Author's Note: It took me a couple of weeks, but I finally wrote this chapter, and I have to say that it is a lot longer than I usually write, having passed six thousand words! I really hope you'll like this chapter, as I worked long and hard on it. I also completely forget to reply to a couple of reviews, something which I apologise greatly for. First of all, to Scaehime, no, Remus was not under the Imperius Curse. Voldemort used a different curse on him, although this curse is not going to be revisited so it is not very important. And as for a guest reviewer who asked about it being slash or not, no, this story shall definitely not be slash in any way. Harry and Tom may be getting close, but they are friends, and I have no intention of going further with that.
Anyway, I hope you all like the chapter, and please try to review. Enjoy!
The Experiments of Tom Marvolo Riddle – Chapter 18
Written By YT12J
Harry ran up the stairs leading to Dumbledore's office, desperate to talk with him about what he had just heard from Muff. His mind was crazy, and there were many different emotions going through it. He had come very close to cursing Muff, but changed his mind and decided that it would be best to go to Dumbledore and talk to him about it.
When he got to the door he knocked loudly and opened it without even waiting for an invitation. Inside Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, Fawkes singing softly next to him. When Harry walked in he looked up in surprise, and then smiled at him. "Come and sit down Harry, and tell me exactly what you need to speak about with me."
Harry simply nodded and walked to the chair, sitting down slowly. He was silent for a few moments, wondering how he should put what he was going to say, and then spoke with barely controlled rage in his voice. "Professor, I just had a very interesting conversation with Professor Muff in his office. He was quite drunk and told me some… interesting things that I felt like I should speak to you about as opposed to punching the man in the face."
Dumbledore stared at him in shock, clearly not expecting that from Harry, and then chose his words carefully so that Harry would not lose his temper. "I see. What exactly was the nature of this conversation, Harry?"
Harry glared at him. "Take a guess. If you know enough about Professor Muff in the previous war then I think you'll be able to guess correctly."
Dumbledore sighed when he said this; it proved his suspicions right and he had really hoped that if Alexander were ever to speak to Harry about his actions and apologise then it would be a sensible conversation, not a drunken one. "I am not sure what I can say, Harry. I can tell you however that Professor Muff really does regret everything that he did, and that while I do not expect that you will ever be able to forgive him, I do not think it would be a good idea to remain bitter at him. Try to forget about it, and in the meantime remember that if you get angry at him over this then he will most definitely report it to the Minister and attempt to have you expelled."
Harry raised his eyebrow. "I was under the impression that he is actually on of your spies considering he told me that when he left Voldemort you provided him with a safe house."
Dumbledore nodded. "There is no point hiding that fact from you anymore it seems. Yes, Alexander is actually on our side, and simply fools the Minister into thinking that he is the Ministry's spy in Hogwarts. You should still be careful however; while he tries his best to report as little as possible so that nothing happens to the students if you openly shout at him, or anything like that, he may be forced to do something about it because there are certain students in Slytherin that feel the need to owl their parents when such incidents happen."
"Malfoy." Harry scowled. "Fine then, I'll do my best to control my temper around him, but I doubt I'll do too well with that. He murdered my grandparents, and I will not forget it so if he does anything to me because he has to seem like a spy then I will not react well."
"Just as long as you put forward an effort to do it, Harry." Dumbledore replied. "I will also speak to Alexander and tell him to be careful, otherwise you could both easily end up in a lot of trouble. And now that that is settled, I need to speak to you about something else, Harry."
"What is it?" Harry asked, not really caring about what it could be. He was too focused on Professor Muff, and the anger that he felt towards him.
"Your relationship with Daphne Greengrass." Dumbledore said calmly. Harry looked up from fiddling with his hands in surprise. Since the start of their relationship he had not expected any of the teachers to have a problem with it, except possibly Snape or Muff, the latter as an excuse to annoy Harry. He wondered if Dumbledore was going to warn him about the risks of dating a Slytherin.
