Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.
Thanks for all the reviews. I hope you like this chappie. It's the longest yet! Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty Three
Everywhere he looked, there were cloaked men, firing spells at each other. Different coloured jets of light were flying across the street, hitting shields or their intended targets. Harry recognised the blue uniform of the Aurors. The men in the black robes had their faces hidden behind white masks. The raging battle was between the Aurors and Death Eaters. Harry looked around at the fighting men, trying to recognise them but he couldn't see anyone he knew, Aurors or Death Eaters.
He was trying to focus at the scene before him but the images before him kept flickering. He knew it wasn't his own memory. He couldn't remember ever fighting alongside the Death Eaters, except for the Hogwarts Express incident. Harry tried to concentrate on the scenes rushing before him. He wasn't apart of the memory. It was like watching the scene from above. The memory was chopping and changing. For a moment he was watching the Aurors fighting with the mass of Death Eaters and the next instant the dark corridors of Riddle Manor were appearing. Random images were flashing before him. Harry felt his head spin and his vision blurred. What was going on? What was this whole dream about?
As if in answer to his question, a ringing laughter was heard. Harry felt his stomach lurch. He knew that voice and that manic laughter. He started focusing on the flashing images with a desperate panic. Everything was spinning before his eyes. Then it slowed down and he saw her. Bella had removed her mask and was laughing wildly as she attacked two Aurors. She looked…different. Maybe it was because he had not seen her in flesh in so long now. Or maybe it was because the last memory he had of her was the empty shell belonging to Bella, after the Dementors Kiss.
Harry felt a burning sensation in his throat and eyes at the image of Bella, fighting with ease and looking like she was enjoying every second of the duel. She loved duelling, especially against a large number of Aurors. 'The more we kill the better!' she used to say.
Harry watched as the images spun around so violently that he felt nauseated. He wanted it to stop. To stop so that he could see Bella again. So full of life, her eyes bright and sparkling as she fought. Not like the empty hollow wells they had become after the Kiss.
Suddenly her laughter stopped and a pained gasp was heard that had to belong to Bella. The sound echoed around Harry, making his heart speed up in fear. What had happened to her? The images were still spinning, so Harry couldn't see her or make out what was happening.
"Bella!" he shouted, desperate to see if she was okay. "Bella! Bella!"
Suddenly the images flashed bright white, blinding Harry and when they dimmed Harry saw the ceiling of his dorm. He had woken up. For once, Harry was disappointed that he had woken. He felt a stinging pain in his stomach. He had wanted to see Bella. The Bella he remembered in all her glory.
Harry lay, listening to the sound of his own heartbeat, thumping in his chest. What had that dream been about? It was a strange dream. Harry was sure he had somehow seen into a real memory. One that wasn't his though. How was that possible? Harry found that he didn't really care. It had brought back an image of Bella. The way he wanted to remember her. He spent the next few hours just lying in his bed, quietly reminiscing the forgotten memories of Bellatrix Lestrange.
xxx
The next few nights for Harry were awful. He never dreamt of Bella. His dreams were taken over by images of Voldemort again. After the fourth night Harry was tempted to take some Dreamless Sleeping potion, even just to get a small, temporary break from the constant nightmares. It was with great will power that he stopped himself from drinking the potion. The vials still lay in his trunk, providing an odd sense of comfort.
Harry was starting to feel his body strain. It was taking a lot out of him to keep on going without little or next to no rest. On the sixth night of virtually no sleep, he contemplated spending the night in his parent's quarters again. He laughed at his own childishness. He was seventeen! He didn't need the comfort of his parents to help him sleep. How was it going to look if he turned up at their door, asking if he could crash on their sofa? He cast all thoughts of that away. He wasn't weak. He wasn't a child. He had grown up a long time ago. He could deal with this. Though exactly how he was going to fight his nightly demons, he had no idea.
As soon as he woke up he knew something was wrong. His body ached and the headache he had was making it difficult to open his eyes. He groaned as Ron's voice hit him making the headache worse.
"Get up, Harry!"
"Alright!" Harry mumbled.
He was back on speaking terms with Ron but he hadn't quite forgotten the 'addict' comment he had made. He found though that he couldn't stay angry with him. He was annoyed still, yes, but not angry with his red haired friend.
"Harry? Mate, are you alright?"
Ron pulled the drapes aside, looking down at Harry. The dark haired boy groaned and shut his eyes to stop the morning light from assaulting his eyes.
"Go away, Ron!" he said weakly.
"Are you okay? You don't look to good." Ron sounded worried.
Harry wondered why he was feeling so ill. He had actually slept quite well last night. It had been eight days since he had slept. He figured it was only a matter of time before his body gave up and he fell into a deep slumber, not allowing any nightmares to disturb him.
Maybe he was ill because he had gone so long without sleep. But Harry knew that wasn't right. He had gone for longer without any sleep.
