Harry
"Harry would you open the damn window already! That bloody bird has woken up everyone in the castle besides you!" Ron Weasley was shouting from the other side of the first year Gryffindor boy's dormitory.
"Hmmpff what?" Harry barely got the words out as he rubbed his eyes. He had been up almost the entire night reading and judging from the dried drool on the side of his mouth along with the book sprawled across his lap he had apparently fallen asleep at some point.
"There is an owl for you at your window! It has been pecking at the glass for the past ten minutes!" Ron said to him looking angry.
"Oh sorry, I didn't hear it," Harry apologized, getting up from his bed and moving to the window. The owl was his father's' black barn owl Moonswing. As it hopped in through the window and flew over to his bed he could see that the owl was carrying a large package attached to his foot.
That's weird. He thought to himself. I thought mail time was only during breakfast in the Great Hall.
"What is it?" Ron asked curiously from across the room.
"Sod off Ron," Harry said closing the curtains around his bed. Ron was only ever interested in something if there was a possibility he might get something out of it. He took the package off of his father's owl's leg and fed it one of Hedwig's owl treats.
"Don't tell Hedwig please," He playfully told his father's owl as it snacked on the treat. Hedwig had made it quite apparent in the first few days at Hogwarts that she was the only owl for Harry. He had once used a school owl to mail a letter since Hedwig had still been off hunting. Hedwig had been so jealous that she had made it a point to chew a number of holes in all of his school robes. Since then he had learned his lesson.
Taped to the package was a letter that he could tell was written by his father based on the poor handwriting. The way the package had been poorly wrapped as well also made that apparent, his perfectionist mother would have had a heart attack seeing a package wrapped this way. Anxious and curious to know what was inside he took the letter off of the package and opened it up to read:
Dear Harry,
First off let me start by saying that you never got this package, and you especially never got this package from me. I very much like living and if your mother found out… well like I said, I very much enjoy living. Sirius and I were cleaning out some old boxes in the attic the other day while we were looking for the Halloween decorations (you know how your mother is with holidays) when we stumbled across a box of some of my old school stuff. One of the things we found was one of my most prized possessions that I had during my time at Hogwarts. My father gave it to me when I went to off to Hogwarts so I figured it was only right to make it a tradition and give it to you. Plus Sirius and I are too scared of your mother to actually put it to any good use here. Hopefully you will be able to find something 'fun' to do with it. Use it well.
Also congratulations on making it to the finals in the dueling tournament. Dumbledore was over at the house the other day taking a look at some of the research your mother and Hemera are doing with their work project and told us all about how well you did. I must confess I was impressed but not surprised when he told us you were using upper level transfiguration spells during your duels. You should look in the library for the book Moby Morph's Transfiguration for Dummies. I thought I still had a copy lying around here somewhere but I couldn't find it. I know it has a cheesy title but Sirius, Remus, and I pretty much learned everything basic about transfiguration from that book, it really is pretty good. I'm sure your mother will be sending you a letter congratulating you on the tournament as well so act surprised when you get it. She also tore into Dumbledore quite a bit when she found out you had to take a trip to the hospital wing so if Dumbledore comes apologizing to you about it that's why. Next time aim for Snape by the way!
Anyways keep up the great work, your mother and I are so proud of all that you have accomplished already. We both love you so much, and make sure you write your mother sometime soon to let her know your plans for the holiday break, she is already making tons of plans!
Lots of Love,
Dad
P.S. If your mother ever finds out about this you make sure to tell her not only was it Sirius' idea, but he also had me under the imperius curse and made me send it!
Harry couldn't help but smile and laugh at the letter from his father. From all of the stories he had heard growing up about his father and the Marauders he knew that they had quite the reputation for mischief during their time at Hogwarts. Ever since Harry could remember though he had only experienced that side of his father a few times. His mother had certainly tamed his father since his days at Hogwarts. He put the letter from his father to the side and opened up the poorly wrapped package on his bed.
Inside the package was a large cloak that was made from a very smooth purple and gold silk. He lifted up the cloak and checked the rest of the package to see if there had been something wrapped inside the cloak but he could not find anything else. To say he was confused was an understatement. Was this a prank from his father? It wasn't a very funny one if it was. He read the letter again to see if he missed anything the first time through but was unable to find anything.
"Maybe it has a warming charm on it or something?" Harry whispered to himself. He wrapped it around himself. It did feel warm, but not any warmer that what a normal blanket would have. Plus all of their blankets at home had a warming charm on them why would his father be so secretive about sending him one. He couldn't think of anything else though.
"Maybe I'm still missing something. . ." He decided to read the letter one more time. Maybe his father had put some hidden message into it in case someone else read the letter. He reached out for the letter again. "BLOODY HELL!" he shouted way too loudly. Knowing that everyone in the dorm probably heard that, he pulled out his wand quickly. "Muffliato," he whispered the spell on his curtains to make sure no one would be able to hear him again.
Looking down at where his arm should have been when he reached out for the letter instead was nothing. Looking over his entire body the only thing that was visible was one of his feet that was seemingly floating at the end of his bed.
"It's an invisibility cloak!" he said again to himself amazed. He had read about magical items like this before but he had never actually seen one. Invisibility items were extremely rare. From what he remembered reading most magical items that were enchanted with invisibility only lasted for a few seconds and did not completely make the wearer fully invisible. This one however was not fading at all and he was completely invisible.
He moved the cloak around testing it out for a little while. It was truly amazing. Whenever the cloak covered part of his body, that part immediately turned invisible. However, when it was just lying on his bed it looked no different than any other blanket. The cloak also seemed to stretch and shrink depending on what he was looking to do with it. He stood up on his bed, ducking slightly to make sure no one could see him over the curtains, and put the cloak over his head. The cloak grew in length to reach all the way to the floor covering his ankles.
He then tried to put the cloak in his pajama pockets and it shrunk down to the size of a handkerchief until it fit. Now a few of the adventure stories that Sirius had told Harry that he had thought were impossible suddenly seemed a lot more realistic with a cloak like this. Sirius had told him one time that he and his father once snuck out of the castle at night and went to Hagrid's hut and knocked on Hagrid's door every five minutes hidden under the cloak. Sirius had said that Hagrid had gotten so mad that after the eleventh time they knocked he came out with a crossbow and took the door off its hinges. Apparently his father had started laughing so hard that Hagrid had almost shot at them with the crossbow.
He had assumed a lot of stories like that Sirius and his father had stretched the truth or made up just to entertain Harry growing up, but with a cloak like this it would be easy to sneak out of the. . . The thought hit him like a train.