"I would just like to congratulate you first Harry. It is very rare that somebody manages to make friends, and then even so much more with someone from another house, especially when it is between Gryffindor and Slytherin. I would also like to warn you about the dangers there are in such a relationship however. Slytherin House are very intent on making sure that none of them get too friendly with other houses, mainly Gryffindor, and I would not be surprised if you and Miss Greengrass find yourselves ambushed by a Slytherin."
Harry nodded, suddenly a lot more interested about the threat that Slytherin House presented. He had never really thought about it before, but when they were publicly together they would always get glares from Slytherins, mainly Malfoy and other boys in her year. He wasn't quite sure if they were angry or jealous, but, as a teenager, he really hoped that they were jealous of him for having the privilege of going out with possibly one of the prettiest girls in their year.
"Don't worry sir, we're extremely careful and if we are attacked I'm sure we'll be able to handle it. They mostly prefer glaring at us anyway, so they don't really present much of a problem."
Dumbledore surveyed him through his glasses. "Do not get too confident Harry, they are likely to pass a point where they cannot stand it anymore and will resort to attacking. If they attack in a large group then you will be in a lot of trouble, and I do not wish for you to end up in the hospital wing for the fifth year running. This would especially be a problem if the Minister found out, in which case he would most likely try to pin the blame on you and get you expelled for attacking students. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir." Harry muttered. He felt like he was being ordered to not continue his relationship with Daphne, although currently he was still more occupied with thinking about Muff angrily. Dumbledore dismissed him with a pensive look on his face, and when he got out of the office he decided to take a walk around the grounds. While outside, he saw Tom walking into the Forbidden Forest, a look on his face as if he were hunting down some sort of animal. Harry frowned, finding it extremely odd, and decided to follow him. He got his Invisibility Cloak out of his bag and put it around himself as he walked towards Tom.
Tom walked for roughly ten minutes, very deep into the forest, until he eventually stopped. Luckily on the way Harry had seen no monsters that wanted to eat him, which he was considerably relieved by. When Harry walked closer to Tom he suddenly felt an odd sensation, as if he were walking into somewhere dead, and realised that he had just exited the Hogwarts wards, and essentially safety. This meant...
Harry ran towards Tom just as he spun on the spot, clearly about to apparate. He wasn't sure why he was doing it, but he leapt through the air and just as Tom disappeared with a loud 'crack', Harry's fingertips touched his arm, taking Harry with him. A millisecond later Harry saw the empty streets of Knockturn Alley, and just as they arrived there, Tom quickly walked straight ahead. Harry was still leaping through the air, and because only his fingertips had touched Tom and because Tom had been apparating at the time it seemed Tom hadn't noticed he had brought someone with him. Harry landed in a great heap on the floor, and quickly picked himself up so that he could follow Tom before he lost him.
His cloak was still around him, so he silently walked behind Tom, occasionally looking at the signs in the shop windows out of curiosity. Tom eventually stopped outside a shop which didn't advertise anything at all, so Harry was curious as to what exactly they were selling. Just as Tom opened the shop door and walked in, Harry slipped through the small gap and then immediately walked to the other side of the small room so that no one would accidentally brush against him. Tom walked up to the counter and pressed the bell swiftly, and after a few moments of silence a short woman walked through the door behind the counter.
"Wha' can I do fer y'love?" she said while looking at Tom, a toothy smile on her face that showed all of her rotted teeth. Tom wrinkled his nose in disgust and frankly Harry couldn't blame him; the woman was absolutely disgusting, and he was sure that she must sell something that no one else had for Tom to actually want to go there.
"I need one of your special Portkey items." said Tom slowly. Harry was confused. He was pretty sure that you could use any old item to make a Portkey, so why was Tom going to a grubby shop in Knockturn Alley to buy a specific thing?
"That's gonna cost yeh love, they ain't cheap. Charmed 'em myself, and they work as powerful types 'a portkeys, though I don' know why y'd wan' 'em."
"My reasons are none of your concern," Tom replied quickly. "Just get me one." The old lady glared at him, and then walked back through the door, presumably to fetch a special Portkey. Harry suddenly had a thought. Tom had mentioned making a Portkey back in time, so maybe he needed a special charmed item to use as that Portkey. He suddenly felt relieved; at the very least it meant that Tom didn't want the Portkey for some sort of nefarious purpose.