He pulled himself into an upright position. His arms were trembling under the weight of pushing himself up. His vision swam and he couldn't help the groan that escaped him. Ron was instantly at his side.
"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.
Harry forced open his eyes and looked blearily at him.
"I don't feel too good." He managed to say.
Ron nodded his head.
"Yeah, you don't look too good either."
"You've already said that." Harry reminded him.
Ron gave him a sheepish look. He awkwardly placed a hand on Harry's forehead.
"You're burning up. Looks like you've got a fever." He told him.
Harry could feel the fever building inside him as Ron was speaking. How had he managed to get sick again? He usually never got ill.
Ron told Harry to stay in bed. He could tell Harry's fever was high. Harry tried to get up and prove to Ron that he was fit enough. He could hardly get out of bed though. He grudgingly stayed in bed and watched as Ron left the dorm. Harry didn't even know when his eyes closed and he had fallen into a fever induced sleep.
He woke up when he felt a hand gently caress his forehead. He opened his eyes and saw his mum looking at him. Harry found the sight of his mum sitting next to him, as always, a little odd. As Harry pushed himself so that he could sit up he saw that his mum wasn't the only one in the room. Damien and Ginny were there as well.
"What's going on?" Harry asked, his throat dry and sore.
"Ron told me you weren't feeling well. I just wanted to check on you." Lily told him.
Harry looked pointedly at Damien and Ginny.
"We wanted to see you as well." Ginny told him simply.
Lily fussed over Harry, handing him different vials to drink. Harry took them without a word and drank them, feeling his stomach rebel against them.
"Your fever is really high. What did you do?" she muttered more to herself.
Harry could feel his stomach clench and the potions he had just drunk were not settling.
"Harry?"
Lily only got a moments notice before Harry retched. Ginny let out a horrified gasp as Harry threw up blood. Both Damien and Ginny were at Harry's side, along with Lily, watching in mingled horror as Harry threw up violently. His clothes and part of the quilt were covered in blood.
Lily was lost as to what she could do. She watched as her son kept on throwing up, unable to do anything other than utter his name. She was holding onto him, helping him by rubbing his back. All the blood was unnerving her.
Harry coughed and spat out the last mouthful and fell back against the bed. His ribs were hurting from the retching. Lily quickly spelled away the blood and sat down next to Harry. She was trembling herself.
"Are you okay?" she asked. She mentally berated herself. Of course he wasn't okay. He had just been sick and had thrown up blood!
She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to see a worried looking James standing behind her, his eyes fixed on Harry's pale face.
"James!" Lily stood up.
"What happened?" James asked. He had walked in and saw Lily spelling away the crimson liquid.
"Harry…Harry's sick. I think he needs to see Poppy. He threw up blood." Lily explained. Her hands were shaking as she spoke.
"I'm okay. I don't need to see Poppy." Harry rasped.
Ginny shushed him rather harshly and pushed him to lie back down. Damien was just staring at Harry as if to be certain he was okay.
"He has a really high fever. I gave him a few potions to drink but they made him sick. He needs Poppy." Lily was still talking to James.
James looked at Harry and felt his heart skip a beat. He looked really ill.
"I don't want to see Poppy. She'll keep me in the wing forever. I'm okay, really." Harry tried to tell them. James looked like he agreed with Harry. He personally didn't want Poppy anywhere near Harry again. He pushed aside the anger he still had towards the school nurse and her 'friend' Helen.
"I think you should come to our quarters. I've only got one more class and then I can look after you." James said quietly.
Harry liked that idea more than spending the rest of the week and weekend with Poppy. He loved the school nurse but she fussed over him way too much.
"James, I think he should…" Lily started but was cut off by Harry.
"I don't need to see Poppy. I'm fine really." He said, annoyance creeping into his voice.
"Fine! You think you're fine. You just threw up blood! How is that fine?" Lily yelled, eyes flaring up at once.
Harry was busy arguing with his mum, trying to reassure her that he really was okay. He didn't hear James saying that he was going to take out a fresh pair of clothes out of the trunk for him, so that he could change out of the sweat soaked pyjamas.
By the time he realised what was happening it was too late. James had opened the trunk, intending to take out fresh clothes for him.
"No, wait…"
Everyone on the room froze. Their eyes on the vast number of vials sitting in Harry's trunk. Harry watched in numb panic as his dad looked up from the trunk and stared at him. Disbelief and disappointment clear on his face. Ginny and Damien were looking at Harry in shock. None of them had thought Harry would be that careless of his own health. That he would continue taking the potion, especially after Poppy had made it painstakingly clear what would happen to him if he did.
"Harry?"
Lily was the first one to speak. She was staring at Harry, eyes wide and filled with hurt, fixed on him.
"It…its not…I know how this looks but…I swear, I haven't taken any!" Harry tried to tell them. He knew it was futile though. The evidence in front of them made him look guilty.