"SNEAK OUT OF THE CASTLE!" he shouted out, again probably way too loudly. Luckily his muffliato spell was still active though and no one in the dorm seemed to complain.
That was it! The cloak! It was the perfect way for them all to get into the forest and back into the castle without getting caught! The three of them had been wracking their brains since the day of the tournament trying to come up with a plan. Hermione had even started to try and learn seventh year disillusionment charms when they felt they were running out of options. This was the perfect plan though.
The cloak could easily stretch over three of them he figured. As long as they made it into the forest and back before curfew the front gate would be open and they could just walk back in unnoticed. If there was a monster in the forest there was no way it would be able to see them under the cloak. They could just cast a silencing spell on the cloak and wait for the monster to go away. It was perfect!
Harry jumped out of his bed pulling the curtains aside and went to quickly put on some clothes. He had not been this excited in his time at Hogwarts since Hermione and Marik had asked him to be their friend the day of the dueling tournament. He had to go to the Great Hall and wait for them at breakfast to tell them! After pulling on his Gryffindor sweater and some jeans he stuffed the invisibility cloak into his pants pocket and started out of the dorm.
"What are you in such a hurry for?" Neville asked him while rubbing his tired eyes from the bed next to Harry's.
"Nothing Neville, just ready to go get some breakfast," Harry said, technically not lying.
"Breakfast isn't for another hour Harry, go back to bed mate. It's the weekend, enjoy your sleep," Neville said rolling over and putting his pillow over his face. Neville was right; breakfast didn't start for another hour Harry realized as he looked as his watch. He was too excited though to just sit here and wait. He decided he would go to the Great Hall anyways. While he waited for them he could work on his astronomy end of year project. He grabbed his wand and his astronomy notes and made his way out of the empty Gryffindor common room towards the Great Hall.
Harry was used to being the only one walking around the castle. Since back in the first few weeks of classes when he had decided to increase his studying and practicing he had made it a point to wake up early and go to the library whenever he could to get some reading and research in, or go to a practice room and get some practice spells in. Ever since he had started doing that along with now having two friends who often joined him, Harry had seen a notable increase in not only his learning and performance, but his magic as a whole.
Marik had been absolutely right in the library when he had told him that they could all benefit from each other a lot more working together versus doing things on their own. Already Harry thought he had learned triple the amount in the month of October than he had in September.
Hermione and Marik each worked just as hard and many times even harder than he did. Just seeing how they studied, practiced, and worked had pushed him to be better more than he would have previously thought possible. While they all seemed to be fairly equal on overall magical abilities Hermione had distinguished herself as the best in potions out of the three of them. She had been helping him with Snape's assignments almost every day in return for him helping her with transfiguration, which although Marik wasn't ready to admit yet, Harry thought was the subject that he had the biggest lead in.
Hermione's help in potions had helped so much that even Snape had given Harry a compliment on his wideye potion's results, and thanked Harry for taking more after his mother than his father, which Harry assumed was meant as a compliment. Hermione was not the only one helping him though. Marik and Harry had also been exchanging a lot of information and learning a lot from each other. As promised Marik had taught Harry the spells incarcerous, incendio, and stupefy that Marik and Hermione had used on him during the tournament in exchange for him teaching them the transmorgo spell and the plethora of different ways it could be used.
After making Harry promise not to tell anyone, Marik and Hermione also told him that they were getting private lessons with Quirrell a few times a week. Their lessons with Quirrell were how they had learned and practiced so many advanced dueling techniques and other spells.
At first Harry had been upset that they hadn't told him about the lessons sooner and let him come along, but Hermione had told him that when Marik had told her about it Professor Quirrell had almost stopped teaching Marik altogether. The two of them had to promise to Quirrell that they would not tell any other students and especially not tell any teachers about the lessons or he would stop working with them. After Hermione and Marik had promised Harry that they would share with him and teach him everything they learned in their private lessons Harry was okay with it. After all Professor Quirrell wasn't one of his favorite teachers anyways so he was fine not having to spend more time with him.
While the access to new magic information was great, the greatest thing about being friends with Hermione and Marik was that they all have a similar thirst to know and learn everything they could about the world of magic. Unlike Hermione and Marik, he had grown up in a world that had always been filled with magic. So because of that he had the thirst to know not only everything about the world he had seen and grown up with, but also to obtain the abilities to go beyond that.
Even though Hermione and Marik were muggleborn and had not grown up around magic, they both still shared a similar mindset and goals to what he did. They shared his common thirst to learn everything about the magical world.
For them it was about discovering everything they could in this new world they had been brought into. Both of them were just as competitive at becoming the best at everything they discovered as he was. That competitive drive between them had pushed all three of their studying, research, and abilities to a whole new level. Through his friends Harry had even been able to come up with another end of year project as a result of their intense study sessions. That was the project he would be working on until Hermione and Marik made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast.
After making the short walk from the Gryffindor Common Room he arrived at the empty Great Hall and grabbed a seat in the middle of the Gryffindor table; facing the entrance so he could keep an eye out for his friends. That still sounded weird to him every time he said it, he actually had friends.
He opened up his Astronomy books and began looking further into his research. Marik had actually given him the idea for his astronomy end of year project a few days ago when the three of them had been talking about their classes during dinner. Marik had made a comment about how he wanted to take astronomy as soon as he could take two electives so he could learn how to enchant the ceiling above his bed to look like the Great Hall's ceiling.
Since then Harry had been looking into making a portable galactic way-viewer. The idea behind it was to enchant an object to show you a real-time interactive image of the cosmos that you could carry around or project where ever you wanted. As far as he and Hermione had been able to find out so far there wasn't anything like it out there.
Hermione said that muggles had a thing called a planetarium that was kind of similar to his idea. She explained that it was also projected onto a ceiling, although it was not really interactive and certainly not portable. He had also spoken to Professor Sinistra about it and she seemed very intrigued by the idea. He was hoping that he would be able to find a way not only to get the object he enchanted to show an accurate real-time cosmos on command, but that the user would also be able to touch, change angles, zoom in or out, and basically move around the galaxy wherever and however they pleased.
His progress so far was slowly making him realize that this project might be a long term project that he might not be capable of finishing this year. He figured though if he could at least get a few parts of it done that he would still be able to turn some of his idea in for his end of year project. Then maybe he could finish the final copy for a future year's end of year project. With that in mind he had been looking to get started at least trying to figure out how to get an object enchanted to project a real-time image of the milky-way galaxy. So far he had not had much luck. He was currently reading a book about the known enchantments of the Hogwarts castle hoping he could find some of the spells used on the Great Hall's ceiling, but it was proving to be a difficult topic to find much information on.