After several minutes of waiting, which very strangely involved Tom humming some Mozart, the woman limped back through the door with an old, rusty tin can in her hands. "Tha'll be five hundred galleons." she said greedily. Harry eyes almost popped out of their sockets at the unbelievably steep price.
Tom didn't seem surprised however, and unblinkingly replied "Three hundred, and not a Knut less." The old woman grumbled and glowered at him but consented to the price, snatching the bag of gold from Tom and handing over the tin can. Tom waved his wand over it, presumably to check that it was genuinely charmed and not just the container of the woman's lunch, and then nodded, satisfied with it. The woman walked back through the door, and Tom left the shop, Harry following him closely.
Tom walked for several minutes through the Alley, and then came to a halt in a place where there was nobody else. Harry grimaced. He would have to grab hold of Tom to get back to Hogwarts, and if he did that then Tom would know that he was there all along, following him. He had no choice however; he couldn't just stay in the middle of Knockturn Alley. When Tom spun on the spot, Harry reached out to grab him however, to his horror, Tom disapparated just as his hand was about to grab hold. Tom disappeared, but Harry was left behind on his own in Knockturn Alley.
He swore silently, frustrated at what had just happened. Now he needed to figure out a way to get back to Hogwarts, and that certainly would not be easy. And then suddenly he had a brilliant idea, on that could get him into Hogwarts, hopefully without anyone even noticing his disappearance. Turning around, he followed the signs to Diagon Alley.
When he got there he walked through the crowded streets, still invisible, until he came to the Leaky Cauldron. Once inside, he walked to the fireplace, grabbed a handful of Floo Powder, and muttered so that no one would hear him "Hogsmeade."
After spinning through the fireplace he eventually was spat out onto the floor in Honeydukes, where he immediately headed down the stairs and into the cellar. In the cellar, he found the secret passage and went into it, walking for roughly half an hour until it finished and he got out of the statue on the corridor in Hogwarts. He sighed in relief, and then headed to the Common Room.
Break
Harry was speaking in quiet tones to Daphne in the Three Broomsticks. It was a Hogsmeade weekend, and as usual they were spending it together, although for the past few weeks, since Harry had had the conversation with Dumbledore, they had been doing less making out and more serious talking about their relationship and what could happen as a result of it. They had agreed to not be so public with their relationship anymore so that they did not provoke any of the Slytherins who were angry at them.
In the middle of a very serious conversation Hermione suddenly sat down at their table and said to them "I'm going to have to interrupt your date I'm afraid. I have something very important I need you to do, Harry."
Daphne naturally glared at her, and Harry simply gave her a curious look, not saying anything. She continued speaking to them. "I invited Rita Skeeter to have a chat with you so that an article can be published of you telling the truth. I'm really sick of everyone saying that you're lying."
Harry snorted. "As if Rita Skeeter is capable of publishing one word that I actually said." Daphne nodded at this, still looking annoyed at Hermione for invading her date.
Hermione smiled grimly when he said this. "Maybe so, but I have a way of convincing her thanks to us discovering her little secret last year."
Daphne looked between them, confused. "What secret of hers did you discover?" Hermione looked unsure as to whether she should tell her or not, but Harry had no qualms and trusted her.
"We discovered that Rita Skeeter is secretly an unregistered beetle animagus. That's how she manages to spy on people so well, and how last year she managed to get so much information on us." he explained quietly. Hermione gave him a look that clearly told him she would be having words later, but nodded.
"Ok then," Daphne said, "We had better get going, don't want to keep her waiting. Where are we meeting her exactly?"
"Erm..." said Hermione slowly, looking around the pub as if searching for something, and then raising her hand to point. "Right there." She was pointing to a table nearby, and when Harry looked over he saw Rita Skeeter looking around impatiently, and Luna Lovegood sitting there calmly.
"What's Lovegood doing there?" Daphne demanded.
"The article is going to be published in the Quibbler, so I asked her to come seeing as her dad is the editor." Hermione answered.
