The Story continued...
I searched for signs on Harry's face. Usually if he's worried, a wrinkle will appear in his brow. I couldn't find the wrinkle. Sometimes if he's stressed or panicking about something, beads of sweat will dot across his temples. Not a trace...
Why wasn't he as horrified as I was?
"Ah Miss Chang. I was wondering if I could have a quiet word with you" said a voice. It was Professor Flitwick.
I looked to Harry and then back to the Professor. What else could I do? I couldn't ignore a teacher. Well I could but then I'd be sent to detention.
"It's ok Professor Flitwick. I was just leaving," said Harry. He shoved all his books carelessly into his bag and then swung his leg over the bench. He turned to me, his back facing Flitwick.
"Don't worry I'll speak to Dumbledore about it now" Then he hurried down and out of the tall doors of the Great Hall.
Professor Flitwick coughed, "Yes Cho, I wanted to arrange an appointment tomorrow morning with you about your last assignment. You made a few errors that need to be corrected."
He passed me a several parchments that I had handed in last week. Unraveling the parchment revealed crosses of red ink making their way down the side of my own handwriting.Yikes! This was more than a few errors. This looked like a failure!
"Perhaps you've been a little distracted lately." He said with his eyes passing over to the doors through which Harry just had left. I felt myself blushing a little.
"You know this is your final year. We don't want you to fall at the last hurdle!" he said in his usual small delightful voice.
I stifled a yawn. I know it's rude and I didn't mean too but it just came out. I'm not trying to make excuses but I did have a late night.
"Oh don't worry your head about it. Just read through this paper and then ask me any questions you don't understand tomorrow. I'll be in my office at 8.30am.'
I laughed a little thinking how problematic this day was turning out. First this mysterious stranger lurking about Hogwarts and now of all things I was failing my exams. I could feel my eyelids getting heavier and heavier by the minute. The only thing I really wanted at that moment was to curl up in bed and go to sleep for a while.
...Harry was already on his way to Dumbledore to tell him of our findings.
So there wasn't really anything to worry about anymore and so I went back up to the Ravenclaw wing and pulled the covers over me. Nothing wrong with a quick nap in the afternoon! Boy do I sound like an old fogey. About half and hour later I woke up.I rolled over in bed with hand stretched out feeling for my bedside clock. Blinking away the blurry film from my eyes, I looked closer and the clock read….
10.30 AM.
IMPOSSIBLE.
Had I been so tired that I had slept through the whole afternoon and straight on to next morning?
This was not going to be a good day I had already missed Professor Flitwick's morning meeting and now I was late for lessons. I sat up but my head was feeling so heavy. Then it dawned on me I had also missed my morning daily dosage from Madame Pomfrey. I grimaced a little. My bones were not as delicate as they were but they were still quite tender.
I fell back into bed, thinking I should take advantage of the situation. The teachers were all very aware of my accident... it's not that I'm a trouble maker most of time...anyhow. I decided instead of rushing and stressing out I was going to check the owlery and see if mum had sent me a package or a letter.
I was desperately hoping for a package! But I got more than I bargained for….
As I pulled open the door of the owlery, a putrid smell blasted up into my nostrils. I covered my mouth with my sleeve trying hard not to breathe it in. I looked up into skylight. Threads of sunlight were streaming through the dust motes and floating feathers. I watched one of those feathers fell gently onto the hay-strewn ground.
But now the hay was darkening with blood.
My eyes followed the red.
All I could see on the ground were dead birds and broken wings...
I didn't dare scream because if I opened my mouth I knew I would be able to taste the blood at the back of my throat. I wanted to see if my own owl, Quintus, was there. Was he ok? I hoped he was. I stood very still with my hand gripped tightly to the door-knob. My eyes searching.Who had done this? Was this person…this thing still around? Lurking somewhere outside or worse... were they in the owlery with me?
My conscious was telling me to run…
I left
A gust of feathers eddying in my wake.
