Chapter 8 – Crying Wolf
"Oh no! The cloak!" Harry whispered as they collected their books for the first lesson. Immediately a house-elf apparated in front of them, handed Harry a neatly folded and ironed invisibility cloak and vanished. Harry stood there with the magical item in his hands - astonished. "What was that?" He squeaked.
"A house elf," said Draco placing books into his cauldron.
"That was a house elf?"
Draco just nodded.
Harry thought his eyes were deceiving him. He could have sworn he saw a scrawny, wrinkly, semi naked creature in front of him just then. And no it wasn't Aunt Petunia.
"Those…little…creatures…do all that work?" Asked Harry.
"Yup," said Draco, making his way to the common room. "They're rather good at it too."
Harry shook his head. "Why don't they wear clothes?" Harry asked collecting his own books and rushing after his friend.
"A house elf never wears clothes unless it wants to be free. They belong to whomever they serve." Draco explained.
"Belong?" Asked Harry in disbelief. "Like slaves?"
Draco wrinkled is nose slightly as if he was thinking. "Yes," he said finally lifting his head slightly to look up at Harry. "I suppose so."
"But muggles did away with slavery years ago!" said Harry wondering if wizards had any more skeletons in their closets.
"Muggles had house elves too?" Asked Draco.
"Oh no," said Harry. "They used humans."
Draco gasped in disgust. "They used each other as slaves? That's crazy. Why did they do that?"
"They felt they had the right to I suppose," said Harry. "Like I said though, they've not done if for years."
"Filthy dirty muggles," said Draco. "House elves like being slaves. It's what they live for."
"Like it?" Harry was confused.
"They love it," said Draco, walking through the Slytherin Common Room door and closing it behind him. "Honestly. You know how mothers like to, you know, mother?"
Harry didn't but nodded anyway.
"Well house elves like to – house elf!" Smiled Draco broadly.
Harry's brow creased.
"C'mon," said Draco taking his friend's arm, "I want to see Weasley and Granger's nasty little faces in Potions."
"Oh no. Why did you have to remind me?" Grunted Harry.
This was the first Potions lesson they had with Gryffindor following detention in the Forbidden Forest. Hermione and Ron were sat in silence with Neville next to them. Hermione was twirling her quill and looked angry. She remained silent throughout the whole of the lesson giving the other students a chance to answer questions for once. Snape nodded discreetly at Harry and Draco as they left his classroom and made their way to DADA. They'd never been so relieved to see the Hufflepuffs. Ernie McMillan, Hannah Abbot and Justin Finch Fletchly were sat in a huddle at the front. Hannah kept brushing Justin's hair out of his eyes insisting it looked better like that. Pansy Parkinson, sat behind them with Millicent Bulstrode who giggled. "You look lovely ladies," said Millicent. Pansy nudged her. The larger girl shot her a filthy look. "What?" She snapped.
"Quarrelling in class gives you detention in the forbidden forest!" Pansy whispered loudly.
"Good news travels fast," said Harry sitting down next to them.
"You're no fun anymore," said Millicent sulkily and strode off to sit at the back with Daphne Greengrass. Harry felt sorry for Pansy and sent her a sympathetic look. The snub nosed girl beamed at him then shot a filthy look back at Millicent who continued to sulk as Crabbe and Goyle strolled casually in, shirts hanging out. The last two students to enter the class were Tabitha Carty and her be-speckled friend Kerys Jones. They noticed Pansy sitting alone and joined her. "Hello Harry, Draco, Pansy" said Tabitha confidently. "Sorry about detention that was…rough as dogs." Tabitha said.
"Yes it was" said Harry. Their conversation was interrupted by the greeting of Professor Lower which officially announced the start of the lesson. "Good morning class," said the balding DADA teacher. "Good morning Professor," they all echoed.
Professor Lower quickly unravelled a large roll of paper with a drawing on it and pinned it to a board. "No prizes for guessing what the creature illustrated here is" he exclaimed.
"WEREWOLF SIR!" The children called enthusiastically.
"And what are werewolves infamous for?" He asked
"Biting people Sir!" a number of students answered in unison.
"Then turning you into —"
"They bite then you get…" they called at once.
Harry and Draco were particularly excited by this lesson and looked at each other grinning.
Professor Lower continued. "Now if say…Mr McMillan here," (Ernie jumped backwards in his seat), "had been bitten by a werewolf what would you do about it?"
"Argh Sir! Scary! Run Professor!" the class screeched again.
"No, no, no , no ,no," Lower chuckled.
Draco's hand shot up.
"Yes Mr Malfoy?"
"There's a treatment sir!"
"Yes well done..."
Suddenly Professor Lower's voice sounded muffled to Harry as he became fixated on the drawing at the front of the class. He looked into the eyes of the werewolf as if pulled in by a magnet. They seemed human - afraid. It was only a drawing but it looked sad. Draco elbowed Harry in the ribs nudging him back to reality.