He got lost in his work for a while until the first arrivers to the Great Hall grabbed his attention. He was disappointed to see that it was just two Hufflepuff girls though and not his friends. After getting disappointed he went back to his work. His eyes glanced up at the door anxiously each time he saw someone come through the doors. Finally after what felt like days Harry saw Hermione walk through the doors.
"HERMIONE! COME HERE NOW!" Harry yelled across the Hall failing to notice how loud he was and how many eyes were now on him. Oops he thought to himself. Hermione, now with a slight blush on her face, made her way towards where he was sitting.
"Bloody Baron Harry, It's good to see you too but what was that all about. You probably woke up half the castle," Hermione said to him, her warm usual smile plastered on her face.
"Sorry I've been in here anxious and excited all morning now. It kind of just came out that way," Harry said, trying to contain himself.
"Why have you been here all morning? And what are you so excited about?" Hermione asked him, the blush on her face being replaced by a look of curiosity.
"Not yet. Let's wait until Marik gets here," Harry told her.
"Okay well. . . happy Halloween by the way Harry!" Hermione replied.
"Oh yeah, happy Halloween Hermione," Harry responded. He honestly had not realized it was Halloween in all of his excitement. As he looked round the Great Hall he noticed he had somehow managed to miss all of the decorations.
"So what are you working on? Or is that what we are waiting on Marik for?" Hermione asked him as she looked over his notes and books.
"No it's not. Just doing more research on my astronomy project; I found a few of the enchantments that were used on the ceiling but that is it so far. They look pretty tough, and have a lot of properties based on surface area and the makeup of what they are placed onto so I'm really going to have to get creative in finding a way to make my idea work," Harry said, realizing again how much work he had to get done if he wanted to make this project happen.
"Well it's good that you are at least getting going. I'm still at a dead end with my history of magic project. I can't think of anything outside of just presenting a paper on something about history, but that seems obvious and simple. It's not like I can cast a history spell or anything ya know?" Hermione explained, looking frustrated.
"Yeah, I have no idea for that one either; I honestly may end up just doing that. I was thinking about going to a muggle museum that my mother took me to in the town she grew up in over the holiday break. I want to try and see if maybe I can get any ideas from there," Harry responded.
"That's actually a really great idea Harry. I live right by a pretty big museum maybe I will have to do the same. Thanks for the idea!" Hermione said with a pretty smile on her face. "Hey look there's Marik," Hermione finished. Hermione and he waived Marik over as he made his way into the Hall.
"Hey guy's, what are you both doing here so early? I thought for sure I would be the first one here," Marik asked them as he sat down.
"Apparently Harry has a big secret. He has been making me wait for you for forever now before he will tell me!" Hermione told Marik. She always looked cute when she got frustrated at not knowing something.
"Ooh what's your secret Harry? Are the rumors we heard about you having private training sessions with Dumbledore actually true?" Marik asked him sarcastically, knowing that rumor obviously was not true.
"Shut up Marik!" Harry said. He looked around him to make sure no one was close enough to hear him. Thankfully it was still early enough that the Great Hall was still fairly empty, and anyone there was probably too tired anyways to listen. "Okay, so I have a plan to get us to the forbidden forest and back without getting caught!" Harry told them in an excited whisper.
"What? What is it?" Hermione said in excitement a little too loud.
"Shh Hermione!" Harry said to try to get her to be quieter and avoid any listening ears. "Muffliato" Harry cast the spell quickly just to make sure no one would hear, he would have to talk quick before a teacher came in and noticed the spell. "This morning my father sent me an invisibility cloak. We can use it to sneak in and out of the castle with no one seeing us," Harry explained to Hermione and Marik.
"An invisibility cloak? I thought those were really rare? Did you tell your dad about us going into the forest then?" Marik fired the questions at him.
"No of course I didn't tell my dad that we were going to the forbidden forest! He just randomly sent it. And they are really rare. This one isn't like most of the ones I've read about either. It stretches to however big you need it to be, and shrinks to fit in your pocket. And the invisibility is one-hundred percent and it doesn't seem to fade over time," Harry answered.
"How did your dad get a cloak like that, and why did he send it?" Hermione asked curiously.
"The letter said that he got it from his father, and I don't know why he sent it but I can make some guesses though. My dad and his close friends were known as some of the biggest jokesters and pranksters in Hogwarts history. They used to tell me all sorts of fun and crazy adventures they used to go on sneaking around the school and pulling pranks on people. I guarantee they were able to do so many pranks successfully without ever getting caught because of this cloak though," Harry said to the others.
"So you think it will work? You think it can get the three of us out of the castle, into the forest, find a unicorn, and get back without getting caught?" Hermione asked looking skeptical.
"I do yeah," Harry answered truthfully. "It doesn't muffle sound so as long as we put a silencing spell and maybe an odor blocking spell on ourselves. I think we should be fine," Harry responded.
"Why an odor blocking spell?" Marik asked him.
"Well if there is a monster in the forest killing unicorns I would rather play it safe in case it has a good sense of smell," Harry answered Marik.
"Good call," Marik said with his usual smirk.
"Well it's the best plan we have got so far, so when should we try to do this?" Hermione asked the two of them.
"Today!" Harry answered bluntly.
"What? No way! We haven't had any time to plan or prepare!" Hermione said, again raising her voice.
"Think about it, Hermione, it's perfect. First off it's a weekend so students aren't in classes so we would have an excuse to be outside walking the grounds. Secondly it's a clear day so even if the forest is dense we would have the benefit of a little more light to help us find one of the unicorns' bodies. And it is Halloween, so the curfew is not until after midnight tonight. That would give us more time in case it takes a while to find what we need," Harry replied to Hermione. From the look on her face she was struggling to find a counter argument.
"It sounds like a plan to me," Marik agreed. "When do you think it would be best to leave?"
"I think the sooner the better, probably when everyone is here for lunch would be a good time to slip out unnoticed. That would give us enough time to go grab the supplies and gear we will need to collect the resources," Harry answered.
"I still don't know guys, are we sure this is a good idea?" Hermione asked looking nervous.
"No but it's our best chance if we really want to get these resources. We will be fine. What's that they say? No risk no reward or something," Marik answered Hermione.
"Fine! You both are right, we can't miss an opportunity to get our hands on something so magical because of over planning. We should divide what we are all bringing to make sure we don't end up going all that way for nothing," Hermione said to the group.