James was trying very hard to keep his temper in check. He looked at the vials again and tried to reason that just because they were in his trunk didn't necessarily mean he had taken any. But then why would he keep so many hidden in his trunk? He knew he couldn't take anymore sleeping potion and if he truly never meant to take any then why didn't he get rid of them? Suddenly another thought came to him. Harry was sick. He had just thrown up blood. Poppy had told them that if Harry ever took any more sleeping potion, he would get sick. The potion would become toxic to him. Is that possibly why he threw up blood? Was he perhaps now in Phase two of addiction? The anger James was trying ever so hard to keep at bay came rushing at him in great big waves, taking over him.
"Get up." James quietly instructed him. The anger in his voice wasn't lost on Harry.
"Dad…"
"Get up!"
Harry painfully got to his feet, trying very hard not to collapse. His legs trembled under him but before he could fall back, James had grabbed him tightly by the arm. Harry wondered if the painful grip was to steady him or something else. He cast the doubt aside. His dad wouldn't willingly hurt him. He already knew that.
James literally dragged the sick boy from the room, Lily running behind them, yelling at James to let Harry go. She was thankful that it was lunch time and most of the school was in the Great Hall. Otherwise it was very embarrassing for Harry to be seen like this. James didn't stop or respond to Lily's pleas to let Harry go. Damien and Ginny were rushing behind Lily.
James didn't stop until he reached the hospital wing. He stormed inside, making Poppy jump at the sound of the doors banging open. James pushed Harry harshly towards the bed, making the ill boy stumble.
"James! What…?" Poppy started, shocked at the way James was treating Harry.
"Check him!" James hissed.
Poppy looked from the angry father to the pale faced son. Lily, Damien and Ginny rushed inside only moments later.
"James! What do you think you're doing?" Lily yelled.
"Check him, Poppy!" James repeated, ignoring Lily.
"Check him? For what? What is going on?" Poppy asked truly perplexed.
James turned to face Harry, who was leaning against the bed, hands clutching the bed to stay upright, eyes cast on the floor.
"Check him to see if he's taken any sleeping potion!" James said.
Harry looked up to meet James' eyes. He opened his mouth to say once again that he hadn't taken any potion. But he knew that no one was going to believe him. He thought maybe it was better if Poppy did test him. That way his dad would believe him.
Poppy looked puzzled and argued that Harry wouldn't take the potion. That he had promised not to take any. Lily told her what they had found in Harry's trunk. Poppy looked as shocked as the rest. She turned disbelieving eyes on Harry and finally understood why James was so angry. Harry still didn't say anything.
Poppy silently approached Harry and told him to sit on the bed. Harry complied. As she took a blood sample so she could do the test, Harry's eyes met with his James. He kept his eyes fixed on his dad as Poppy extracted the blood. Lily ushered Damien and Ginny away, not wanting to cause any more embarrassment to Harry.
Poppy stood, holding the small diagnosis vial, waiting for the analysis to run its course. The awkwardness hanging in the air was choking them. Harry was focusing on the ground, not wanting to look at anyone in the room. James and Lily were too angry and upset to say anything either. Poppy silently willed the analysis to finish quickly. The tension was killing her. Finally the test finished and Poppy had to look at the results twice to understand them.
She approached Harry and stared at him hard. She had not expected this of him.
"You have traces of sleeping potion in your blood." She said simply.
Harry snapped up his head to look at her.
"What!"
James closed his eyes and was trying desperately to keep a hold on his temper.
"That's not possible! I didn't take any potions. I swear, I didn't." Harry couldn't believe this. How could his test show traces of the sleeping potion when he hadn't taken any.
"I'm not lying, Harry. The result is right here. It's a simple test to show what potions are in your system. It clearly says that there are remnants of sleeping potion in your system. You can see for yourself." Poppy handed him the small diagnosis vial.
Harry didn't take it, he was staring at Poppy, heart thumping loudly in his chest. His head felt like it was about to split in two. What the hell was going on?
"I…this can't be right! I haven't touched the stuff and I don't have any intentions of taking it, ever!" he said, a note of pleading in his voice.
"Is that why you have some two hundred vials hidden in your trunk?" James asked, clenching his teeth in anger.
"I…it's not like that! I had the potions before I found out I was addicted. I kept them but I didn't actually drink any!"
No matter how many times Harry argued the point, no one believed him. The fact of the matter was that all the evidence pointed to one thing, that Harry had a secret stock of Dreamless Sleeping potion and judging by how ill he was, he had continued taking them. Harry finally gave up fighting. It wasn't going to work. No one believed him.
"I'm going to have to keep him in. Until the potion clears out of his system, he'll probably be really sick. It's clear that he's been taking the potion on many occasions. That's why he's fallen so ill. It's better if I can keep an eye on him until the potion is completely out of his system." Poppy told Lily.
Harry wished he had the strength to get up. Then he could just disappear away from the lot of them. He didn't think he had the energy to Disapparate.