"What?" Asked Harry, dreamily.
"We have to pair off again."
"Oh, right um, to do what..?"
Draco sighed and filled Harry in on what he'd missed.
"I don't find them all that scary," said Harry once Draco had finished.
"What, werewolves? Are you kidding me? They kill people!"
"I know but, well, they might not be able to help it," Harry said looking back at the drawing.
"I know what I'd do if I saw one…run!" said Draco.
"But what if there was another way?" Harry suggested.
"Like what? Reason with it?"
"They're just people like you and me it's just they're – different".
Draco thought for a moment glancing from the picture back to Harry and looking as though the friend he had come to admire so much might actually be making some sense. Just then Pansy Parkinson and Kerys Jones squeezed their heads between the two boys and asked if they'd like to pair off. They did so without much thought. Pansy beamed like the Cheshire cat when she got to pair off with Harry.
The rest of the lesson went as smoothly as could be expected. Tabitha Carty seemed to be getting praise every five minutes from Professor Lower and had several of the Hufflepuff boys huddled around her asking her how she got to be so good. She had a strange and attractive knack of remaining girly while finding ways of being one of the lads. Suddenly there was a loud crash. The werewolf drawing at the front of the class had fallen off the board, taking the board with it onto the floor. Everyone jumped and turned. Professor Lower had collapsed, attempting to hold on to the board for support. Tabitha rushed forward and helped him to his feet. "There's nothing wrong with him," Blaise Zabini whispered from the back of the class. "It's all in his head. He's a hypochondriac."
"Carry on class," Professor Lower insisted, trying to clamber up from the floor while Tabitha fanned him with a sheet of paper. "I'm just having a brain aneurism," he said casually and collapsed again. The class continued amidst all the fuss over nothing and meanwhile Madame Pomfrey had entered the room explaining that it indeed was, once again, all just false alarm and there was nothing to worry about. Harry heard her whisper 'Ned, pull yourself together this is waste of my time and yours, you're an excellent teacher. If it wasn't for this silly nonsense…Honestly I think you need counselling.' Harry felt it was one of his business though so focused on his work.
After the lesson Harry and Draco were accosted by Fred and Gorge Weasley again in the corridor. "Brain aneurism this week isn't it?" Smiled George.
"How did you -?"
" - He's been doing that all week, everyone is saying the same thing - brain aneurism this week, last week it was deep vein thrombosis, the week before it was…"
"Yes, yes ok, we get the point," Draco snapped, waving his hand in dismissal and attempting to walk away. Fred stopped him by grabbing his arm.
"What do you think it'll be next week?" He asked the little blonde Slytherin.
"I reckon a heart attack," said George.
"No he had one of those last month," Harry reminded him.
"He's been known to double up on stuff." Fred pointed out.
"What is all this about Weasleys?" Draco snapped. "He's a really good teacher why are you always picking on him?"
"OK, OK," said Fred letting go of the younger boy and holding up both hands in surrender. "Just having a bit of fun. We've got a bet on you see," he smiled.
"Fancy your chances?" George rattled a small hessian bag which was filled with the other student's bets.
"No!" Said Harry is disgust and folded his arms. "Oh OK," he said and dug into his pocket as if the antipathy he'd previously felt had been switched off.
"One Galleon says he'll have an imaginary heart attack again."
"Count me in then," said Draco.
George wrote their names down on a piece of paper and tucked it away, winked then walked off.
The rest of the day seemed to drag. It was just one of those days. Various thoughts were racing through Harry's mind again and he felt too confused to even tell Draco about it. Why was he feeling sorry for werewolves? Why did Dumbledore send them into the forest with Voldemort. Why why why why why?
"You've been quiet today," Draco observed as the pair returned to their dorm that night.
"I know, sorry I just…"
"You've not had more visions have you? Asked Draco.
"No actually I haven't had any for ages weirdly enough. I sometimes feel funny about things though," Harry explained, taking off his uniform and getting into his pyjamas.
"What do you mean 'funny'? Asked Draco, wrinkling his nose.
"Just like...well…I don't get visions anymore I just get feelings. Like stuff is buzzing around my head…like thoughts or things from another place, another world…a world that's –"
"- Like the one you had vision about?"
"Yes I suppose so. Only that world is …more..." He searched or the words. "…It's like this one but more crazy only I can't understand why I feel that because let's face it…stuff had been fairly crazy around here recently."
Draco thought for a moment. "But the stuff you saw in your visions they were like a parallel universe right? Like Professor Snape said?"
"I suppose so."
"Well maybe that world is so crazy it makes this crazy world look…dull."
Harry thought Draco was on to something, sort of. "That's not quite it," he said.
"Anyway I still haven't forgiven Dumbledore."
"I haven't forgotten that either," said Draco sliding under his bed covers.
"He sent us in the forest with V—" Harry whispered
"- Shh!" Draco urged.
"The Thing." Harry corrected himself.
"Better," said Draco, nodding his head.