"Yeah, I agree. I will obviously bring the cloak; we should all bring a bag that we can enchant with an undetectable extension charm. Marik, you know that one right?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, I do. Capacious extrimus, just do a clockwise wrist twirl when you cast it, it's pretty simple," Marik responded.
"Okay good. Hermione, you are in charge of bringing vials, Marik you bring your chisel, mallet, and small saw, and I will bring as many containers as I can find. Can you think of anything else we may need?" Harry asked the two.
"I can't, no," Marik answered.
"Me neither. If I do I will make sure I bring it. What do you say we meet in our usual practice room on the third floor right before lunch time? That way we can make sure no one sees us get under the cloak," Hermione asked them.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, make sure you wear something that isn't too loose. We will be crammed against each other under the cloak so we don't want to be stepping on each other's clothes. Okay?" Harry asked. Hermione seemed to blush as he said that for some reason.
"Yeah, will do," Marik answered.
"Okay," Hermione added.
"Alright let's go get prepared then. Make sure you're on time to the classroom. The sooner we get started the more time we will have out there," Harry said and the three of them left the Great Hall to get prepared.
When he made his way back to his room he first changed into a more worn down pair of black jeans that he had owned for quite a while along with an old brown sweater his mother had sewn him for his birthday a year or two ago.
Ever since the dueling tournament the three of them had spent a large amount of time researching the many magical things unicorns could be used for. The animarevealo potion was their main idea so far. They would be bringing vials for unicorn blood and containers for unicorn hair that the potion required. While they had not narrowed down any other specific ideas they had all agreed they should bring as many empty vials and containers as possible to be prepared if they did stumble across a good idea in the future. Harry had even found one potion that required flakes from a unicorn horn, so just in case they planned on trying to get a unicorn horn if possible too.
Harry scrounged up every box he could find in his room, and shrunk them down to fit inside his now extremely deep satchel. Thankfully Neville ate a lot of chocolate so Neville's left over candy boxes would actually come in use for once.
After he had packed pretty much everything he could think of that they would need he lastly folded the cloak and put it into his back jean pocket. Looking at the clock he saw it was just about time for him to head towards the classroom. Doing one last scan around the room to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything. Satisfied that he had not forgotten anything he grabbed his satchel and made his way to their third floor practice room.
Just like he had told Hermione they would be the halls were crowded with groups of students making their way in and out of the castle. When he made it up to the third floor and into their practice room he found that he was the last one to arrive.
"You both ready?" Harry asked them as he made his way into the room.
"Yeah, you?" Marik asked.
"Yup, I'm good to go," Harry answered.
"Let's make sure we have everything before we go," Hermione suggested.
"Alright Hermione, I brought about a hundred boxes, some water, some candy in case we get hungry, and an extra pair of socks," Harry answered somewhat sarcastically, Hermione was quite a perfectionist.
"I brought my chisel, hammer, short-saw, some extra vials I had as well, some flasks, a compass, a toothbrush, and of course an extra pair of socks," Marik added.
"Okay, good. I brought as many vials and flasks as I could find as well. And a few books just in case we need them," Hermione said rolling her eyes at them.
"Of course you brought books. You know, for in case the unicorn wants us to read it a bedtime story." Marik laughed as Hermione mentioned that of course she was bringing some books.
"Bugger off, Marik! Let's see the cloak then, Harry!" Hermione said excited. He pulled the cloak out of his pocket and immediately tossed it over himself.
"Wow that is incredible!" Marik said sounding excited.
"You really can't see anything," Hermione added.
"Well they do call it an invisibility cloak for a reason Hermione," Harry joked.
"Oh really? Thanks for that, Harry. Now come on let us under, we should get going!" Hermione said.
He lifted up the cloak and just as it had done in his bedroom that morning it stretched long enough to fit the three of them under it. Once they were all hidden and adjusted they started out of the classroom.
"Try and stick as close to each other as possible until we get out of the castle, the halls are crowded," Harry said to the others as they started walking.
They made their way down the third and second floor into the main hall of the castle without much trouble. On the main floor it was a bit trickier and they found themselves having to dodge a few groups of students as they made their way towards the main gate. At one point they were even forced to hide in a hall's corner for a few minutes while a pair of first year Hufflepuffs were kicking a magical hacky sack around as they walked down the hallway. Eventually though, even with the slow progress they were able to make their way out of the main gate and onto the grounds.
"Harry, I think we should enter the forest over there," Hermione whispered, pointing under the cloak towards Hagrid's hut. "If Hagrid went out looking for the unicorns and whatever killed them he probably left a trail we could follow."
Following Hermione's orders they headed over to Hagrid's hut. There was no smoke coming out of the chimney and no lights were on in the hut so it appeared Hagrid was still in the forest looking for whatever was killing the unicorns.
"We should keep the cloak on in the forest as well; just to be on the safe side," Harry whispered. The other two nodded their heads. The group left the area around Hagrid's hut and made their way into the forbidden forest.
They entered the forest around noon, so outside of the forest it was still a very sunny day. However, inside the forest thanks to the thick canopy of leaves overhead not much light made it through. Just as Hermione had said there might be, there was a clear trail of the half giant's footprints leading into the forest. Slowly the three of them followed the footprint trail deeper into the forest.
Outside of a few crows and squirrels the trio saw no signs of life, monsters, or dead unicorns anywhere. After the first time one of them had stepped onto a twig and loudly snapped it resulting in Hermione screaming, she had decided to walk the rest of the way in the middle of them with her hand firmly placed over her mouth. Even with the silencing spell over them she did not want to risk it. Honestly Harry was playing brave in front of Hermione; the forest gave off quite the eerie aura that made the hair on your neck stand up.
After about thirty minutes of walking Hagrid's trail turned sharply to the left. The group decided to make it easier to find their way back that they should keep following Marik's compass straight north so they just had to head straight south to get back. After about another thirty minutes of walking they finally stumbled onto something.
In the distance there was a giant beast looking thing; way too large to be Hagrid standing next to a hooded figure in a black cloak. The hooded figure was bending over a large white unicorn that lay dead on the ground. Harry and the others all made eye contact with each other and Harry signaled for them to be dead still and dead quiet.
Due to the distance between them and the two figures it was impossible to see exactly what was happening but after a few minutes the hooded figure stood up and stepped away from the unicorn and made its way to the larger figure. Harry could hear the hooded figure say something and then both of them started walking towards the same direction that they had just arrived from. Standing dead still the group waited as the two distant figures came closer.
As the two figures approached it became quite clear that they were not looking at simply just any two figures, they were looking at a large mountain troll walking next to something much smaller. The odd way that the troll was walking, along with its blank facial expressions it appeared as if the troll was being controlled rather than moving on its own accord. Trolls were known to be extremely aggressive creatures to anything but themselves, so the fact that it was not eating the figure next to it told Harry something strange was going on.
