Chapter thirty - 'Did you just say this could go on for hours!'
"The general feeling from the ministry is that Scrimgeour seems to be determined to keep the worst of it covered up and he's started asking an awful lot of questions about Harry. Wants to know everything about him and is furious you've kept him hidden at school?" A weeziy voiced wizard explained from his seat near the middle of the table called Elphias Dodge.
"Is he still wanting to use Harry to boost the Ministry's reputation?" McGonagall asked as Dumbledore listened on in his thoughtful manner.
"Yes, he's been trying to track down anybody who's related to Harry, but it seems all his family business is locked up in Gringotts. He keeps trying to over rule the Goblins but there's been a lock down on everything Harry owns and ya know nothing gets past em with they've got protocol to follow." Dodge wheezed.
"Oh that was me. Harry wanted it locking up, I've been sorting out some things for him. Lupin went with..." Sirius started to explain but then suddenly stopped to look at the floor and listen carefully to something nobody else seemed to have noticed.
"What's the matter Sirius?" McGonnagal wondered thinking Sirius was acting very oddly, even for him.
"The floor's shaking again." Sirius explained but this didn't seem to register with anybody else. Sirius pushed his chair under his seat sat on the floor with his back against the wall and his knees tucked under his chin. At first they thought he was having some mad flash back from being in Azkaban but soon it became apparent that wasn't the case.
"What on earth are you doing Sirius?" She snapped leaning over to see Sirius sitting comfy on the floor.
"I suggest you all sit down somewhere and not on the chairs. I never can tell what he's going to do?' Sirius explained then looked up at Dumbledore.
'I wanted to talk to you about Harry he's err, gone a bit odd. He seems to have developed a habit of doing some really odd magic while he sleeps and he's not been too well either. I'm really worried about him, he's been really quiet sick recently."
"I know, he started doing it a Hogwarts I believe it was a back wash from his lessons with me." Dumbledore explained still a little unsure as to why Sirius was sitting on the floor.
"Oh that explains it a little, but you see after he's levitated the entire house ten meters off it's foundations in his sleep without even batting an eye lid. Personally, I'd call it more of a full on tidal wave and not a little bit of back wash!" Sirius replied a little too sarcastically but he also had every comfort Harry was going to do something big again. That boy just never ceased to deliver when it came to magic.
"He managed to levitate the entire house?" McGonagall asked shocked.
"Yep, sort of woke up before it started rotating but I guess if Moody was here he would understand why Lupin's feeling a bit odd." Sirius sighed heavily aware he looked a complete idiot sat down there but he wasn't going to move.
"What do you mean?" She asked carefully.
"Well it's right in the middle of a full moon and Remus hasn't turned in to a werewolf yet. It's not moon up yet but still, last night was really weird for him, he's never seen a full moon through his human eyes, well at least not in a very, very long time. The fact that he feels perfectly fine and has for days seems to make it worse for him." Sirius explained but the others didn't had time to let this information sink in, as just as Sirius predicted, the ornaments on the walls started spinning and smashing then fixing themselves then spinning and smashing again in there places.
"Oh well this doesn't seem too bad." Elphias Dodge wheezed as he ducked and exploding vase but he spoke to soon, just then every body sat on a chair was thrown off them on to the floor as the entire table set started to float in mid air before bursting in to millions of little pieces and whizzing about in several intertwining figure of eights.
"Doesn't seem too bad! He's only just gone to bed this could go on for hours?" Sirius shouted over to Elphias as he sat crumpled sideways on the floor.
"Did you just say this could go on for hours?" McGonagall called back.
"Yep, depends if he wakes up or something. It's really hard to tell, to be honest. But usually, if he does something big it's followed by something small and then he wakes up with some really rather odd food cravings and well..." Sirius explained as the group all half laid on the floor, he had thought to warn them about Harry screaming the place down when he usually wakes up but didn't think it necessary particularly as Harry would hate the thought of everyone knowing how often he wakes up screaming. But all of a sudden there, was a loud bang followed by a deep rumbling noise.
All four doors leading into the dinning room burst open despite the sealing charms on every door, most the contents of any surface on this floor of the house began whizzing around in even more odd double figure of eights in every room. There was a little scream and clearly Kresher had been dragged into the spinning mixture but fortunately still intact as he did.
