AN: Look I'm getting more chapters out. I'm hoping to get at least one chapter out a week for both this story and my Stargate one, though I'm not sure if I'll have enough time. I'll try though. And for those of you who reviewed chapter ten, thanks. Oh, and Laterose, I sent you an email but it got sent back. I'd be great if you could beta for me. I don't know what's going on with Luke so I've dumped him as beta. Email me if you're still interested and I'll send chapter twelve over once I get it typed up. Here's chapter eleven!!!
– Chapter Eleven –
Dogs and Visions
The next few days were hell for Harry. It was like second year all over again. People talked in hushed voices around him as though he was dead, or they just tried to avoid him all together. The worst was al the looks he had been receiving from everyone around the school. Even Gryffindors were staring at him oddly. As if this year hadn't been bad enough what with the Dursleys and Voldemort coming back, this had to happen on top of it.
The Teachers didn't really take noticed to the strange behavior of the students. They were too busy loading everyone down with work, as the O.W.L.S were this year. Harry had it worst then most. Not only did he have his regular classes, but also his advanced ones on top of it. The workload was being very straining on him.
Sirius had suggested getting a time-turner or using a spell which would slow down time so that Harry could get all of his work done and still get enough sleep, but Dumbledore hadn't yet found one. Time-turners were out of the question as Fudge wouldn't dare give one to Harry and Dumbledore didn't want Harry using a time-slower charm as their ridiculously advanced.
So, at the moment, Harry had a ton of work, was not getting enough sleep and, of course, the way people were treating him was not helping matters.
"Harry? Harry!" Harry was gently shook out of his musing too see Hermione and Ron giving him piercing gazes. They were in the Great Hall for lunch talking about, Transfiguration, or so Harry thought. He wasn't quite sure what the subject of topic had been as he had really been listening. That seemed to happen a lot lately. The only time he ever seemed to pay attention any more was in class.
"Sorry. I was… thinking." He said. Hermione just gave him a look and he knew that she didn't buy it.
She placed her book down on the table and gazed into Harry's eyes as though trying to see something that wasn't there. "Harry, you've been like this ever since school started. What's wrong?"
"Everything," Harry grumbled, looking away from her and down at his food. He really didn't feel like talking about this.
"Well,' Hermione began, "Ron and I can't change the fact that you're a seer or that people keep treating you like you're a freak, but we can be here for you. Harry just ignored them. They're just stupid idiots who fear what they don't understand."
"Hermione, I don't even understand it. All of a sudden, I'm saving people from falling hundreds of feet; I'm seeing images from the past in the orbs, I'm getting faster reflexes and healing faster then normal. What the hell is happening to me? I am turning into a freak."
"That's not true, mate." Ron piped in. "You're not a freak, you're just changing."
Hermione elbowed Ron in the ribs earning an 'Ouch'. "Hey, what was that for?"
Hermione gave him a pointed glare. "The Point is, Harry, is that no matter what, we'll be here. It's not the end of the world. Besides, with all the trouble you seem to get yourself into, those abilities will come in handy."
Harry just nodded. He felt a little better after hearing that, though not much. Why couldn't fate o whatever the hell it was just leave him alone from a year or two? That would be the best gift in the world to him.
At that moment, a loud shrieking voice filled the corridors of the castle earning a lot of laughs though most people had no clue what was happening. "SIRIUS BLACK! GET BACK HERE THIS MOMENT!!!"
A huge black dog came running into the great hall and dove under the Gryffindor table right by Harry's leg. Harry, Ron and Hermione, bent down and looked under the table curiously. Sirius whimper. "You shouldn't have gotten her anger, mate." Ron said, though he couldn't help but stifle a laugh.
"I think he realizes that now," said Harry, grinning for the first time since school started.
Everyone in the hall was gazing around curiously when Professor McGonagall came swiftly into the Hall looking angrier the Harry could very remember her being. Sirius moved closer to Harry's leg and Harry, moved his cloak so that it covered most over Sirius's dog body, hiding him from McGonagall's view.
McGonagall looked around the hall, and then turned to Harry. "Where did your pigheaded Godfather go?"
Harry stifled back a laugh. He had never heard McGonagall speak that way about anyone before. "Umm," Harry Began. "He went out the side door, Professor."
McGonagall huffed and then headed in that direction. Harry quickly chanced a glance down to see that Sirius had turned back and was smiling at him. Harry smiled back. "Don't think I'm going to cover for you all the time," Harry whispered.
Sirius just shrugged. "Thanks for doing so anyways." He mouthed.
Harry looked back up just in time to see that McGonagall had changed her mind about going out the side door and started walking towards the teacher's table, which just happed to have a very nervous looking Professor Lupin seated at it. 'Uh oh', Harry thought. 'Not good.'
Remus seemed to tense up under her gaze. Harry did not envy him at this moment. "Remus, how long has he been an animagus?!"