The troll and the hooded figure were now close enough where their group under the cloak was able to fully see and try to make out. As they got closer he felt Hermione squirming under the cloak, he turned his head to see her eyes wide. He looked at what her eyes were fixed on.
Under the hood of the cloaked figure was none other than Professor Quirrell! What was he doing out here? And what was he doing so close to a Mountain Troll? And what was he doing with the unicorn?
A thousand questions popped into his head at the sight. Hermione's body was shaking like crazy as they continued to stand there waiting for the troll and Quirrell to move on. Time moved slowly and the dark aura of the forest felt heavier and darker as they waited for the troll and Quirrell to walk away. Even when the two figures were fully out of sight the trio stood planted for another good ten minutes just to play it safe. Finally when the coast was clear they broke the silence.
"WHAT THE HELL DID WE JUST SEE!" Hermione whispered frantically. "What was Quirrell doing out here with a troll!" she continued asking and shaking.
"I have no clue, but something seems very wrong with it all," Marik added.
"Do you think that was the monster killing the unicorns?" Harry asked.
"I guess it could be," Hermione added. "But why would it be walking with Quirrell like that? Surely if Hagrid came out here with a crossbow to kill the thing Quirrell would have just killed it," Hermione asked.
"Maybe he is going to use it for some upper level defense class or something," Marik suggested.
"That's a little dangerous don't you think? Mountain trolls are extremely dangerous creatures, and almost impossible to control. There is no way Dumbledore would allow one in the school. I don't even know how Quirrell was able to control it," Hermione said to them.
"What was he doing with the unicorn do you think?" Harry asked.
"Probably the same thing we are. I mean, I thought he might be drinking it for a second but there was no blood anywhere on him or his face. We read that drinking the blood turns the drinker's teeth silver and their eyes red. Quirrell's face looked completely normal," Marik added.
"This all makes zero sense; I don't like this at all," Hermione said through chattering teeth.
"Yeah me either, but let's go to the unicorn. We need to get what we came for and maybe we will find some clues or something there. Let's play it safe and go quick though, I don't want to take any more risks. We should probably keep the talking to a minimum too," Harry said. The other two nodded.
They made their way over to where the unicorn was and he noted the wounds definitely looked like something a mountain troll's club would have caused. Harry noticed Hermione shed a few tears as she looked at the unicorn.
"It's okay Hermione, like you said we will give it a proper goodbye." He tried to sound as sincere as he could. He wrapped Hermione into a hug and the three of them just stood there for a few moments.
"I'm okay, thanks Harry. I knew what we were coming out here for and that eventually we would see a dead creature, I just feel sad for the poor thing. I hope that troll really was the monster and Quirrell really was getting rid of it," Hermione said as she wiped her tears.
"Us too Hermione, now let's get going," Marik said taking off his pack. As bad as it may have felt this is what they had come out here for. Harry knew this was how the world worked, it was just the circle of life. It was sad that the unicorn had died, but its magic would continue through all of the incredible things they would be able to use it for.
Harry went to the unicorn's tail and collected as many of its hairs as he could into all of the boxes he had brought. After he had filled them up with more hair than they could ever actually use he went on to help Hermione whose hands were still shaking. The both of them filled up vial after vial and flask after flask full of the silvery blood until they had filled up every vial that they had brought.
Marik during all of this had been slowly sawing off the unicorn's horn which looked to be a little longer than three feet long and about five inches thick at its base. After he finished, they all packed their bags and set forth giving the unicorn a proper burial, like Hermione had requested for them to do. Marik cast a digging spell to create a hole large enough for Harry to levitate the unicorn into. They then buried it and marked the grave with a few stones they found nearby.
"Guys can we make a promise," Hermione said again fighting tears as they all stood around the grave.
"What promise is that Hermione?" Harry asked as he wrapped an arm around her.
"That we waste nothing we collected today, and in respect for the magic it provided us with today we return the favor to the world in its honor. And that one of the first things we look to do when we have the opportunity is look for a way to help unicorns and other defenseless creatures like this. Even if it is just something small; I want to do something," Hermione said, seeming to come back to her usual determined self.
"We promise," both he and Marik said at the same time.
"Cheers to Goonie the Uni! May she gallop across endless meadows of magic! May she neigh forever with her unicorn brothers and sisters! May her magic in the next world forever flow brighter than her mane did in this! May she rest in peace!" Marik said sincerely with maybe just a tinge of humor to lighten the mood.
"Rest in peace," he and Hermione both said at the same time.
Hermione started to giggle for a few seconds before she broke out into full scale laughter accompanied by tears. Harry didn't know what was happening at first but he found himself joining her after a few seconds. Marik joined in shortly after. The three of them stood there dying laughing under the cloak next to the grave until their sides started to hurt and they finally calmed down.
"Goonie the Uni? Really? Marik you have no soul," Hermione said through her last few giggles and tears.
"What? It rhymed! Plus unicorns are supposed to be creatures that bring happiness and joy to people so I figured it would like to be remembered that way!" Marik responded.
"Well I think even a unicorn would be unhappy at a name like Goonie. That's almost as dumb as Marik," Hermione joked sarcastically to Marik, who responded but sticking out his tongue.
"Well she will be missed whatever her name was. And like we promised we will do our best in the future to find a way to make a difference. For now though, let's get back. There is no telling what we might find on our way back after what we found on our way here," Harry said.
The three of them said their final goodbyes and lifted their now much heavier packs over their shoulders. Luckily Hermione had been Hermione and did bring books, because none of them had thought far enough ahead to learn a feather light charm. They might not have made it back if Hermione had not found the spell in a book.
Luckily unlike their journey into the forest their journey outside the forest was much less dramatic. No professors and no trolls this time. As they made their way out of the forest they could see Hagrid's hut now had lights on in the inside and the chimney was smoking. Hagrid was on his front steps putting dressings on what looked to be pretty nasty wound on his shoulder.
"Should we tell him what we saw?" Hermione whispered before they left the edge of the forest.
"No, then he would know we were out in the forest and it would have all been for nothing. We would lose everything we collected, all the magic would go to waste, and we would probably be expelled," Harry answered her. At the word expelled Hermione zipped her lips.
"Well I want to figure out why Quirrell was out there, and why he had a troll with him. Me and Hermione I work with Quirrell alone a few times each week and if he is up to something we need to know," Marik started. "I have a plan, do you guys trust me?" Marik finished. He and Hermione nodded.