Sirius was just getting himself comfortable for the long hall when all of a sudden the table landed back on the floor with a heavy thump in one piece. All the ornaments went back to normal and they heard a little shriek followed by an unconscious body falling through the ceiling and then the table to land with a thump on the floor.
Sirius crawled over to the table to find Harry laid in a heap on the floor rubbing his head.
"You ok Harry?" He called gently.
"Yeah, fell out of bed again." Harry replied in his grumpy quiet voice.
"Can you get yourself out from under there on your own?" Sirius continued gently looking about to see how to get Harry out of this one.
"Yeah I guess." Harry mumbled then putting a hand above his head lifted the left hand side of the table up off the ground and half crawled out before letting it drop with a heavy thump on to the reinforced marble floor.
"Do you want to go back to bed Harry?" Sirius asked looking at Harry's dangerous swaying from side to side as he looked up with blank eyes.
"No I'm thirsty. Can I have some milk please?" Harry asked blankly. Sirius flicked his wand so a large glass of milk appeared on the now solid table.
Harry pulled out a little red bottle from his pocket and pulling his blanket closer around him started tipping red liquid into the glass. When he'd reached an amount that only he seemed to know was correct, he put the lid back on and shoved it in his pocket then picked up the drink and started to gulp the odd liquid down.
"Are you hungry Harry?" Sirius asked taking the empty glass from Harry still watching the swaying boy carefully ready to catch him at any moment.
"No." He replied a little less blankly but continued to sway silently from side to side before closing his eyes and humming along to a rather odd lullaby that only he could here. He swayed as Dumbledore looked on with a peculiar interested eye for a moment before Harry's legs buckled and he fell back to sleep in Sirius's already out stretched arms.
Sirius had done this a lot recently so despite being rather tired pulled one of Harry's arms over his head and gently lifted Harry up over his shoulder. Steadily he carried the sleeping body into the old sitting room next door and laid him out to sleep on the sofa as he rapped the blanket back around him.
"Will he do all this again?" Dumbledore asked as Sirius returned into the dinning room but leaving the door open so he and Sirius could see Harry's sleeping face.
"Hard to tell. Some times it will happen another five or six times before morning and he barely remembers any of it and other times he'll sleep right through like a baby. I was kind of hoping the house levitating thing would have taken it out of him somewhat but seems not. I haven't really managed to wake him up ever either." Sirius explained standing next to Dumbledore and hoping for some sort of explanation but he merely turned back to the rest of the group now standing around the room in more than slight shock.
"Does anybody else have something to say towards the meeting?" Dumbledore asked as Sirius heard a little pop from Harry's general direction. He'd apperated out the room again and Sirius guessed he must be on the stairs by the sudden muffled cries of his mothers painting.
"Excuse me." He mumbled and then left the room to quickly return with Harry walking in front of him as Sirius lead him still fast to sleep back to the sofa to continue sleeping.
"He apperate's in his sleep?" McGonagall asked a little confused.
"Yep he does a lot of things in his sleep but fortunately, he never really goes far. Well at least he never leaves the house. Found him sleeping on top of his wardrobe this morning. Got his leg stuck in the ceiling again." Sirius explained calmly as he led the sleeping Harry back on to the sofa and started tucking him in again.
"Any more new information?' Dumbledore repeated and there was a murmur of no around the room.
'Ok well I'll call this meeting over then, it seems Harry needs some seeing to." He explained leading the way into the old living room while McGonagall lead the way to the door. She however was intending to stay a little while longer so waited for everybody else to leave before bolting the door shut behind them.
"Tell me everything Sirius. How long has this been going on?" Dumbledore asked taking a seat opposite Harry with Sirius and watching the sleeping boy in the firelight.
"Well as far as I can tell it started first day he was here. I told him if he was feeling a bit stressed with the heat he could blow a few ornaments up.' Sirius shrugged and rubbed his eyes which were going blood shot with the lack of sleep.
'He just seemed so tense after the Weasley's left and I thought it would do him some good. We laid a few of the old clocks and stuff out on that sideboard over there and he sort of got carried away and just blow up the whole piece of furniture, the he just kept on about how he wasn't hungry and wouldn't come out his bed for ages." Sirius explained tiredly.