"Oh yeah? And have you told Skeeter about this?" Daphne replied with a smirk on her face. Hermione went red and Harry chuckled. She had a good point; The Quibbler was very widely seen as trash, and there wasn't any chance that Rita would be happy about writing an article for it.
"I was planning on telling her before we began," Hermione replied, clearly a little miffed that she was being criticised. "It's not like she'll have much choice, we're basically blackmailing her, not that you should think of it that way." she added hastily when Harry started to frown. He didn't like the idea of blackmailing somebody, however she was a nasty woman so he felt less bad about it.
"Let's do this then." Harry said, getting up and walking over to Rita and Luna's table with Daphne and Hermione at his side. The table was small so they had to get some extra chairs, and once they were settled Hermione spoke to Rita.
"As I've already told you Rita, you are going to listen to Harry as he talks about his experience last June. You will not ask any inappropriate questions, you will not note down any lies, and you will not try to negotiate any sort if fee, as you aren't getting any. Is this all clear?"
Rita glared hatefully at her, chewing on her quill like she was hoping it would suddenly become Hermione's neck, and then replied to her. "Fine, but there's just one thing I don't understand out of any of this. What is she," gesturing at Luna "doing here?"
Daphne smirked once again, and Hermione calmly replied. "Her father is the editor of The Quibbler, the magazine we intend to give the article to exclusively."
As Rita out on a horrified expression, Luna joyfully said "Yes, daddy is very excited to get the article, although we'll have to see if he can fit it into the next issue; it is full of new information about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks."
Rita looked like she wanted to strangle Hermione, and Harry smiled. "If you think for one second that I am writing for that rag..." Rita began.
"Don't forget, I am extremely close to sending an anonymous letter to the Ministry concerning you and a certain beetle." Hermione interrupted. "The article will be published in The Quibbler, and nothing you say can change that."
"Fine," Rita said through gritted teeth "but this had better be worth it."
"Oh believe me, it definitely will." Hermione replied. Rita nodded, seemingly accepting it but still annoyed about not having her way for the first time. She then got out a piece of parchment to take notes on, and took her quill out of her mouth, dipping it into ink.
"So Harry, why don't you start with giving me a list of all of the Death Eaters in the graveyard?"
Harry nodded and tried to remember the information. Hopefully the article would actually have some sort of influence on people like Seamus, as he was absolutely sick of getting told that he was lying about everything.
Break
It had been a week since Harry had had the interview with Rita Skeeter, and he had been informed by Luna that he should expect to see the article appear in The Quibbler, and also that her father had promised to send him a free issue as well. He had thanked her, and was desperately hoping that the article would have a significant effect on all of the people who believed the Ministry. He wasn't delusional enough to hope that everyone would suddenly believe him, but he wanted people to at least read and think about his side of the story instead of just listening the Ministry's.
It was breakfast at the Great Hall, and after a week of waiting the article finally came. He ripped open the brown package, and inside was a magazine, the headline on the front cover saying 'Potter Finally Speaks Out', and a picture of him almost glaring at the camera. He grinned; maybe now people would take him seriously, although he hoped they wouldn't be discouraged by the fact that it was published in the Quibbler.
"Looks good Harry." Ron commented as he looked at it with a mouthful of bacon, and Hermione nodded in agreement. Before Harry could reply he suddenly heard a loud noise and looked up to see a swarm of owls flying towards him. His eyes widened, and when they landed on the table he started to take the letters as they were addressed to him, Ron and Hermione helping him. As he examined the first one he found a message from someone whom he did not know, stating that they had read the article and believed his story. He smiled; it worked apparently, however he had a feeling that not all of the letters would be so positive.
Fred and George came over to help them, and they all said whether the letters they were reading were positive or negative. Harry looked over and saw Luna smiling at him from the Ravenclaw table, and also noticed everyone staring at him, some of them mainly looking at the owls, however some of them were giving him curious looks, as if they had read the article as well, and Harry honestly hoped that they had.
