ran from the room.
"I hate you Harry Potter!" Miranda screamed. She waved her wand and blue spells, purple spells, and even some solid objects she was picking up came flying at Harry.
Harry managed to dodge them all. He was waiting for the opportune moment to attack back.
"Rictusempra!" he yelled.
"Protego!" Miranda shouted casting a shield charm. "Try this one, Potter." Harry just realized how mad she really was. If someone is mad at him, or they are Snape, they call him Potter. "Serpensortia!"
"A snake?" Harry asked aloud.
"You-Know-Who can talk to snakes. Maybe you should call him here and he can defend you," Miranda said smirking. She folded her arms. The snake came towards Harry hissing and exposing his sharp fangs. "He is my specialty and he is poisonous."
"Stop," Harry said in Parseltongue.
"Speaker of our old language," the snake hissed. "I shall do what you ask." The snake stopped moving.
"What are you doing?" Miranda asked the snake. "Attack him!"
"She is not a speaker. I can't understand her," the snake hissed at Harry.
"Go to the corner of the room and sit there. Do not attack anyone," Harry ordered.
The snake obediently slithered over to a corner of the room and coiled itself up and just stayed there.
Miranda looked furious when Harry finally looked back at her. Her eyes danced with hatred and she wanted to snap Harry like a twig right there.
The door opened behind Harry and he turned to see who entered. Bad idea.
A non-verbal spell hit Harry right in his wand arm. He dropped his wand and fell to the floor, his arm bleeding very badly.
More non-verbal spells hit the ground right around where Harry had collapsed. He rolled over dodging them and using his left arm for a wand arm, he attempted to cast more spells. He did not get very far. He heard voices yelling and spells were flying everywhere and Miranda pointed her wand specifically at him and the blue-ish green-ish light hit him right in the side and everything went black.
--
Harry heard voices and saw small lights bobbing up and down in his head. His head. It hurt a lot. His arm hurt even more. He opened his eyes slowly adjusting to the massive light change. He was in the Hospital Wing.
"He's awake!" someone yelled. He was able to see just as red hair flew by.
"Mister Potter," Madam Pomfrey said coming to his side with a tray full of potions. "You have taken a beating."
Harry managed to crack a smile as he sat up.
"Not too fast," Madam Pomfrey said.
"Are you alright Harry?" Ginny asked.
"I'm fine," Harry said. He looked at Ginny. "I mean, no. I am not fine."
Ginny smiled. "We got back just to see you blasted with something and we managed to hold her off. Actually four stunners is probably the reason why she hasn't come to yet."
"Four stunners! Ginny! You could have killed her!" Harry said.
"She almost killed you," Hermione said coming over. "What were you thinking?"
"He was thinking that he was going to run off after falling out of the sky. I do believe I said something about whatever you were about to do would land you back in the hospital wing, and look at that. Here we are in the hospital wing," Ginny said.
"Funny," Harry said laughing a little. It hurt to laugh.
"You were hit with a bloody good amount of spells, mate," Ron said.
"You think I don't know that?" Harry asked. "Oh and one more thing. Rita Skeeter is an unregistered animagus as a beetle. That's how she keeps figuring out these things. She is spying on me. I saw her on my map and she was in our dormitory. I stuck a cup on top of her and a sticking charm."
"Did you cast an unbreakable charm?" Hermione asked.
"An unbreakable charm? No, I don't think so," Harry answered.
"Then she's most likely not in your room anymore," Hermione stated.
"What! Why not?" Harry asked.
"Because a sticking charm would hold a beetle at bay, not a person. She probably just turned back into her human form to get out of her predicament and then became a beetle again and flew away," Hermione explained.
"Damn it," Harry said.
"Mister Potter," Madam Pomfrey said coming over again.
"Sorry," Harry said.
"Sorry for what?" she asked.
"Um, uh. Um. Never mind."
"Oh alright. Take the blue potion first and then the green one. Then take half of the pink one and half of this clear one. Alright?" she asked.
"Er, um, I..."
"I'll make sure he does it right," Hermione said stepping forward.
"Thank you Miss Granger," Madam Pomfrey said and walked away to tend to other patients.
"Here Harry. Take the blue one," Hermione said. He downed it. "Then the green one." She handed him the bottle. He grimaced at its taste. "Only half of this pink one," Hermione said and handed him the bottle. "And half of this one." She passed him a clear liquid and he drank half of it.
"Why so many?" Harry asked.
"You're girlfriend was seriously ticked off," Ron said.
"Ex-girlfriend," Harry said quietly.
Hermione, Ron and Neville who happened to just walk in all said, "What?"
"Yup, we're through. But I'm glad because I didn't really like her all that much. I realized I liked someone else," Harry said and he looked at Ginny but she didn't say anything.
"That's good," Hermione commented.
"Um, where is Miranda?" Harry asked suddenly.
"She's over there," Hermione answered pointing over her shoulder.
"Dumbledore's discussing whether she should get expelled or not. She seriously hurt you," Ginny stated.
"Well I guess he is also discussing whether you four should get expelled since you probably seriously hurt her too," Harry said.
"Oh my! I never thought about it that way! What if we get expelled?" Hermione worried frantically.
"Hermione! You won't get expelled! You saved my life," Harry said. "Calm down."
"Harry, there is something," Hermione said quietly. "Something Miranda was saying."