"Was that what he'd intended to do?" Dumbledore asked as McGonagall retuned to stand behind them and also watch Harry.
"No he said he didn't mean to, just sort of lost control. But to be honest, he wasn't using his wand. He'd told me how sometimes things just happen without his wand and I was a little curious about it."
"He mentioned something like that to me recently as well." Dumbledore added but seemed apparently waiting to here all Sirius's information before commenting.
"Yeah he said he told you about books and things coming across the room to him when he wanted to get them and was debating about getting up.' Sirius continued.
'Well it's been happening more since he told you, he managed to drag his case halfway across the room just by thinking about it and when he forgot about some books he was supposed to return to the library, he managed to make them appear in his bag all the way from his room." Sirius explained as Dumbledore sat with his finger tips together thinking.
"Does he ever talk while he's in this state?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yeah, well, sometimes he interacts like before, other times he hums to himself, but he does that when he's awake as well. It's always the same tune. The other thing is sometimes if you try and wake him up he often starts rambling on in parsletounge at me. I don't know what he's saying but once or twice I've recorded it. I was hoping if I play it back to him he could tell us what it said but I was worried about doing it, seen as I've got no idea what he's saying. I couldn't even tell you the tone of his voice." Sirius explained pulling out a round black ball.
"You think that what ever it might say could make things worse for Harry if he heard it?" Dumbledore wondered sure Sirius wasn't capable of such a well thought out conclusion but was pleased to see if he was wrong.
"Yeah, I didn't want to make things worse or try it until I'd had a chance to at least tell you about it all."
"I think your right in this Sirius. However, when he next seems properly awake I will ask him to tell us what it says.' Dumbledore paused then flicked his wand to make a small bottle appear.
'I do believe though that this is only a more recent thing, in the sense that up until now, he's only being showing odd things when he's awake and wants something to happen."
"He's worried about going back to Hogwarts and sleeping in the same dorm as the others in case he does something dreadful by accident. That was after blowing his bed up a bit, well a lot. Well to be honest there was really not much more than a huge pile of dust and chippings around him when I came in to see him." Sirius explained thinking this would be something Harry would want Dumbledore to know but wouldn't be able to tell him.
"Yes I imagine he would. But he is too noticeable at the moment not to return, we however will come to that later. When he first came here you said he was fine the first night but then on the first day he started to do things."
"Yeah well things seemed to get steadily worse, at first he was just throwing up and going hot and cold so I thought he had flu or something. And then he ended up having screaming fits and bawling his eyes out in his sleep and then he was doing it while he was awake and he didn't seem to understand why. But more recently on Christmas day he had a proper fit of something. He was thrashing around on the floor and we couldn't do anything for him. But now it's a bit different, he's not, well he doesn't seem to be in the same sort of pain as he was before. Its like, well its like you not talking to Harry anymore, he's not the same miserable person, but he is still Harry in a sort of odd way. The other night he was walking around in his sleep and bumped into Lupin, I didn't hear him get up. But Lupin said his eyes were totally green."
"Totally green?" Dumbledore asked having followed Sirius's explanation surprisingly well despite it being clear that he'd seen far more than he'd explained yet.
"Yeah apparently he had no pupils and they seemed to be admitting there own light. He said Harry reached out to touch him and gripped his arm really tightly. Lupin just remembers a sort of flash of light and then next thing he was waking up out of a fever in bed. Either Harry put him in his bed or he got in himself but I found him the next morning burning up like mad. Harry didn't remember any of it and I was about to go fetch someone at around midday, because he wasn't showing any sign's of cooling down no-matter what I did when he just came out of it all by himself. One minuet he's burning up dreadfully and then ten minuets later he's sat up drinking tea and just feeling a bit tired and dozy."
"And now you say he isn't turning in to a werewolf?"
"No he's really quiet stressed out by the whole thing because while he was burning up I never gave him his potion. He's put a lot more charms on his door and locked himself away particularly early, he's just sat there in his room doing nothing." Sirius explained remembering how frightened Lupin had looked this morning when he's finally agreed to open the door to Sirius.
"I realise something like this would really unnerve Remus. Did you see any of this yourself?"
"No I was asleep, I didn't even realise Harry was up and about. The next night I stayed up and followed him around in his wanderings."