"Okay, well let's walk around to the edge of the castle over there before we take the cloak off. That way it looks like we are just walking the grounds around the castle. Don't say anything unless you have too, let me do the talking. If he or anyone asks we were just about to head in for dinner okay?" Marik asked. They both nodded again.
They left the edge of the forest and made their way around the castle walls until they were out of sight from Hagrid along with any other possible eyes before taking off the cloak.
"Okay, follow me," Marik said to them. They followed Marik around the bend of the castle and approached Hagrid's hut.
"Hey Professor Hagrid! Beautiful day outside isn't it? I bet your mandrakes are loving this sun!" Marik said sounding completely like a different person.
"Oi, hi there Mr. Ose you snuck up on me der! Haven't seen you down here since you got lost your first day, how ya been?" Hagrid asked, turning his injured arm away from them.
"I've been good, Professor Hagrid, thanks for asking. What happened to your arm? Did the troll do that to you?" Marik asked and Harry and Hermione's eyes both went wide with shock. What was he doing? He and Hermione were apparently wrong in saying they trusted him.
"Oh I'll be fine tis is nuffin. . . Wait troll? What d'you mean was't a troll?" Hagrid asked, looking suddenly very concerned.
"We were walking around the grounds looking for pumpkins to carve, it's a muggle tradition for Halloween," Marik said with a face that looked about as fake as his story. "Anyways, we saw Quirrell at the edge of the forest with a big mountain troll. We were too far away and honestly much too frightened to ask him what was going on. We figured you and him caught it in the forest for some dark arts project he was doing. Why else would he be bringing it towards the school?" Marik asked in his most innocent voice.
Harry was speechless. In the flick of a wand Marik had turned into a completely different polite person that had just said probably one of the craziest things Hagrid ever heard and made it sound completely innocent.
"HE WAS BRIGIN' IT WHERE?" Hagrid bolted up and grabbed his crossbow from inside his hut. "YOU THREE ARE T'GO 'NTO MY HUT, LOCK TE DOOR 'N YOU DO NOT COME OUT 'NTIL I COME BAC' AND GET YA. UNDERSTOOD?" Hagrid yelled at them with panic and fury.
"Yes professor, of course," Marik said again in his polite voice. Hagrid went running off into the school. The three of them listened to Hagrid and went into his hut and locked the door.
"What the hell were you thinking, Marik?" Harry blurted out as soon as they got inside and locked the door.
"What? I don't think that could have gone any better actually," Marik answered, looking accomplished.
"How did that go good to you? We are now stuck in here for who knows how long with this stuff in our pack, each second out here with it increases our odds of being caught!" Harry argued.
"First, if someone opens our bags all they will see is the normal bag. That's why they call it an undetectable extension charm.
Second, our professor was walking in the woods with a full grown mountain troll. If it is just for an innocent assignment or lesson than we will now know and Hagrid will come back out here saying it is all under control. If it was not so innocent, not only now are the teachers aware but we are probably a little bit safer for it. We couldn't just go into the castle acting like nothing happened. We would be checking every corner making sure a troll wasn't around it and skipping dark arts class out of fear until we failed," Marik replied. As much as it bothered Harry he did have a point.
"It was a stupid plan, Marik, risking everything like that. You are right though. Chances are if Quirrell really did bring that thing towards the school that a lot of people could get really hurt, or end up like Goon. . ." Hermione paused for a second. " like the unicorn."
"We should all shrink our bags and put them into our pockets. Odds are someone might want to question us on what we saw. Harry, you should do the same with your cloak, shrink it and hide it in your bag," Hermione said to them.
"Right. We should get our stories on the same page then too," He added. The group spent the next few minutes shrinking all of their bags and stuffing them into their pockets. They then all went over a full day's story that would cover any question that Hermione could think that they might ask. They agreed, regrettably, that Marik was the best at doing the talking so if they were questioned they would let him do the majority of it.
"So where are we going to brew the potion?" Harry asked breaking the silence while they waited.
"Snape already said we could use one of his potions labs," Marik said calmly as he looked out the window towards the castle.
"You told Snape about the potion?" Harry asked furiously!
"You guys honestly need to learn to put a little more faith in me." Marik rolled his eyes. "No I did not tell Snape about the potion I told him that I would need somewhere to work on my end of year project assignment. He agreed to let me use one of his labs. I am a Slytherin, you know that right?" Marik answered sarcastically.
"Oh, well okay," Harry said, feeling slightly bad for accusing Marik.
"It's not like at this point the potion will be a secret either. When Hermione turns the potion in at the end of the year I think it will pretty clear what potion we were brewing. If it's still a secret then Hermione probably won't be getting a very good grade," Marik said to them.
"Yeah you are right. What are we going to tell them when they ask where I got the supplies to make the potion?" Hermione asked Marik and him.
"That you bought them, Hermione. They won't ask. They will be impressed with the perfect advanced potion you brewed, and give you a 'M' grade. They aren't going to look into how you got every ingredient. If they did that with every project they would be able to grade like one project a year," Marik responded.
"So what do you think Hagr…" Harry started to ask but as he got halfway through his sentence the roof of Hagrid's hut came crashing in. Harry was sent flying onto the grass outside the hut. Much like when Marik's stupefy spell hit him his world had gone completely black for a few seconds and his ears were ringing like crazy.
After a few moments of just lying there on the ground his eyes slowly started to adjust, and his ears stopped ringing.
"What the hell was that!" he groaned as he sat up. On the other side of the hut, where he had been a few moments ago, stood the mountain troll they had seen only a little while earlier in the forest. It had clubbed Hagrid's hut in half.
Harry frantically looked around for Hermione and Marik. He found Hermione about two feet away from the hut running towards him. Thankfully she looked uninjured.
Thank Merlin. He thought to himself as he saw her running towards him. The troll must have missed her. He tried to get to his feet so that he could look for Marik. He reached out his arms to brace himself as he sat up but only his right arm came forward. His left arm was dangling from the shoulder and he was unable to move it. It definitely was dislocated and from the pain he was feeling in forearm it was probably broken too.
"HAARRYY!" Hermione screamed his name as she ran up to him and jumped into him giving him a hug.
"OWWW!" he yelled as she hit his arm.
"Oh I'm so sorry Harry I didn't know, I was just happy you were alive!" Hermione said looking at his arm crying.
"Hermione, where is Marik! We need to find him! The troll is still right there!" Harry shouted.
"Marik is fine, Harry he is over there." Hermione pointed at the troll. Marik much like Hermione had seemed to avoid the troll's club. Outside of his clothes being covered in dirt he looked fine. Well maybe not fine. Marik currently was running towards them throwing spells over his shoulder, each one of which was just bouncing off the troll.