James and Lily left, both not even sparing a single glance at Harry. They were too angry to say even a word to him. He tried not to let their disappointment bother him. It did though and he hated himself for it. Poppy worked in tense silence, handing him other vials. Harry took them with resignation. As soon as the potions hit his stomach, he brought them back up again. He didn't even get the chance to warn Poppy. Blood covered his clothes and the bed, in which he was sitting.
Poppy looked horrified at the sight of blood but she didn't say anything. She cleared the blood away with a flick of her wand. Harry lay back, still coughing and tying to catch his breath. Poppy looked at him but didn't offer any words of comfort. Harry knew exactly what she was thinking. It was pretty obvious from the look on her face. She was thinking that he deserved it, since he had taken the potions after being warned not to.
xxx
Poppy was exhausted by the end of the day. She had tried to give Harry all she could to bring the fever down. No matter what she did, Harry continued to get worse. He couldn't stomach any potions at all, and without the potions, his fever continued to rise.
She reverted to the old muggle ways and used cold packs to bring down the fever. Harry didn't say a word to her. He kept quiet and refused to look at her. She thought it was better that way. She wouldn't know what she could say to him anyway.
By dinner time, Harry had fallen into a fever induced sleep. Poppy continued to be at his side, she had charmed the cold packs to stay cool but she still stayed at his side. She looked up to see Damien and the other three Gryffindors standing at the door.
"He's not awake. And I don't think he's in any state for company. You can leave." She told them.
But that didn't encourage them to leave. On the contrary, Harry's weak condition made them stay and they argued with Poppy until she gave in.
"Oh, alright! Just don't wake him up." She instructed. She hurried away into her office, to make herself a much needed cup of tea.
The group of four sat next to Harry and talked quietly amongst themselves. They didn't know what to think. They couldn't fathom why Harry would let himself get into this type of condition. On the other hand they knew that Harry had more sense than to continue taking the potions.
They were talking quietly but it still woke Harry up.
"…I wonder how many times he's taken the potion?" Hermione was saying.
"I don't think he has. I've noticed that he's usually up really early. He hardly sleeps. If he was taking the potion he would have been sleeping properly." Ron answered. Harry felt immense gratitude towards him.
"Then why is he so ill?" Ginny asked.
"Beats me." said Harry.
The four hushed up at once as Harry opened his eyes and stared at them. His eyes were bloodshot and you could see the pain and fever in them.
Harry struggled to sit up but managed with Damien's help.
"I didn't take it." He said to them.
"We believe you." Ron replied, even though Hermione looked like she was in two minds.
"What did Poppy say? What's wrong with you?" Damien asked.
Harry told them about the test and what the results were. The four didn't react but the colour drained from their faces.
"…she thinks I'm still in Phase one but another incident like this, she warned me I would go into Phase two." Harry finished miserably.
"Are you absolutely certain that you didn't take any? I mean you could have taken some in the middle of the night, without being fully aware." Hermione suggested.
Harry was about to tell her, using very colourful words, how stupid that suggestion was but then stopped. What did he do the night before? With a sickening jolt he realised that he didn't remember. He didn't remember the night before at all. Harry recalled the strong desire he had a few nights ago to take a small sip of the potion. But he had held back. He didn't drink any. But what if, in the middle of the night, subconsciously he had reached out and taken a vial? What if he had drunk some without fully being aware? The thought sent shivers up his spine. Was he really that sleep deprived that he was doing things without being fully aware?
Damien noticed the look of Harry's face and asked him what was wrong. Harry felt the urge to tell them about his memory lapses. He had to tell someone. He had to get the words out before he went crazy with self doubt.
Taking a shaky breath, Harry told them about not remembering last night. He told them about all the other nights he couldn't recall. With great effort and trust in the four before him, he told them about the link between the memory lapses and the nights of the attacks. As soon as the words were out of his mouth he saw the horrified reactions of the other four.
"What are you trying to say?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know." Harry answered. "I don't know what this means, but I had to say something. I haven't told anyone about this."
"Have…have you ever had any other memory lapses? I mean on nights that there are no attacks?" Hermione asked. She was trying very hard not to freak out. Harry wasn't responsible for the attacks. He just couldn't be.
Harry nodded his head.
"Sometimes, yeah. A few times I've woken up with no memory of the night before, but there haven't been any attacks. Like today, there were no attacks, were there?" he asked.
Ron shook his head. It was all he could do right now. He didn't have the strength to speak.
"So, it's just a coincidence! That's all it is, Harry. Just a freaky coincidence." Damien said at once.
Harry felt reassured. At least Damien didn't think he was guilty. Hermione looked awfully pale but told him that she thought it was a coincidence as well.
"We know it's not you, Harry. For one, someone would have seen you leaving. You can't apparate from Hogwarts…"
Harry couldn't help throw Damien a worried look.