"What about the first night?"
"Ah well Ginny Weasley was stopping here then and well, I spent the entire night sleeping with my face in my dinner." Sirius explained cautiously not wanting to give too many details away about what he suspected Harry had been up to that first night.
"Would you please elaborate on that Sirius I know you're wondering about something? I can see it." Dumbledore asked calmly although McGonagall had raised an eyebrow.
"Well he slipped one of the Weasley twins sleeping potion in my drink when we were having dinner and I slept right through, he seemed very chirpy the following day though, well at first anyway and well he was up there all alone with her all night long I'm not a complete idiot." Sirius explained hoping, Dumbledore would get the general gist quickly.
"Well I suppose he is a young man after all I can hardly not expect him to be normal for his age. I believe there were some problems when Mrs Weasley came to take her home the next day?" Dumbledore continued ignoring the various Harry Ginny possibility's and concentrating on the facts before him
"Yeah not about Harry though. Ginny had dyed her hair brown, it wasn't permanent but Molly was a bit insensitive and Ginny let it all blow up into a full blown row and chopped her hair off to end it, I get the impression it went on for most the day back at the burro. But after they left Harry just sank down into himself. At first I thought he was just tired. I mean even randy teenaged boys get tired but he wasn't right, even Ginny noticed it when she came Christmas eve. Tonks mentioned something about him looking different and I think a lot of things fell into place now that she realised so Tonks thinks odd things like how thin he's got have been going on quiet a while." Sirius explained.
"She chopped her hair off?" McGonagall asked stepping in now and taking another seat to one side.
"Yeah, took her wand in one hand hair in the other and cut it off. Ginny was very upset by the whole business but Molly was furious. It really didn't seem like her but there has been quiet a rift within the Weasley family recently and I think Ginny was just fed up of being ignored, and well I try and keep out the way." Sirius shrugged tiredly.
"Well you hardly help matters Sirius." McGonagall chided sternly.
"I suppose but recently Harry makes me try my best to be nice to people and not cause so many arguments, he recons I should find a hobby that makes me keep my temper better, well he does say a lot of daft things." Sirius stared hotly but calmed down as more and more words came out of him, he was too tired at the moment to get hot headed, having been up with Harry most the week now worrying.
"Harry is quiet right but I also have noticed your recent better behaviour as have others. However, as it is, I believe Harry has unlocked something inside of him and is now struggling to shut the door."
"You think he's opened a bag of worms?" Sirius wondered looking down at the angelic face of Harry.
"Until I get a chance to speak with him properly I don't know. For now though I'd like you Mivinna to sit with him while we go and speak with Remus upstairs." Dumbledore stood up to leave and Sirius followed slowly but then turned quickly back to the seated professor.
"If he wakes up don't let him drink Tabasco straight from the bottle." Sirius explained as he followed Dumbledore up the stairs quietly. Sirius assumed Dumbledore was thinking and didn't want to disturb his solitude, Dumbledore however preferred to continue gathering as much information as possible before letting his extraordinary mind mull the possible outcomes over by it self.
"Is there a particular reason you don't want Harry drinking Tabasco out the bottle?" He asked eyeing Sirius's tired face carefully in the shadows.
"It's like feeding him raw coffee and last time he was pretty much bouncing off the walls for hours." Sirius explained with half a yawn.
"Literally or was he just behaving hyperactively?"
"Bit of both. Anyway, it's not hygienic he should use a cup, much better." Sirius muttered following Dumbledore along the landing to a door at the very end where a rather normal looking door was glowing red from it's edges and Lupin was sitting uncomfortable under the window as he watched the moonlight.
"I see he has taken extra precaution this month." Dumbledore noted seeing the impenetrable charm on the door handle.
"He is a bit touchy. Might take a bit of convincing to open the door." Sirius explained leaning his head on the wall next to the door and resting his eyes lazily.
"Remus I would like a few words with you. Will you kindly open the door for me?" Dumbledore called firmly through the door. Lupin however sat still in silence not wanting to budge.
But this was Dumbledore asking him, he could hardly go against him and he was perfectly capable of blasting his way through anyway. After a few minuets of sitting Remus slowly got up flicked and tapped his wand against the door and opened it quickly before moving away to the other side of the room out of the moon light.