"Hey Harry, this one even sent a photo!" Ron said excitedly. "She said that she never doubted you for one second… wow." Harry examined the letter he was talking about and found that Ron wasn't exaggerating; the woman wrote many paragraphs about how much she believed in him, as if he were a cult leader.
Half way through the piles of letters Harry heard footsteps behind him, however didn't turn around until the person spoke with a slightly annoyed voice. "What exactly is going on here, Potter? Is there a reason as to why everyone wants to contact you on the very same day?"
They all turned around to see Professor Muff standing there, a look on his face that Harry now knew must be faked anger as he had to act as the Ministry's spy in front of the entire school. He knew this, however was still mad at the man, and, trying to control his rage looked up at him and spoke.
"It's not exactly a crime to get mail, and is frankly none of your business." Harry slowly said to him, trying not to lose it there and then. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to find Tom standing there, looking extremely tired and like he had just got out of bed. He knew that this was because Tom had spent the last week since he bought the portkey in Knockturn Alley preparing it so that he could travel back in time. As he thought about it, he remembered Tom saying that he didn't want to us the portkey back because, while it would take no longer than a week, it would drain him completely. This explained his terrible appearance.
"Don't get too angry at him," Tom whispered quickly, even though no one else could actually hear him. "You could get into more trouble than you think. I know what he did, but you need to forget that now. At the very least, do not physically attack him."
Harry nodded slightly just as Muff began to speak again, looking even angrier than before. "Excuse me? I think that you need to have a few detentions to teach you some respect, Potter, so you can come to my office every evening for a month, and I'm in fact letting you off easily. Is that clear?"
The whole Hall was already staring at him in disbelief when he spoke first, although Hermione suddenly looked a lot more interested at his spite for Muff. Ron was simply gaping, and Fred and George were giving him thumbs up. However what he said next made everyone listening gasp.
"I don't think so. I will not be coming to your office for detention at all, let alone for a month. If anything you should be punished for invading my privacy, so don't try and give me detentions."
Harry looked at the Head Table and saw Dumbledore with a slightly sad look on his face, but surprisingly the Headmaster didn't seem like he was going to intervene as long as it stayed verbal. Tom actually looked amused now, and Fred reached over to clap him on the back in support, causing Professor Muff to also glare at him.
"That is enough; I will not tolerate such behaviour! You shall attend a detention with me every evening for the rest of the year, and this is not debatable in any way!" Muff practically yelled, spit flying from his mouth.
That was the limit for Harry; he could no longer hold back his anger so much, and so let it out at Muff immediately. He slowly stood up, glaring at Muff the entire time. Muff actually seemed to falter slightly, possibly because he was remembering why Harry hated him so much. Harry took his time and chose his words carefully, and then let it out in a scream.
"I will not be doing anything at all with you, idiot man! You have no right to order me around, and if you even think that I will serve detentions with you then you are even stupider than I thought you were. You are a stupid little man, and you deserve no respect at all!" With that final yelled insult Harry pushed past Muff, making the man stumble, and walked off in the direction of the door, Tom slowly following him. He entire Hall was still staring at him, but even though he did not look back he knew that Muff was simply staring at him, unable to say anything out of extreme guilt.
Break
Harry walked over to his bed and collapsed on it a few seconds before Tom also walked into the dormitory and sat down on his bed. Harry pulled himself into a sitting position and stared at a tin can on Tom's desk that was glowing blue. He recognized the tin can from Knockturn Alley, and knew that it was Tom's ticket to his time.
"So, that's your portkey home?" Harry asked, gesturing to the tin can. Tom looked at it and frowned slightly.
"How do you know? I only just bought it last week and didn't show it to anybody." Tom said confusedly. Harry went red, suddenly realising what he said and trying to find some sort of explanation. No convincing lie came to mind, and, hoping that Tom wouldn't get to angry when he heard it, he decided to tell the truth to him.
"Well, when you went to Knockturn Alley I accompanied you under my invisibility cloak, although I didn't manage to grab hold of you when you apparated back so I was left there and had to get to school using floo powder and a secret passageway."