"Guy's we. . . have. . ." Marik started to say as he ran out of breath from running. "Stop it!" Marik shouted.
"Harry, can you cast spells?" Hermione asked him sounding brave and confident suddenly.
"Yeah my wand hand is good," Harry answered. He was in a lot of pain at the moment but he would be in a lot more pain if they didn't stop the troll that was currently heading towards them.
"Any ideas?" Marik asked the two of them.
"Stunners won't work, the troll's hide is too thick," Hermione shouted from their left.
"Marik throw an incarcerous at its feet and try and trip it up. Hermione send an incendio as powerful as you can at its club. Okay?" Harry ordered and started to look around for any more ideas.
"Right!" They two of them responded. As the troll started slowly running towards them they went on the offensive.
"Incarcerous!" Marik shouted. Tons of ropes shot forth from Marik's wand at intense speeds and started coiling themselves around the troll's ankles.
"Incendio!" Hermione screamed out. A flaming jet of fire shot out of her wand and lit the troll's wooden club on fire. Her spell unfortunately was so intense that trickles of flame fell onto the ropes Marik had summoned and began licking at the troll's wrapped ankles.
The troll didn't know what to think. Its eyes were darting between its flaming club and its burning ankles not knowing which was a bigger problem and which problem it should solve first. This was their chance.
"Wingardium leviosa!" He cast the levitation spell on one of the largest boulders he could find, finally settling on the one that Hagrid used as a chair right next to the smashed hut.
The boulder floated straight up as he lifted his wand. He would have to focus all of his power to make this work, especially being currently handicapped. As the troll continued to be distracted by his flaming predicament he brought the boulder over to where the three of them were standing.
"On three I want you both to cast a full-powered deprimo spell at the boulder okay?" he ordered the other two. They both nodded. "One…" He lined the boulder up head level with the troll. "Two… Three!" he shouted out.
"Deprimo!" they all said in unison. He dropped the boulder in midair and the three of them in unison cast the wind-push spell with all of their combined power. The boulder shot forward like a bullet just as the troll broke loose from the flaming ropes around its ankles.
When the boulder collided with the troll's head it never slowed down or altered its path. Instead as the troll's head exploded into a red mist the boulder flew what he guessed was a thousand feet into the forest. The troll fell were it had stood. Dead.
"WHAT DO YOU THREE FOOLS THINK YOU ARE DOING!" The three of them turned, wands raised, from the headless troll at the sound of the shout. They could see all of the professors, noticeably excluding Quirrell, standing behind them. McGonagall had been the one yelling at them. "Do you have any idea how dangerous a fully grown mountain troll is! The three of you could be wizard jelly right now! I hope you…" McGonagall said in a fury, before she was interrupted.
"I am sure these three are fully aware how dangerous a fully grown mountain troll is Minerva… Seeing as they just defeated one. It looks like they had no other choice but to defend themselves judging from the state of Hagrid's hut," Professor Dumbledore said to McGonagall who still seemed about to pop.
" 'Arry your arm looks broken, is 'nyone else hurt?" Hagrid asked the trio.
"No sir, we are fine," Marik and Hermione answered in unison.
"You are anything but fine Mr. Ose and Miss…" McGonagall started again. She always was an overprotective parent when it came to the safety of her students.
"Minerva please, would you be so kind and escort Mr. Ose and Miss Granger back to their dorms where we can be sure they are safe?" Dumbledore said to the transfiguration professor.
"Yes Albus, of course. Come with me!" McGonagall ordered Hermione and Marik.
"Excuse me. Professor Snape?" Hermione asked before McGonagall took them into the castle.
"Yes… Miss Granger," Snape said in his usual insulted sounding tone.
"This may just be the inner Ravenclaw in me talking so I apologize if I'm overstepping, but I could not help but notice the silver blood and hair on the trolls club. It is unicorn hair and blood. I only ask because I know how rare it is but would you mind if I took some samples of it? I am making a potion for my end of year potion's project that has a much better and effective alternate version if brewed with unicorn blood and hair," Hermione asked the professor.
If Harry had not been in front of all the professors his jaw would have dropped. Hermione Granger had just put on a show that made Marik's people skills look like nothing. Harry looked at the club and sure enough the parts of the club that had not been burned were covered in silver blood and unicorn hairs. If Snape said yes there was the alibi for how she got the supplies that Hermione was so nervous about.
"Filius, never in my day did I think I would say this but I am impressed. Fifty-five points to Ravenclaw. Mr. Ose I am disappointed in you especially. Letting a Ravenclaw catch something that you failed to observe. And you too Potter. Your mother was a great potions brewer, you should be more observant.
"The both of you should take notes from Miss Granger here. Yes Miss Granger you can take some samples, such a valuable ingredient should not be wasted. Feel free as well to use one of my potions labs to brew your potion," Snape said to Hermione with almost a smile on his face, if you could call it that. Harry's mind was blown.
Hermione apparently had charmed her bag back to its original size before the professors had noticed or showed up and retrieved a few of the empty vials they had left empty along with another small box. After she had collected her samples she ran and gave him a quick hug before Professor Snape walked her back to her house's dorm, interested to hear more about her potion. Professor McGonagall escorted Marik back to his. The rest of the professors followed their lead, leaving Harry alone with the Headmaster.
"Harry, I hope you do not mind if an old man like me escorts you to the hospital wing?" Dumbledore asked, a twinkle in his eye.
"Of course not, sir," Harry said with a smile. The pain in his arm was growing and forcing a smile up was hard. He followed alongside Dumbledore towards the front gate.
"Harry, I'm afraid before Madam Pomfrey can give you some sleeping potions for your pain we must talk," Dumbledore started to say.
"That's fine sir. About what though if you don't mind me asking?" Harry asked interested in what the Headmaster wanted to talk about. This had been the first time he had spoken to the Headmaster alone. Maybe his father had been right when he said Dumbledore might come apologizing.
"Am I to assume correctly that your parents told you the story of what happened the night Voldemort attacked you and your family?" Dumbledore asked him.
"Yes sir, but only a little. They just told me he died that night from his own killing curse," Harry answered wondering where this was going.
"Yes Harry, well that story is only half right I am afraid." Dumbledore looked sad as he spoke. The pair of them made their way through the front gate.
"I'm not sure I know what you mean sir?" Harry asked, curiously.
"You are correct when you say that Voldemort cast the killing curse on you. However, tonight has proven that you would be wrong in saying that Voldemort died that night."