"What was that?" Harry asked curiously.
"She was shouting about how you are dangerous because you are working for... Voldemort. You stayed with him and he trained you to be his apprentice. She also shouted that he gave you a task and it was to kill us all," Hermione answered.
"What?" Harry replied. "She said that?! That's crazy. Who would think that Voldemort trained me to be his apprentice?"
"Actually, pretty much the whole school knows," Ron said.
Harry's eyes were wide. "The whole school thinks that? Well, I guess the secret's out then."
Everyone laughed and Ron said, "We didn't shut the door to the Room of Requirement and everyone could hear and we had half of the school outside listening and half of them hit with Miranda's spells that we were dodging."
"Wait, the Room of Requirement?" Harry asked.
"The room you two were in, that's what it's called according to Hermione, of course," Ron said.
"Oh, we didn't know that it had a name. We thought it was just another hidden room," Harry answered.
"So, yeah. Malfoy's over there. He took a couple of spells to the face. The second Malfoy heard her Miranda say your name he was right behind us probably seeing if she killed you or not," Ron stated.
"I really do hate Malfoy," Harry answered.
"Don't we all," Neville said. Harry had almost forgotten Neville was there standing behind Hermione. "I'll be back later Harry. Feel better." Neville waved and left the Hospital Wing.
"You know, I thought you guys were buds, after the summer and all," Ron commented. "But Malfoy is still a git."
"I thought so too but I guess not," Harry said.
"Harry, does Ginny know about this?" Hermione asked.
Harry nodded. "Unless she didn't hear Miranda screaming it at me while we were in the Room of Requirement."
"No, I did," Ginny said laughing.
"I hope I am not interrupting anything," Professor Dumbledore said striding over.
"No. Of course not Professor," Hermione said. "We'll see you later Harry." Hermione, Ron and Ginny got up from Harry's side and left Harry and Professor Dumbledore alone.
"Harry, how are you feeling?" Dumbledore asked.
"Like I've taken a beating," Harry answered.
"Well, m'dear boy... you have," Dumbledore said. "I've been told that first, you fall of your broom and the two Mr. Weasley's caught you right before you hit the ground, second, Miranda Wesley shouts at you and third, she attacks you. Is all of this correct?"
"Yes sir," Harry replied. "He was hoping most people didn't know about him falling of his broom. He found it embarrassing.
"Is there a reason why Miss Wesley attacked you?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yeah," Harry answered. "She thinks that..." Harry wanted to word this correctly and not let Dumbledore think it was actually true, even though it was. "That I am working with Voldemort and it upset her. A lot."
"Now, why would she think that?" Dumbledore asked.
"I would guess that it would have something to do with the Daily Prophet sir," Harry answered.
"Ah, yes. Rita Skeeter has taken sudden interest in you, hasn't she?" Dumbledore said.
"She's an unregisted animagus!" Harry blurted out. Dumbledore looked at him puzzled. "She was this beetle in my dormitory and she has been listening in on me and spying on me! I put a cup over the beetle but I'm sure she probably transformed into her human form to get out and then just flew away. Well, Hermione thinks that."
"Hermione, is probably right then," Dumbledore said. He paused, thinking. Like Dumbledore had asked Tom Riddle about fifty three years ago and like he had asked Harry three years ago, "Is there anything you wish to tell me?"
Psh, yeah. There was a lot, Harry thought. He wanted to just shout out that Voldemort was threatening his friends' lives with a task that he most likely will not be able to complete. Professor Connelly was really a Death Eater in diguise and Malfoy was just plain evil. But he couldn't just shout all of that out. Half of it, he was magically prevented from saying. Really, the only thing that he could say out loud was that Malfoy was just plain evil.
"No sir," Harry finally answered.
Dumbledore nodded, as if he was saddened by this. "Very well, I'll leave you to rest."
"Thank you Professor," Harry answered. "Actually..." he said as the professor stood up.
"Yes?"
"Did you expel Miranda?" Harry asked.
"No, I did not. And I will be away at a Ministry event for three days so do try and keep your distance," Dumbledore added with the familiar twinkle in his eyes.
"I'll try, Professor," Harry said and said goodbye to the Headmaster. He looked over to the other beds. One was occupied by Miranda. She didn't look too bad. He could only physically see a bandage wrapped around her upper arm. The bed two over from her and across from him was Malfoy. He had a cut running down his cheek and a bandage above his left eye. He was out cold as well.
Harry looked around. He was alone in the Hospital Wing. He wished Hermione or Ron or Ginny would come back. Just so he had someone to talk to. Then, a realization struck him.
Dumbledore had said that he was going to a Ministry event for three days. Dumbledore was not going to be here, in the school for three days. Last time this had happened, the Sorceror's Stone was almost stolen but the stone had been destroyed and that was not what Harry was thinking about. He was thinking about a shiny sword with emeralds on it in a glass case against the wall in Dumbledore's office. Voldemort needed the Sword of Godric Gryffindor and it was in Dumbledore's office and Dumbledore would be gone for three days. It was the beginning of October and Harry hoped he could put it off longer but Harry didn't know if he would get another opportune moment.
Tomorrow, he thought. Tomorrow I'll do it.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter. I hope you're liking it. If you could take two seconds to hit that review button below, that would be lovely. Enjoy the first days of summer!
--Elizabeth