"Wow, didn't think it would be that easy?" Sirius mumbled as he followed Dumbledore into the room standing against the bare shabby walls.
They had never really bothered to do anything but clean this room, all it had was a pile of blankets in one corner which Lupin tended to use as a bed and an old wardrobe he used as a scratching post at times. The wall paper was peeling off and the window had a few bars across it, but the room didn't seem totally unfriendly, as a steady warm fire burned in the grate. Dumbledore pulled out his wand flicked it and made two comfy arm chairs appear in front of him before sitting him self comfortably down and waiting quietly for Lupin to come out of the shadows and sit down opposite him.
Lupin knew he shouldn't test Dumbledore's patients, but still took his time about sitting down and tried to take comfort from Sirius's reassuring look.
"I see you are not feeling quiet yourself at the moment." Dumbledore asked nicely as Lupin gave a half depressed laugh.
"No not really. Pathetic really, I always wanted to see the moon as a man!" He chuckled painfully but it was obvious how dreadful and confused he was feeling.
"Sirius tells me that after meeting Harry on a late night stroll you started to fall really rather ill." Dumbledore continued in his soft manner.
"Yes, I suppose and I guess you've come to ask me about Harry?" Lupin asked in his drained confused voice.
"Yes but I was also concerned about you. This must be quiet a shock to your system, especially as you don't know if it's a permanent change."
"You're telling me it's a shock.' He half laughed but when he was honest he was bloody terrified. This was why he'd made Tonks leave for a few days again as he continued in his sullen mood.
'I don't want to think about it. To not be what I am is a dream that I could so easily wake up from and I can't put myself through that, it's too hard. I was comfortable just as I was, well I was used to it and now to be different, it's unbearable I don't know what to do with my self and nothing makes any sense anymore."
"I do understand and if you permit me I would like to ask a college of mine to have a look at you. Werewolf bite's aren't exactly his specialty but I would rather the information about your sudden change in condition were kept closely quiet as it concerns Harry."
"I guess, I would rather know what the hell the matter is with me than sit here and sulk?"
"Yes I agree. Now tell me about Harry and how he was when you met him if you please."
"Sure, it was really rather odd to be honest.' Lupin continued feeling slightly more comfortable with himself now Dumbledore had offered his help and he could think about Harry rather than himself.
'He was just wondering around changing things. I'd got up to get a drink and well he was just standing in front of a painting running his finger down it."
"What was he doing to it?" Dumbledore asked as he watched Lupin carefully.
"Changing the colour of it I think, but he turned around and walked over to me with out saying a word. But his eyes they were glowing like they were admitting there own light. The closest I'd ever seen to eyes like that was when he was a cat. He has such strong eyes and they reflect any light." Lupin explained still slightly horrified by what had happened.
"Did he seem odd in any other way?"
"No, I mean he wasn't swaying like he seems to when he usually wanders around at night, he was stood perfectly rigid still. His face was really warm though, I lifted my wand up higher and his face was red like he'd been in the sun all day."
"We have been experiencing some hot odd weather again." Dumbledore added thoughtfully but Lupin was sure this wasn't the case.
"No it wasn't that warm then, the house tends to get really cool at night I had goose bumps on my arm but it was like he had a fever or something but other than that he seemed normal. I asked him what he was doing up and if he was feeling ill or something and he just hissed back at me."
"He was talking to you in parseltounge?"
"Yeah, I've heard him do it before, it's really quiet eerie hearing him but he didn't sound very emotional like the last time, just totally blank. Any way he reached out and grabbed my arm and I remember how hot it was. His fingers were so tight and warm like he was on fire, but then I must of blacked out because next thing I know I'm in bed and Sirius's is talking at me and trying to get me to drink some water.' Lupin explained but being the kind and considerate man he was, he immediately wondered about Harry.
'Has something happened to him? Is he ok?" Lupin wondered sure if Sirius had finally gotten hold of Dumbledore then Harry might have suddenly got much worse.
"I don't know. Other than his incident with you, most the other magic he seems to be producing, however difficult, has been mainly standard. Do you feel at all like a werewolf at the moment or has it been that long now since you felt human?" Dumbledore asked quietly as Lupin sat carefully to pull himself together enough to answer honestly.