"…and secondly, the person carrying out these horrid attacks has been killing children. You would never do that." Hermione finished.
They would have continued talking but at that moment the doors opened and James and Lily came inside. They looked a lot calmer than before but they were still giving Harry rather harsh looks.
The four teens got up to leave. They knew that James and Lily wanted to have a private chat with Harry. The ill boy didn't particularly look like he was looking forward to it. Just as Damien passed by James he spoke quietly to him, so only he could hear him.
"He's really ill, dad. Reminds me of the time he was sick after the magical transfer."
James looked abruptly at him. Damien continued, looking James in the eyes.
"Remember the time he sacrificed his magic and suffered in pain so that he could save your life? He was really ill then and he was all alone. At least he has you guys with him now."
Damien left after saying that. Hopefully now his dad would go easy on Harry.
xxx
It took two days for Harry's fever to break. Unable to take any medication, Harry had to just silently suffer. There wasn't anything anyone could do. Finally when he was better, Poppy let him go. She, along with his parents had talked non stop about the dangers of taking anymore sleeping potion. Harry had had enough. As soon as he walked out of the hospital wing, James had taken him to his quarters.
"We have to sort this out." He told him quietly.
"I know, dad. I know all about the potential dangers of taking the potion. I swear I won't touch it." Harry automatically answered.
"No, not about that. I'm sure you learnt your lesson." James answered. It had been awful to see Harry suffer so much.
Harry had to bite down on his tongue to keep from cursing. How many times did he have to say he hadn't intentionally taken the potion?
"So what did you want to sort out?" Harry asked instead.
"Your sleeping problem." James answered. "I've spoken to Poppy and she's told me that the only way to deal with your nightmares is to talk about them."
Harry looked at James and wondered if he was being serious.
"You want me to talk to you about my nightmares?" he asked.
"I know it might seem be strange…"
"Might seem strange? No, dad. It really would be strange!" Harry interrupted.
"You don't want to talk to me about them?" James asked eyes fixed on Harry.
"No, I don't." Harry replied.
"Why?" James asked
"Why? Because there is no point in talking to you. You won't be able to help me. Talking about them isn't going to make them go away." Harry replied. 'And it's incredibly private as well!' he mentally added.
"Okay, how about talking to a professional, like a mind healer?" James really didn't want to suggest someone like Helen, but if that would help heal Harry, then he was going to take the chance.
Harry was suddenly on his feet, glaring at James.
"A mind healer? You want me to see a mind healer?" he asked heatedly.
"It's not that ridiculous an idea. Maybe a mind healer will be able to help you." James reasoned.
Harry was staring at James in shock.
"I'm not seeing a mind healer! I'm not a…a nut job!" he said angrily.
"I never said you were…" James tried.
"You didn't say it but that's what you're suggesting!"
"No, I'm not! I'm only trying to help you. You've been through so much, and I want to help you. I can't stand back and watch you suffer day after day."
Harry refused to let James guilt trip him into seeing a healer.
"I can work out my problems myself. I'm not seeing a mind healer!" Harry stubbornly argued.
"Fine, don't see one. But at least talk to someone. If you don't want to talk to me then talk to someone else. Talk to your mum, or Sirius or maybe Remus…"
"You don't get it do you?" Harry yelled, cutting James off. "I don't want to talk to anyone. My nightmares are for me to deal with. I'm not discussing them with anyone. It's too private!"
James tried reasoning with Harry but it was futile. Harry had his mind made up.
"I appreciate what you are trying to do, I really do. But you have to let me figure this out myself." Harry said as calmly as he could.
"You're obviously not getting anywhere. You keep on suffering and unless you let someone help you, it'll only get worse." James tried to explain.
"Trust me, it can't get any worse." Harry mumbled.
At that point Lily walked in and Harry took his chance to leave.
He stayed away from James after that and avoided him in Defence classes refusing to even look at him. James tried many times to talk to him but Harry wasn't giving in to him.
"You can't avoid him forever." Damien tried.
"Watch me." Harry replied.
All five were sitting in the common room, in their usual seats, drinking their butterbeers. It was only the five of them left. Ron, Damien and Ginny were trying to cheer Harry up. It was evident how depressed Harry was about the way his relationship with his dad was going.
Hermione was keeping out of the conversation. She agreed to an extent with James. That Harry really needed to talk to someone about his nightmares. But she was smart enough to keep that opinion to herself. She was not ready to get on Harry's bad side.
"Just go talk to him. He's been desperate to talk to you." Ginny tried to tell him.
Harry shook his head. He sat holding his bottle loosely in his hands, making to effort to drink from it.
"Harry, are you going to finish that?" Ron asked, pointing at the partly filled bottle of butterbeer in Harry's hand.
Harry handed him the bottle without saying anything. Hermione glared at Ron who didn't see what he had done wrong.
"I'm going to bed!" Harry said after a few minutes.