"What? Voldemort is alive? But how?" Harry quickly asked. He couldn't believe what Dumbledore was saying.
"Yes Harry, Voldemort is still alive. Although, I'm not sure alive is exactly what I would call it."
"What do you mean by that, sir?" Harry asked confused as they made their way further into the castle and turned towards the hospital wing.
"I'm afraid right now I don't have all the answers but it seems Voldemort found a way to avoid death before that night at your house. It seems at some point he invaded Professor Quirrell's body like a virus, possessing him and feeding off of his host to survive.
"From what Hagrid has told me of what he has seen in his searches of the forest it seems that he was using the troll in the forest to kill unicorns so that he would not be cursed, and was drinking the unicorns' blood to survive. It appears that you and your friends were the troll's curse." Dumbledore finished the last part with a smile in Harry's direction.
"Why would he come to Hogwarts though, sir? Why wouldn't he just stay in the forest or go somewhere else to gain strength and survive?" Harry asked the Headmaster, still not fully registering what he was being told.
"As to that I have only theories, Harry. Hogwarts was always the only home Voldemort ever had, so a part of me thinks he will be always be drawn to it. More of me thinks though he was after one of two things." Dumbledore paused.
"What two things, sir?" They made their way to the doors of the hospital wing and Dumbledore stopped.
"Harry what I tell you next I need you to promise me that you will keep it between the four of us," Dumbledore asked, as the twinkle in his eye returned.
"Four of us? I don't get it, sir."
"I can only assume that whatever words are said here tonight will most certainly be shared with Miss Granger and Mr. Ose. Which they should be. Friendship and love are a wizard's most powerful possessions. I only ask that outside of them, you tell no one else, understood?" Dumbledore asked him. His offer seemed fair and honest enough. He was right. Harry probably would share all of this with his friends.
"Yes sir, I promise," Harry answered.
"The first thing he may have been offer I must admit is my fault. A good friend of mine named Nicolas Flamel asked me over the summer to look after his most prized discovery," Dumbledore started. Harry did not recognize the name.
"What was that sir?" Harry asked.
"Nicolas Flamel was the alchemist who made the discovery of the Philosopher's Stone. Have you ever heard of it?" Dumbledore asked Harry.
"No sir."
"The Philosopher's Stone is also known by another name; The Elixir of Life. It carries magical properties that can extend the holders life to seemingly infinite years. As well whatever the stone touches turns to pure gold. It is quite a powerful magical artifact, dangerous in the wrong hands.
"Luckily for the past six-hundred years it has been in the hands of the Flamel family who is one of the few pure families left in our world. Nicolas and his wife after all these years have come to terms and peace with their life so they asked me over the summer to take custody of the stone until I decided what was best to do with it.
"At first I had it stored in a vault at Gringotts but after receiving a tip of a planned break in at the bank I had the stone brought here to the castle. I must apologize that the wizard and alchemist in me wished to keep the stone around to experiment with and do research on. However during the first week of this month thankfully I came to my senses and decided that no good could come from having the stone at Hogwarts.
"I destroyed the stone at once. However I believe one of the main reasons Voldemort chose to inhabit Quirrell's body was because somehow he discovered the stone was here at Hogwarts. With the stone and its power Voldemort would have the ability to gain his old strength and power back. Which I'm sure you can understand would be a very dangerous thing." Dumbledore paused again.
"And what is the second theory you have sir?" he asked the Headmaster, still processing Dumbledore's first theory.
"You," was all Dumbledore said in response.
"Me? I don't understand, sir."
"No doubt you have over the years come to understand, Harry, that to many you are the defeater of the dark lord. You are the reason it is safe to go out at night. To many people, Harry, you are the beacon of hope and their light in the darkness. If Voldemort wants to gain back his power, and extinguish any hope as he did during his initial rise to power he would need to eliminate the biggest thing that inspired that hope."
"Me…" Harry still could not believe what he was hearing
"Yes Harry. It would not surprise me if Voldemort's main mission here was to seek you out and kill you. Thankfully we were able to stop him before this happened."
"Stop him? Quirrell is dead?" Harry asked.
"I'm sad to say so, Harry. Professor Quirrell was a good teacher, and a better man. I wished he could have been saved, but Voldemort's infection of him had been much too deep I'm afraid." Dumbledore looked sad as he said it.
"My friends… I'm not supposed to say anything. But they had been receiving private lessons from Quirrell even before they met me. Do you think it was Voldemort teaching them?" Harry asked. His mind was still a blur at the moment.
"No Harry. I believe that Professor Quirrell was very much himself when he was teaching classes and working with your friends. Although, I must admit I am unsure of the magic Voldemort was using. From what I know about spells similar is that only one mind can be in control of a body at a time. From Voldemort needing unicorn blood to survive I am certain that he would not have the strength to maintain control over Professor Quirrell constantly, but instead only in bursts.
"Quirrell was a good man like I said Harry, I am sure when Voldemort was gathering strength Quirrell was very much himself, and unaware of the demon within."
"Sir, if you don't mind me asking why are you telling me all of this?" Harry asked the Headmaster.
"Because you need to know, Harry. Voldemort is very much alive and one day may find a way back to his full strength. As one of his possible targets you should always be prepared. I hope what I have told you today will add some motivation for you to want to push your studies to learn as much as you can to defend yourself with. Although from what I hear from your professors I am not sure you need much more motivation." The twinkle was back in Dumbledore's eyes.
"Yes sir. Thank you for telling me all of this. It means a lot. And I will do my best to make sure I'm ready if Voldemort does try anything ever again," Harry replied confidently.
"I hope so Harry. For now though you should get some rest. Your parents are on their way, and if I know anything about your mother I think you will want to be asleep when she arrives." Dumbledore winked as he finished talking.
"Thank you sir," Harry said and headed into the hospital wing.
Harry made his way into the hospital wing again for the second time that month. He would make sure to apologize to Madam Pomfrey for breaking the promise to her that he had made. As soon as he walked in Madam Pomfrey set about fixing his arm and his other cuts in a fury. She eventually gave him a sleeping potion that immediately began to take effect. As his eyes got heavy he tried to soak in everything that had happened along with Dumbledore's words.
He would have a long day tomorrow explaining this all to Hermione and Marik, or maybe he shouldn't tell them. He did not want to worry them. Hermione would have them researching all the books that mentioned Voldemort and Marik wouldn't stop making them practice every spell he could find. Harry was happy the way things were right now, he did not want anything to change and risk losing his friends. He would think things over later, for now he was too tired to think anymore. Another yawn came as his mind raced, and soon a deep sleep followed.
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