My feet was pounding hard against the ground.My head heavy with thoughts... Was it anything to do with the figure I saw the other night? Had Harry got his message to Dumbledore yesterday? Harry would have done it…he would have said something...unless…I shouldn't have been so stupid. Why did I fall asleep? I should have made sure I had told a teacher.
I reached the main school and pulled the door shut tight behind me. I rested my head against the thick wooden door trying to catch my breath. For a brief moment, I was thankful I was back under protection of Hogwarts. But I couldn't help but feel tearful and guilt ridden. Was this my fault? Could I have done something to prevent this?I opened my eyes again and looked above. Students were walking about, on the moving staircases, coming out of commons rooms; it was a strange time to see so many people wandering about. Why weren't they in class?
A young girl from Gryffindor passed by me. A worried expression was etched upon her pallid face. I tapped her shoulder gently to get her attention.
"Are you ok?" I said softly.
She looked at me and her bushy eyebrows slanted upwards.
"I don't know. Something is strange is happening to us" she said glancing at the rest of the students walking around. She turned back to me in a half whisper,
"Don't you feel it?"
"What you mean?" I said.
"You didn't feel it? It's this heavy headed feeling. Like we've been in a deep dark sleep. Like we've been put under a sleeping spell."
Heavy headed? I did feel that this morning.
"And you'll never guess where I woke up? In the library. I mean I was there in the library yesterday afternoon but…to sleep there the whole night? And it's not just me. My friend Bethany in Hufflepuff, she said the whole class fell asleep…. half way through an exam…can you imagine?"
I needed to find a teacher. Sleeping spells and dead owls? What on earth was going on? So I left the Gryffindor girl, hoping to find a familiar face in the crowd.
The air was spiked with excited murmurs and whispers. More and more students were beginning to pile out of their common rooms and onto the staircases. Pushing past the moving bodies, I eventually found Marietta. She was standing outside the main entrance of the Great Hall
"I was worried about you!" she said giving me a great big hug.
"I'm fine." I said to her, as we broke apart.
"Do you have any idea what's going on? Like why is everyone waking up in strange places?"
"What you as well?" I said.
"I was on a moving stair case," she said, "on my way to Potions."
I didn't want to believe this was all going on. What if the strange things that were happening really were connected to everything I knew. That meant that Harry hadn't said anything to Dumbledore. I did not want to believe that. He wouldn't have kept something so vital to himself...No. Perhaps Harry had been harmed in some way and if that had happened then, it was down to me to tell some authority figure. I should have made sure someone had known. But how could I if I had fallen asleep? Maybe Harry had fallen under the sleeping spell as well. They would explain a lot.
A clapping sound from the top of the moving staircase came bellowing down, "QUIET PLEASE."
It was Emily Sawbridge, in full head girl mode shouting into a loudspeaker or sorts. "Would all students, please go to the Great Hall now and await further instruction."
We filtered through with the rest of the crowd into the Great Hall. Now all I needed to do was tell someone about the owls. I spotted Roger walking down the centre of the hall, his head boy badge glinting under the enchanted candle lights.
"Roger!"
"Are you ok?' he said.
"Yes. I'm fine but I've got to tell you something. Something I saw just now."
"Can it wait? We've got a bit of crisis that we have to deal with," he said turning on his heels.
I walked alongside him now, "But it might have something to do with the crisis. You see, I was at the Owlery this morning and.."
"I know." He said with his voice a little lower, "They're dead."
I stopped walking and stared at him. While it was a tragic situation I was glad that he knew because that meant Dumbledore had informed him and he himself had called us to this meeting in the Great Hall. Dumebledore would tell us what was happening and let us know that we would be safe!
Relief! My hand fell onto my chest, "At least Dumbeldore knows about it." I said.
"Dumbledore is missing." He said sharply and then he whispered to me, "They all are."
His head turned towards the table where all the teachers sat. All their chairs were empty.
Then Roger turned away and walked to the front of the hall alone.
Something broke inside of me.
For the last shred of hope I was clinging too had been cruelly snatched away...