As soon as Harry left, Hermione started on Ron.
"Do you ever think about anything other than food!?!" she yelled.
"What? He wasn't going to finish it. Why let good butterbeer go to waste?" Ron argued.
Damien sighed and tried to ignore the bickering couple. Ginny decided to join him rather than get involved with the fight. Both tried to distract themselves from the arguing couple by flicking through Damien's black book.
"You just make a huge deal about everything!" Ron told Hermione, annoyed at being yelled at.
"You were unbelievably insensitive!" Hermione yelled at him.
"Will the two of you break it up!" Ginny said annoyed, at this rate they were going to wake up everyone in the castle.
"All you ever think about is food! Harry was so upset about the situation with his dad and all you were interested in was his drink!" As Hermione said the word 'drink' she gestured towards it. Her hand caught the bottle unintentionally and it went flying out of Ron's hand.
The bottle hit the table and the contents spilt over Damien, drenching his book that was currently listing the properties of blue ink.
"Ron!" Damien yelled, standing up and snatching his book up with him.
"Oh, Damy! I'm sorry!" Hermione apologised. The black book was completely drenched in the sticky butterbeer.
"Here, I'll fix it." Ron said and grabbed the book from him, while Hermione did a drying spell on Damien's robes.
"That's my present from Harry! It better not smell of butterbeer!" Damien complained.
"Calm down, your book is fine. I'll just do a drying spell and it'll be as good as new." Ron assured him. He turned over the 'Book of Knowledge' as Damien liked calling it and started drying it.
"I'm really sorry, Damy. I never meant to knock it out of Ron's hand. I thought he had a better grip on it. Considering it's the only thing he's interested in!" Hermione said, throwing her boyfriend a glare.
Ron however didn't respond. He was standing with the book held in front of him. His eyes fixed on the open pages.
"Ron…?" Ginny watched as her brothers eyes widened with horror. His expression caught the interest of the other two as well.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, momentarily forgetting their argument.
"Since when does butterbeer have Sedare potion as one of its ingredients?" Ron asked.
Ron's words sent a shiver of shock through them. They rushed over to him. Ron held out the book in front of them. Damien saw with his own eyes, the ingredients for butterbeer had a sub category, listing the ingredients that make up Sedare Potion.
"What…what is this?" Ginny asked, her voice trembling.
Hermione grabbed the book and stared at the page, as if trying to decipher if the writing was actually there or if they were imagining it. Sedare potion, there was Sedare potion in the butterbeer!
Ron instantly went to the cabinet holding the butterbeers and pulled out another bottle. He cast a quick drying charm on the book, making the pages go blank. He dropped a few drops into the book and watched as spidery lines started appearing on the opposite page. As he had suspected, this bottle wasn't spiked with Sedare potion.
"What is going on?" Damien asked, feeling shivers of unease run up his spine.
"It's obvious isn't it?" Hermione answered, looking at the book. "Someone is drugging Harry."
No one could find anything to say in response to that. Hermione picked up the spilt bottle and examined it carefully.
"This was Harry's drink. Harry was supposed to drink it, not Ron." She told them in a worried voice.
"That's insane! Why would someone do something like that?" Ginny asked, her fear not allowing her to believe Hermione.
"I think we know the answer to that, Ginny." Ron said.
Damien hushed him and pulled out his wand. He cast the Silencio charm around the room, in case anyone woke up and eavesdropped on them. The group sat close together, eyes glued to each others faces.
"Okay, let's look at this with all the facts." Hermione started.
"Harry keeps his butterbeers separate from the rest because he doesn't like them chilled. Everyone knows that. So that made it relatively easy to spike his drink." She thought for a moment before addressing Ron.
"Can you bring a bottle from his shelf?"
Ron fetched it and dropped some into the book. It came up clear from Sedare potion.
"I thought that. Whoever it is didn't want to spike every bottle. Harry would easily become suspicious." Hermione continued.
"How would he become suspicious?" Ron asked.
"Think about it! If Harry fell into deep sleep every time he had some butterbeer to drink, then he would easily figure out that there was something in them. Also, do you remember when he first gave you the book, Damy? He tested it with his butterbeer. The book showed the ingredients of the butterbeer and there was no Sedare potion in it then. That proves that not every bottle is spiked. Whoever this person is, only spikes his bottles every so often." Hermione concluded.
"Harry's memory lapses!" Damien exclaimed suddenly. "Hermione, that's it! That's why Harry's been having memory lapses. Every time he drinks the butterbeer spiked with Sedare potion he falls into a deep sleep and that's probably why he doesn't remember the night before!"
"That makes sense." Ron added. "Sedare potion is different to Dreamless Sleeping potion. The Dreamless sleeping potion makes you fall into a dreamless sleep almost instantly. But the Sedare potion doesn't do that. It takes time to work through your system. Depending on the dosage and the strength of the potion, it could take anything between half an hour to four hours to fall asleep."