"No I can't feel the monster at all but I still know it's there. I feel like I do at half moon. I know there's something else inside but it feels like part of me is dormant and it's waiting to come out again. I've got no control over it though, well I have but I'm worried it might pop up out of no-where." Lupin finally answered.
"Hmm I see. My colleague at St Mungo's is not a member of the order as such. He feels he is better suited to finding cures and helping people rather than fighting death eaters, however, I am sure he can be persuaded to look at both you and Harry tomorrow without alerting anybody at the ministry." Dumbledore explained as Sirius walked back around the headmaster to stand behind Lupin.
"Do you think he will be able to help them?" Sirius asked in such an honest kind way that even Lupin had to take a moment to register the purity in his voice.
"I hope so. He is an old friend and has devoted his entire life to healing people. He has never stopped trying to find ways to help the Longbottom's even now, however Sirius, with Harry in particular I think he will need time to both look and monitor him. I get the feeling Harry is so complex even he will have to take some time to understand things fully."
"I understand. If he has to go for his own good then I can accept it but do you mind telling me how he's doing regularly." Sirius asked looking rather sullen and depressed that his favourite friend was going away again but was adamant he wanted to see Harry looking well so wasn't going to let himself get depressed about it.
"I applaud your placid nature Sirius, it is quiet becoming on you, however as you are the only one so far to have had regular contact with Harry in this state and currently somewhat of an expert then I would like you to accompany him. I will make arrangements to keep you hidden provided you do not flaunt your rare freedom." He added firmly seeing the spark switch back on in Sirius's eyes.
"Thank you, I'd like to come and be of some use." Sirius replied hardly able to believe his luck that for at least at the moment he was considered some sort of considerable use to his godson.
"For now though I need to return to the school with Mirvina and then make arrangements for tomorrow. Remus if it makes you feel comfortable you may lock yourself back up for the remainder of the night and I will take you to St Mugo's tomorrow after noon before sundown and Sirius, I will ask that you and Harry come with me in the evening to keep both your profiles secret. As it is I would prefer to keep his actual whereabouts as secret as yours, I doubt it will crop up but I'd still prefer to keep certain things tight to the chest so to speak."
"Who is this man?" Sirius asked, wondering if he'd heard of him, it wasn't exactly likely but it was always a possibility, even Sirius was surprised of who he could remember and from where.
"His name is Weatherly Woolnough and I can assure you Harry could not be in more capable hands than his." Dumbledore explained before standing up and moving towards the door and waiting.
"I think I've met him. He was the one that came to see me just after I got my bite." Lupin remembered.
"He probably was. Woolnough has a very good reputation when it comes to dealing with the mind. After leaving Hogwarts he studied muggle sciences and after taking his healer qualifications he studied to be a muggle doctor and a psychologists in both the muggle field and the magical one. Muggles have a very different view on the mind and medicine and Woolnough finds it fascinating and rather useful."
"From what Hermione's told me muggle medicine is not as barbaric as I was always led to believe. She was trying to explain to me what stitches were.' Sirius added following Dumbledore to the hallway leaving Lupin alone in the dark room.
'Snuffles would stop with you but I'd really rather sit with..." Sirius started to explain but his friend cut him off.
"You go sit with Harry he needs you more than I do. Besides, it seems I'm incapable of any aggression at the moment despite not finishing my potions." Lupin replied then closed the door and pulled his wand out as Sirius half smiled in appreciation.
"He seems to have been fine. Apart from the odd ornament blowing up Harry hasn't even stirred." McGonagall explained standing up quietly as the two men re-entered the room.
"Good, we shall return to the school now Mivina and I shall be back tomorrow afternoon for Lupin Sirius. I trust that you will manage with Harry until then."
"Yes we should be ok, he's not so bad when he's properly awake." Sirius explained following to the front door and unbolting it.
"Until tomorrow then."
"Goodbye and thanks for letting me have him for Christmas!" Sirius finally added.
"Actually he insisted." McGonagall added before leaving Sirius in his big old house with only the sound of Harry's heavy breathing and his occasional repair of his earlier broken objects. It was a funny sort of home Sirius had all he needed now was the occasional bump or bang from Tonks's clumsiness and he would feel rather content.