Tom raised his eyebrows, more interested than angry to Harry's immense relief. "Interesting, I should probably be more paranoid if people, even as weak as you, are managing to secretly track me to somewhere." Harry glared at him because of the comment about him being weak, but then decided to ask a question that was bugging him quite a lot.
"When exactly are you planning on using that portkey?"
"Towards the end of June probably, maybe after your OWLs are finished. I don't have an exact date however, although it doesn't really matter because I have it ready and I can leave any time I want."
Harry nodded in response, preferring not to say anything. Tom then spoke again after being quiet for several moments. "This time I have put extremely strong charms on my way home however, so there is no chance of it being destroyed like it was last time." He said this while looking straight into Harry's eyes, but Harry tried very hard to not look away, and to look innocent.
"Wouldn't want that to happen." Harry muttered. Tom chuckled slightly, and then nodded.
Break
"My lord, do you want us to bring the werewolf to you so that you can put him back under your control?" asked a Death Eater that was kneeled at Voldemort's feet. Voldemort considered this for a moment before replying to him.
"No, I have decided to use a different curse this time, and I still have to sacrifice someone for this. You will need to bring him to me after the sacrifice, and you shall be told when this is."
The Death Eater nodded and then asked "Would you like me to bring in a muggle or a wizard for you to sacrifice then, my lord?"
Voldemort shook his head. "I cannot use any random person for this sacrifice, this particular curse requires that the person sacrificed is the closest friend of the victim, and Lupin's closest friend is clearly the mongrel, Black."
The Death Eater frowned at this. "But my lord, isn't Black at the moment –"
"I am aware of that!" Voldemort interrupted. "This shall not be a problem however; we can still kill him and then have two spies in the Order of the Phoenix."
"Two spies?" the Death Eater asked. "My lord, surely you do not believe that Snape is loyal, he betrayed you."
"At the moment I am confident that his loyalty lies with me, however if that does change, which I doubt, then I shall know and I shall make him pay." Voldemort spat out the last part with rage, clearly still furious about the Death Eaters that had dared to leave or betray him.
"And what about Muff my lord?"
"Muff will not last the year as teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts, none of them do, and once the year ends I shall accompany a raid on his home, where we shall torture and kill him, leaving his mutilated body as a message. Now leave, I have business to conduct."
The Death Eater got up, bowed to the Dark Lord, and then walked away shakily, the same as anyone who has had a conversation with Voldemort.
Break
In the past week everyone had been whispering about Harry, mainly about the article, but also about the fact that he had shouted at a teacher, the one that was the biggest threat to him as a representative of the Ministry, and had got away with it. One student was even stupid enough to go up to Muff and tell him that he was a terrible teacher, and to everyone's amusement the student got detentions for the rest of the year, and was banned from Hogsmeade for the same length of time.
Several people had also approached Harry and told him that after reading the article they were inclined to finally believe him, and even Seamus, after telling him that he didn't believe him at the beginning of the year now said that he believed him, also having sent a copy to his mother.
Currently Harry was walking towards McGonagall's office for a Careers Advice meeting, something which he had thought about deeply before coming to the conclusion that he wanted to be an Auror, as long as the Ministry grew a brain by then, not that he was going to say this to her. He was really interested in discussing it with her as he wanted to know what grades he needed to get to become an Auror, and what he would have to go through.
When he got to her office he knocked on the door once and opened it after she said "Enter" from inside. After he closed the door he turned around and found that sitting at the desk was Professor McGonagall, and next to her was Professor Muff. Harry had not spoken to him since the article was published and he had yelled at the man, not that he wanted to even look at him. He walked over and sat down at the empty chair, and then waited for one of them to begin speaking.
"Well Potter, let's get to the point quickly. What exactly are you thinking of doing when you leave Hogwarts?" McGonagall asked him. Muff didn't say anything, content to sit there and scribble on a parchment, presumably taking down notes about the meeting so that he could show it to the Minister.
"I want to be an Auror." Harry said firmly. Muff looked up for a second, an interested look on his face, but he did not say anything. McGonagall looked quite happy with the answer, and spent the next ten minutes discussing the subjects which he would need with him, and exactly what kind of training he would have to go through to become an Auror.