"Do you like him?" Asked Harry
"Who?"
"Dumbledore."
"No." Draco answered promptly.
Harry thought for a moment. Let's see - he put five first year students lives at risk and didn't apologise about it. "Neither do I." He decided finally. He was sick of trying to like adults who tried to kill him or cause him any harm in any way.
"Goodnight." Draco said.
"Night," said Harry.
There was a silence.
"Harry?"
"Yes?"
"Was that mean what we did betting on Professor Lower? Draco queried as if asking for clarification on his pangs of conscience.
"Yes," said Harry on an out breath.
"I thought so."
"It's ok though."
"Why?"
"Because he's not really sick."
"That's ok then."
"Night."
"Night."
The following months were fairly ordinary. In fact the only interesting things were Harry's returning nightmares. They were about The Dursleys again. He knew why - the first year was wrapping up. It was spring now. In just a month or two they'd have to all go home. That'd mean he'd be back in Little Whinging. Not an appealing thought. His methods of killing The Dursleys had changed though since his time in Hogwarts. He knew a thing or two about potions now so knew how to poison them with dangerous herbs. What a waste of herbs. He'd carefully measure each portion and each time got the ingredients ratio slightly wrong so they didn't die. That was the worst part of the dream. They just didn't cop it. That's when he'd wake up screaming. Draco was used to this now and automatically said 'just a dream Harry' and inevitably Harry would go right back to sleep.
One day was so boring in fact he fell asleep in DADA. That was not like him at all. He loved those lessons and genuinely admired the unhinged but affable Professor Lower. He felt utterly zombiefied walking back up to the dorm that night and collapsed on his bed without taking of his uniform. He fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. About ten minutes later however he was crudely awoken by Draco screaming. Harry got off the bed. "What the hell? What's wrong?" He asked. Draco was clambering up towards the headboard away from something nearer to the foot of the bed. Harry rubbed his eyes. "Pull back your covers pull back your covers!" Draco yelled.
Harry did so. There, covering his bed sheets were pieces of rotten fruit. It took a while to sink in.
"It's them - Granger and Weasley. I just know it!" Said Draco furiously.
"Oh I forgot about that prank," Harry said sleepily. He paused , thinking. "Hang on…how did they get in? They haven't got an in invisibility cloak…as far as I know."
"I wouldn't put anything past those two…I'll find out how they did this Harry. We'll find out…we have to."
Harry checked his wardrobe. His own cloak was still stowed away exactly where he had left it. Suddenly a prefect's voice could be heard. Bernard Hudson stuck his head around the door. "Settle down boys…what's going on?"
"Gr…someone put rotten fruit in our bed" yelled Draco, almost mentioning Hermione and Ron's names.
"Let me see," said Bernard, coming forward to examine the evidence. "Okay, okay it's just harmless prank. I'll get the house elves to clean it up. Malfoy, Potter - sit in the common room and calm down. The rest of you – sleep - now. Party's over." Every other head settled back down on their pillows.
Harry and Draco put on their dressing gowns and walked into the common room, settling in front of the fire while the house elves re-made their beds. "We should tell Professor McGonagall about this," said Draco.
"We can't," said Harry. "If we do she'll know they're only getting back us for a prank we played" Harry insisted.
"And she'll know we were – "
"- Only working her to get information out of her when we – "
" - Faked an apology after we got detention in the forest! Damn!" Said Draco thumping the arm of his chair. "They've got us right where they want us!"
They sat in silence thinking.
"What I'd like to know is how on Earth they got the password and got through the common room without being seen," said Harry rubbing his forehead.
"That no good Weaselbey and that Mudblood. I said they were no good!" Scowled Draco.
"Ron's nothing like the twins they're cool." Said Harry.
Draco didn't say anything.
Harry slumped forward in his seat.
"Look - we won't let them beat us," Draco encouraged his friend, noticing Harry's sullen expression. "We'll find out how they did this. They're just first years like us they can't have done anything too special."
"It's not that," said Harry reluctantly.
"What? Asked Draco, then the penny dropped. "Oh."
"Yeah," said Harry realising Draco had guessed what the problem was.
"Look, it's only for a few months then you'll be back here," the little blonde boy smiled. "I'll try talking to my mother, see if you can come to visit and I'll write every single week, without fail I promise."
This lifted Harry's spirits slightly. "OK," he said, managing a weak smile.
"Okay boys all done!" Shouted Bernard. The two little Slytherins dragged their tired feet back to the dorm and into their clean beds.
"If those two can get up here without an invisibility cloak just to play a prank on us…" Harry began,
"…what else must they be capable of?" Draco added as he climbed under the covers.
"Exactly."
We always find out Draco boasted
That we do, said Harry.
First of all a big sorry to everyone who has been following this story. It's been a long time since I last wrote. I never meant time to go by so fast but I was very unwell. I'm back now an staying back. You won't have to wait that long again. Stick with me, stick with Doors, it'll be worth it I promise