Friends?

It was a feeling Harry had hoped he would never experience again — a burning sensation engulfed his forehead, the pain stemming unmistakably from his old scar. He thought it was only supposed to be like this when Voldemort was around…

Obviously something sinister was coming, but Harry shuddered to think about what could possibly reawaken his old bond with the Dark Lord. He looked around at his friends, asleep, strewn over the old library furniture, oblivious to what was coming. Harry tried to push down the pain, struggling over to a window that overlooked the entire castle. He gulped, seeing a huge black cloud hanging above the grounds. It grumbled loudly, and lightning occasionally bolted out of the dark cover. Rain, however, was not to be seen falling to the ground as it should. Instead, there was a boy, limping toward the castle slowly, looking lost and alone. His hair was all swept to one side, defenseless against the huge gusts of wind. His arms and legs were skinny to the bone, barely able to propel his apparently starved frame forward.

The look of him reminded Harry of himself really, before his adulthood. His eyes, the light blue color of which could only be glimpsed occasionally when he looked up toward the castle, glimmered with a sense of adventure, even if he was alone and lost. Harry knew he was going to have to go downstairs and unlock the door if he was to save the boy, and, looking around at his slumbering friends, he decided there wasn't any harm in swiping the key from Dumbledore's office if it meant not waking the others. They all looked so peaceful — especially Ron, muttering something unintelligible about chicken wings under his breath.

Finding the door, and sliding it open gently, Harry exited the library and made his way to the moving staircase. He couldn't help but pause very often to look around and soak up all of the old memories emanating from every corner of the building. The staircase even made its old mistake and landed on the third floor once, but Harry, tempted as he was to see if Fluffy was still sleeping soundly over whatever new treasure being safeguarded at Hogwarts castle was, knew that time was of the essence. He quickly found a new path across the stairways and began to make his way toward the grand entrance.

When he arrived, the boy was almost there too, about six feet away in the grass. When he saw Harry, he seemed overjoyed, and with renewed strength he bounded up to the doorway. "Hello! My name's Jake, I'm lost!"

"Well you're fine now!" Harry said reassuringly, opening the doors wide for Jake to enter. "Let's see if we can find you something to eat."

"Okay!" Jake said, "Thank you so much!"

The two soon found their way to the huge kitchens responsible for the always mouth-watering Great Hall feasts. Fortunately, there were no house-elves here tonight, and the place was left just to them, to experiment with the millions of different ingredients found in what would probably be better described as a cold basement than a fridge. "How about a turkey sandwich?" Harry asked, confused enough by all the different kitchen implements to understand that if he tried anything more complicated a fire would most likely ensue.

"Sure, thanks!" Jake said, "Thank you so much!" His voice was much softer now, perhaps diminished by the new fear of wondering what he was going to do next.

"No problem mate. And after this I can introduce you to all of my friends. You'll love them!" Harry said cheerfully.

Harry had always been a sucker for people like Jake — the ones lost and alone, just like he had used to be as a boy. Perhaps he would be able to take him out of that place of darkness and isolation. Perhaps they could both become friends.

Jake swallowed his sandwich almost whole, taking about two seconds to let it slide down his gullet. Harry, on the other hand, was left with his mouth open, about to take his first bite of the one he had made for himself.

"Why don't I eat on the way," he suggested.

It wasn't very long until they reached the library again, as Jake didn't even stop once to admire the building on their way. Harry was surprised. Not even the Fat Lady had given him a start.

"Hello Harry, we were worried about you!" Hermione half scolded, half welcomed the two inside. "We'd have gone out to look for you if we didn't just get Ron to wake up!"

"I told you he was fine Hermione!' Ron rebuked warm-heartedly. "How do you do mate?"

"Fine, thanks." Jake said quickly, shortly. "Where's the old one though?"

Ron, completely unaware of Jake's sudden change in attitude laughed, "The old one's in the bathroom making his morning rounds if you know what I mean!"

Alarm bells began going off in Harry's head at that point. How could he have been so stupid! "I didn't tell you anything about Dumbledore Jake."

As quick as a heartbeat, the world became completely black. Lanterns blew out, windows shattered, and the wind begin swirling like mad, throwing books into walls and everyone into full tilt. The library was like a house caught up in a tornado, everyone inside at the mercy of random fate. Only one or two books were not torn completely apart, and a couple chairs crashed into smithereens against the walls. Luna's head was smashed by a candle flying across the room, leaving a trickle of blood on her temple. Harry's sandwich even flew out the window. "GIVE ME THE RING!"

The new voice coming from Jake was clearly not his own. Gravelly and overpowering, it moved everyone in the room to cover their ears. "Hermione!" Ron screamed above it all, more alert than he'd ever been. "Where is she?!"

"THIS IS YOUR WARNING! I DON'T CARE WHAT THE FOOL IS DOING WITH THE RING NOW, BUT IT'D BETTER BE IN MY HANDS IN THREE DAYS OR I THINK YOU CAN FIGURE OUT WHAT HAPPENS!"

With that, the wind suddenly stopped. Everything swirling around the room, books, chairs, lamps, rugs, blankets, fell to the ground at the same time, leaving the library covered in rubble. Luna was clearly unconscious. Ron and Ginny were about five shades whiter than usual, both fearing for their lives. And the only thing Harry felt more keenly than fear at that moment was guilt. He could he have done that! The boy was an absolute stranger, and his scar had never failed him before, so why did he have any reason to ignore it now? He had gotten much softer since the death of Voldemort, and he let his guard down. He could clearly never let that happen again.

Slowly, a door creaked open. The remaining wizards whipped around at the sound, Ginny shrieking in fear.

"What exactly happened here?" Dumbledore asked.