Harry looked under the table and opened his mouth wide in surprise. Sirius was gone. Harry pulled on the back of Ron's cloak and pointed. Ron just shrugged.
"Well, ummm-" luckily, Remus was saved from answering as two dungbombs came flying into the Great Hall by the teacher's table. Smoke filled the area and Harry could hear McGonagall coughing. The smoke slowly cleared and Lupin had disappeared.
McGonagall huffed and walked out the side door of the Great Hall, her robes heavy with the smell. The Hall was silent for a few moments, and then everyone burst into laughter.
Ron turned to Harry. "I wonder what all that was about?"
"Oh, that," said Fred as he and George took a seat beside them, still laughing. "McGonagall was in class explaining what Transfiguration was to a bunch of first years, or so we heard."
"Professor Black was hiding under her desk in his do form," George continued. "Then when she turned into her cat form-"
"He came out from under the desk and started chasing her around the room, barking all the way." Fred laughed, remembering it.
Harry and Ron burst out laughing and even Hermione couldn't help but giggle a little.
"Then," said George, "she turned back into her human form and started chasing him around."
"She didn't know that it was Professor Black at first. Someone must have yelled it out as he passed them in the halls." Fred said, biting into an apple. "I wish we could have done something like that."
"Yeah," George agreed.
Harry laughed at Fred and Georges antics. They would never beat the Marauders. It was impossible, no matter what people thought. Fred and George are bad, but His father, Sirius, Remus, and… Peter had been worst.
At that moment, the door behind the teacher's table opened a crack to revile a very tried looking Remus. He looked up and down the hall before coming out and peeked out the door McGonagall had disappeared through.
He sighed. "It's safe to come out now, Sirius." Sirius' head poked out of the door.
"You sure she's gone?" he asked.
Remus rolled his eyes. "Why would I lie?"
Sirius smiled sheepishly than came out of the room, dusting his robes off. Everyone in the Hall began to cheer and laugh.
Sirius jumped forward, waving his arms with a panicked expression on their faces. "Sssh!!! Quite!!! She may come back!!!" This only received more laughter from around the hall.
After a few moments, Sirius just smiled and bowed. Ron was laughing so hard he almost fell off his seat. Hermione wasn't much better, Harry noticed. She was clutching her stomach and her face was starting to go red from the lack of air.
The look on Remus' face made Harry laugh harder. He looked like he had just survived Hell; though he wasn't surprised that Remus looked that way. If Professor McGonagall had advanced on him like that, he would have been pretty shaken up as well.
Harry placed his head down on the table to keep from falling off his chair. He was laughing so hard his eyes were watering and his sides hurt. He could hardly breath.
Suddenly, his scar exploded with pain and he began to feel like he was falling into a huge black void of darkness. He could no longer hear the laughter or sounds from the Great Hall, and he couldn't feel anything beside the immense pain in his scar and the coldness that had swept over him.
Then, all of a sudden, he felt ground beneath him. It was cold, dead, and felt somewhat torched. Harry opened his eyes slowly, realizing that somewhere along the way, he had shut them. What he saw was not what he had expected to see. The Great Hall had vanished and was replaced by a dead, fire-eaten, forest that stood by an old house that had recently been torched.
The smell of burning flesh assaulted his senses making him want to throw-up. That was when he noticed the cloaked figures that were surrounding him in a circle, chanting some mystical spell or curse under their breath. The Death Eaters were back.
A scream pierced the silence around him. He stood quickly; looking beyond the Death Eaters to where he knew the scream had come from. A hooded figure stood by the old house with his wand pointed at a girl who was withering on the ground before him. Harry's scar gave a nasty little twitch, letting him know exactly who was under that cloak.
Voldemort lifted the curse and turned to face Harry, ignoring the woman who lay on the ground beside him for the moment. His snake like features twisted into an ugly little smile as his red eyes glazed over Harry. "Glad you could make it, Harry. I trust you weren't in the middle of something important at school. Unfortunately, if you were, you won't be able to finish it anytime soon."
Harry's heart beat speed up at hearing this, but he didn't let it show. What did Voldemort mean? Was he going to keep his mind looked up here? There was no way that he could let this happen.
Voldemort held Harry's gaze for a moment before gesturing to the woman beside him. "Harry, I'd like to introduce you too Emily Ballinger, Auror for the Minstery of Magic, but more importantly a member of the Order of the Phoenix."
Harry's eyes widened. 'Oh please, not again,' he thought desperately. But he tried not to let it seem like it made any difference to him. Instead he heard himself saying, "Still haven't found what you're looking for, Voldie?" His voice had a mocking tone to it. Luckily, Voldemort didn't really seem to care. He just seemed to smile even more.
"That will change very soon. I can't get the information out of the Order, so that just leaves me with one option. And that's where you come in."
Harry didn't like the sounds of this. "I'm not going to help you with anything!"