When the meeting finally finished and McGonagall had told Harry that if he worked hard she was confident that he would succeed in becoming an Auror Harry got up to leave. When he walked to the door however, Muff spoke for the first time. "Your father would have been proud."
Harry turned around, a surprised look on his face. He suddenly felt pride in himself that he was being told, even if it were by the killer of his grandparents, that his father would be proud if he were there. McGonagall was nodding, and Harry hesitated before saying "Thank you." He then turned back around and walked through the door, closing it behind him and walking aimlessly down the corridor.
Break
Harry, Ron and Hermione stared in shock at the enormous figure in front of them, and then turned back to Hagrid, all of them not sure what to say.
"Hagrid, is that a giant?" Harry asked after a few minutes of silence. Hagrid smiled and nodded joyfully.
"Yep, brought him back with me when I went teh visit the giants. He's… my little brother."
Hermione looked at him incredulously. "Little brother? Little?"
"Why did you bring him Hagrid?" Ron asked. "Why didn't you just leave him there? I'm sure he was happy with other giants!"
Hagrid frowned. "He wasn't, they – they bullied him. I couldn' bear ter leave him, and he's the only family I have."
"This isn't going to look good if he's discovered. And why are you showing him to us anyway? You should keep him secret." Hermione said to him.
"If anything happens ter me I need the three of yeh to look after him. Muff wants ter fire me, and I can' leave Grawp alone."
"Don't worry Hagrid, we'll take care of him." Harry said confidently, fully aware that Ron and Hermione were staring at him.
Break
It was June and the OWLs were taking place for all of the fifth years. The examiners had been very impressed with Harry in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and he was quite sure that he hadn't done too badly in most of them. That day they had a History of Magic exam, and Harry was less worried because he knew that he was going to fail for sure.
The previous week Harry had received a package from Sirius, and inside was a mirror. He read the note and it said:
Dear Harry,
I want you to have this mirror as a gift from me. It is not a regular mirror, but is in fact a two way communicator; I have the other one. Your father and I used to use them while we were in separate detentions, and if anything happens I want you to contact me with it. All you have to do is say my name into it and I will appear. If I try to contact you then the mirror will vibrate and glow blue.
Hope your OWLs go well.
Snuffles
So far he had not used it at all as he had been too engulfed in studying for the OWLs, however he was planning on talking to Sirius through it after they finished. He had not seen him since the last summer, and desperately wanted to talk to him.
After the History of Magic exam finished Harry sat outside on the grass reading a book, while Tom was in their dormitory, running some tests on the portkey he had made to make sure that it was functioning properly as he was planning to leave in a couple of weeks.
Suddenly, the door to the dormitory burst open and Tom jumped of his bed instinctively as Harry rushed in. His eyes were wild and he looked terrified. Tom went up to him, and before he could say anything Harry grabbed him by the shoulders and shrieked "You have to save him! You have to help me save Sirius!"
Tom frowned at him, not understanding what was going on. "Calm down, and start from the beginning." he instructed, pulling Harry's hands off his shoulders and looking at him. Harry nodded and breathed heavily before continuing.
"Sirius, my godfather, sent me a mirror last week. It was a way for us to communicate, and after the exam today he used it. He was in a place I didn't recognize, and he told me that the Death Eaters lured him into the Department of Mysteries, and that Voldemort was going to kill him! He tried to say more but he fell to the floor and the mirror shattered, cutting me off. We have to go and save him!"
Author's Note: I put up a poll a while ago, and it is still up and available, to decide whether at a certain point I would use the same story but do part 2, or at that point write a sequel. Right now that poll is extremely important as that point is coming soon. I am leaving the decision to the readers, whether I will write a multi-part story, or whether I will write a sequel. I promise that if it is a sequel then it will be long enough to be considered a separate story. Please vote on the poll with your decision, and please review, as I am getting a lack of them lately which is crushing my inspiration. Anyway, thanks for reading, and hopefully expect the next chapter to be out soon, although I cannot promise anything.