Hermione was staring at Ron in barely hidden affection.
"What? I read that in the potions book Professor Potter gave me." He explained.
"Okay, so that means that the memory lapses Harry told us about are caused by the potion." Damien summarised. "Harry has nothing to do with the Dark Prince attacks. He's not connected to them in any way." Damien had to admit that knowledge brought immense relief.
"But Harry said that he had memory lapses on the nights of the attacks. That means that whoever is spiking his drinks knew that the attacks were about to happen and that's why they spiked his drink on those particular nights" Hermione said, thinking her thoughts out loud.
Her words were followed by silence. The full impact of Hermione's words hit home.
"Oh God!" Ginny exclaimed. "Someone in Hogwarts in helping the Dark Prince! They are making sure Harry's out of the way, before an attack happens. They are trying to frame Harry for the attacks!"
"Or they are trying to make Harry question his actions. He can't remember the nights of the attacks, making him doubt himself. Remember, Harry told us that a few times he has woken up without the previous nights memory but there have been no attacks. That was on purpose to make him think he's losing his mind. They're trying to drive him crazy." Hermione said worriedly.
The truths of that statement made all of them gulp silently in fear.
"Do you realise that whoever this person is, that's helping the Dark Prince, they have to be from Gryffindor." Damien said quietly after a few minutes. The other four stared at him in shock.
"Who in Gryffindor would want to hurt Harry?" Ginny asked, appalled at the assumption.
"Well, let me see." Ron said in a mocking tone. "How about the one person that still hasn't acknowledged Harry's presence. The one person who openly hates him!"
Hermione looked confusedly at Ron before she understood who Ron was hinting at.
"Ron! You can't honestly blame Neville! He couldn't do something like this. And in any case, you have no proof!"
"I have all the proof I need. He shares the same room as us. He has better access to Harry than anyone else."
"I don't think it's Neville." Hermione argued.
"I don't think it's anyone from Gryffindor." Ginny added.
"It has to be. The Gryffindors are the only ones who have access to the butterbeers. And it's obvious that the bottles only get spiked one at a time and only on certain nights. That means that the person has to have regular access to them. It has to be a Gryffindor. No one else can get access to the butterbeers." Hermione concluded.
"Not exactly." Ron said, his face growing red with suppressed anger. "There is a certain Slytherin who has our password." He spat.
Damien felt his heart flip in his chest. It couldn't be Malfoy! He was Harry's friend. He hated the rest of them but he couldn't hurt Harry. At least, Damien didn't think he could.
"Ron, Draco is Harry's friend. Why would he hurt him?" Ginny asked.
"Why? Maybe because he's nothing more than a filthy snake! Think about it. Malfoy didn't help Harry because he wanted to. He had to help him, Professor Dumbledore and Snape made him help. And don't forget, since Harry killed Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy has been on the run. From what I've heard, Narcissa and Draco are having money trouble as the Ministry has taken over everything. Don't you think it's possible that Malfoy is regretting being Harry's friend? Or that maybe he's gone insane with jealously? After all he lost his dad and his family fortune whereas Harry got his family back and has a comfortable life. Maybe Draco saw a chance for revenge and took it." Ron looked pretty confident that Draco was the likely culprit.
"I don't know, Ron. It seems unlikely that Draco would attack Harry like this. They've been friends since they were kids." Hermione said. She hated the Slytherin but could recognise the loyalty he had towards Harry. Ron, however couldn't.
"Hermione, he's not a true friend. He doesn't know what being a friend is! And in case if you remember correctly, these attacks and Harry's memory lapses didn't start until Malfoy came back. He met us a few weeks before the Christmas Ball. That was the night of the first attack. And Harry was late coming to the ball because he was meeting with Malfoy." Ron announced.
"How do you know that?" Ginny asked, surprised.
"Harry told me." Ron told her. "Malfoy could have easily spiked Harry's drink after he left to meet Ginny. And that day I saw him in here, he was standing next to the cabinet, looking at the bottles. He even took one out, remember. He was trying to see which bottles were Harry's. And we actually pointed them out to him! We told him that Harry's drinks were on the bottom shelf, away from the chilling charm, Hermione had cast on the top shelf. That's how Malfoy knew which ones to spike."
Ron had a look of triumph on his face. He had figured it out.
"I don't know, Ron. Maybe it was a coincidence." Damien said still being able to think of Draco as Harry's enemy.
"Look at the evidence, Damy! Every time there had been an attack, Malfoy's been around. The Christmas ball, Malfoy was with Harry, maybe even in the common room. The second attack was the night we came back from holidays, Malfoy had officially come back. He could have snuck in and spiked our drinks before we all arrived. Even all the other times, Malfoy would be able to sneak in and spike the drinks in the middle of the night, he had our password! It makes perfect sense."
Damien didn't want to believe him but it was looking more and more likely that Draco had some hand in this. He wasn't going to fully believe it though, until they had some sort of proof.