"Oh, but you don't have a choice. What I'm panning for you, Harry, will force Dumbledore to give me the information I want. Besides, we wouldn't want to lose the 'Boy Who Lived', now would we?" He smiled making Harry cringing inside.
"Dum..ble..dore won't…tell…you…any…thing," Emily gasped out.
Voldemort turned to her. "I believe that's where you are mistaken, my dear. Unless you want to tell me what I want to know."
She stayed still, not answering. Harry could see her trembling under Voldemort's gaze and wished that there were some way that he could help her. But there wasn't. Voldemort began to circle her, his robes swaying behind him as he twirled his wand in his hands.
"Tell me, Emily, Who is the one that the Order of the Phoenix protects?" His red eyes flared, daring her to refuse to tell him.
She withered away from his gaze and stared up at Harry, as though asking him something. Harry understood and nodded. She was asking him wither he knew, which he did. 'Well, partially anyways,' He thought grimly. He knew the Order was protecting him, he just wasn't quite sure why yet.
Emily turned back to Voldemort spit of his already filthy robes. "I'd rather die then tell you anything!" She snapped.
Voldemort's eyes seemed to glow redder with anger. "Your loss. Avada Kedavra!"
Harry saw a flash of green light before his scar exploded with pain. He looked up to find that he was back in the Great Hall, with people still laughing all around him. It seemed as though no time had passed at all.
His scar burned as he clutched it tightly. He could feel Voldemort trying to wrapped tendril like bands of magic around his mind, trying to draw him back. He could feel the anger radiating through the link and wished to whatever God was out there for it to stop. 'He's going to take me back,' Harry thought helplessly. 'I can't stay here.'
Without thinking about what he was doing, he bolted up from his seat quickly, almost knocking Hermione off her chair in the process, and exited the Great Hall as fast as he possibly could. He could hear the silence that had fallen over the Great Hall at his suddenly movement, but at that moment he couldn't have cared less. He needed to get away from everyone.
Worry etched every line on Sirius's face as soon as he saw Harry jump up from his seat. By the look on Lupin's face, Sirius could tell that he was also worried. "What was that about?" Remus asked.
Sirius watched the hall doors slowly shut behind Harry. "I don't know." He started towards Ron and Hermione. Maybe they knew what just went on.
"What happened?" Sirius asked as soon as he was close enough to hear Ron and Hermione. Lupin was right behind him.
Ron just started at them in confusion, not having a clue as to what happened to Harry. Hermione, however, answered, " I'm not quite sure. He had put his head down on the table for a moment and then bolted up from his seat and ran out of the hall. I think he was clutching his scar."
Sirius exchanged glances with Remus, and at his nod, headed off in the direction Harry had gone. Voldemort was at it again. That could be the only reason Harry had been clutching his scar. But why had he run off? Sirius had a really bad feeling about this.
He got out into the entrance hall and couldn't find any trace of Harry. He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to sense his way to his Godson. James had taught him and Remus how to do this ages ago, but it had been so long since he had used this particular skill that he wasn't sure it would work. He felt a pull leading towards the Front doors and quickly headed in that direction. Maybe Harry just needed some air to try and coup with the pain from his scar. That thought stop as quickly as it had come when he laid his eyes on the facedown figure, lying at the bottom of the stairwell.
"Dammit, Harry," He practically flew down the stairs and quickly rolled the unconscious Harry onto his back. His eyes widened at he saw the trail of blood that lead from Harry's scar to his chin. "Harry?" He said gently, trying to get his Godson to acknowledge him. Harry didn't move. Sirius quickly checked his pulse and was relived to find it strong and steady.
"Harry?" Sirius said again, shaking Harry a bit harder. Still no response.
"Sirius?"
Sirius whipped his head around to see Remus, Hermione and Ron standing at the top of the stairwell. They were all shocked to see Harry lying unconscious in Sirius's arms.
"Sirius, what happened?" Remus asked, quickly coming down the stairs to them. Ron and Hermione followed.
Sirius shook his head. "I don't know." Remus bent down over then and gazed Harry over. Sirius could see that his friend also didn't know what was happening. "Remus, he needs help. Go find Dumbledore." Remus had started moving even before Sirius had finish talking. He disappeared up the flight of stairs, much quickly then most would have given a sick looking man credit for.
Sirius quickly turned to Ron and Hermione. "Hermione, I need you to go to the hospital wing and get Madame Pomfrey. Tell her exactly what happened?" She nodded briskly and left.
Ron knelt down beside Sirius and Harry. "What's happening to him?" He asked as Sirius conjured a wet cloth and held it up to Harry's scar.
Sirius shook his head. "I don't know," he said. He then stared straight into Ron's eyes, giving Ron a look he had never seen on Sirius before. "But whatever it is… I can tell you it isn't good."
AN: Hope you guys enjoyed it! I'll try to get the next chapter out some time next week. Don't forget to review!!!!! Please!!! With a cherry on to!!!