Suddenly Ginny let out a gasp and covered her mouth. Her brown eyes were brimming with tears.
"Ginny?" Damien asked, looking at her in concern. Ginny lowered her hand and looked at them, pain clear in her brown orbs.
"Harry was right." She whispered. "Harry was telling the truth, about not taking the sleeping potion. He was certain he hadn't taken any but we convinced him that he must have taken some in the middle of the night. But we had all drank butterbeer the night before. That must have been why he fell ill. Remember, Harry told us that Poppy had said there was sleeping potion traces in his blood? It wasn't Dreamless Sleeping potion, it must have been Sedare potion! The test only showed that there was a sleeping potion in his system. It didn't show exactly what kind of sleeping potion it was. Don't you see? None of this was Harry's fault. He didn't overdose on the sleeping potions. He was being careful with the doses, just like he always said he was. His addiction wasn't because of the Dreamless Sleeping potion. It was because of the Sedare potion mixed in with the butterbeer! That's what caused the overdose and led to addiction! He's suffering now because of this person who spiked his drinks."
The four looked on the verge of tears. This wasn't a harmless prank someone played on Harry. This was serious. Harry's health was seriously affected by it. Someone was playing a very dangerous game with Harry.
"We have to tell him!" Ginny continued. "He has to know."
Ron got up and headed towards the cabinet, pulling out his wand.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked as Ron raised his wand.
"Destroying the rest of these bottles, what does it look like?" Ron asked.
"You can't." Hermione stated simply. Ron stared at her.
"Hermione, these are being used to hurt Harry. We have to get rid of them so that Harry can't be drugged anymore." Ron explained.
"Think about it!" Hermione hissed at him. "If we destroy these we show right away that we found out about the Sedare potion. We have no idea who is behind this, yes, Ronald! We don't know. We can't be certain it's Malfoy! Not without any concrete proof!" she added when she saw Ron about to open his mouth to argue.
"So what are you saying? We keep these here, allow Harry to continue being drugged?" Damien asked angrily.
"Of course not! We're not going to let Harry come anywhere near them, but we can't get rid of them. Not until we find out who's behind this. Who is the Dark Prince's helping hand? If we get rid of these now, whoever is harming Harry will find another way to get to him. And without knowing who is trying to hurt Harry, we won't be able to protect him. If we keep on acting like we are none the wiser, we have a chance to catch this person red handed. Then we can possibly get to the Dark Prince as well."
Damien could feel his heart speed up at this plan. Hermione was right. They had to catch who this person was. The idea that someone in the school, or even more worryingly, in Gryffindor was harming Harry was very frightening.
"But Harry will know to stay away from these. We are going to tell him aren't we?" Ginny asked, picking up Hermione's words.
"I think we shouldn't tell him." Hermione said quietly. "I think it would do him no good finding out he was being drugged and that his health is suffering because of it."
"I think it wouldn't do our health any good keeping something as big as this from him. Think how mad he will be when he finds out we knew and we didn't tell him?" Ginny argued.
"Ginny, I think Hermione's right." Damien said. Ginny turned to look at him in shock. "Mum told me that when Harry was first captured by the Order, he was afraid that Moody was going to slip him some Veritaserum so he refused to eat or drink anything for three days, including potions that were meant to heal him. He stayed in pain but wasn't willing to take the chance of being drugged. Think what he would go through if he found out about this." Damien didn't want Harry to be paranoid about everything. Deep inside he was afraid Harry might leave Hogwarts if he found out he was being drugged. He would understand if Harry did, he had every right to leave but he didn't know how to survive without Harry.
"We can't not tell him! That's just asking for trouble." Ginny argued.
"We will tell him. We'll tell him once we've caught the person responsible. We'll tell Harry everything." Hermione reassured her.
"I don't know. I don't like keeping things from Harry, especially something as big as this!" Ginny said looking nervously at the other three.
"It's better for him not to know just yet. We can't scare the culprit away. If Harry, or Mr and Mrs Potter finds out they would make it obvious that they know about the Sedare potion. Any chance we have at catching this Dark Princes' helper would be lost. This is really serious and we have to be very careful not to mess it up." Hermione said.
Ginny wasn't happy and in all honesty neither were the other three. They all understood that this was the only plan they had however.
"So how are we going to catch this person?" Ron asked.
Hermione furrowed her brow.
"I'll think of something. In the time being, everyone keep an eye on Harry."
"I still say we tell Harry everything." Ginny said again.
"Ginny, trust me. It's better this way. Once we get the person responsible we'll hand him over to Harry and tell him everything. Then Harry can deal with him his own way." Hermione explained.
"Harry's going to have to get in line." Ron said with a glower.
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Well, there you have it. Finally, you know Harry is not the Dark Prince. I guess you still have plenty of things to guess about ;)
Please review to let me know what you think! Thanks!!