CHAPTER 9
An Absolute Nightmare
Saturday passed quickly, but it was quite enjoyable. To start with, they had no classes today. Then, Blaire got the catalogue from Flourish and Blotts in the morning, while having breakfast. A short glance through this catalogue showed her that it had a huge number of books on it. She informed the others and hurried to the library where Hermione Granger was already seated at a table, her nose glued to a book. It was as though the girl practically lived there.
Blaire shook her head and sat at the furthest table from hers. The girl was inquisitive for her own good and Blaire didn't want her to get suspicious. She carefully opened her transfiguration textbook and opened the catalogue inside it and began to go through the different books on Occlumency, which was quite easy. On the catalogue, besides the picture of the books' front and back cover, there was a simple summary of the books contents.
There also were reviews and opinions from people who read the books and Dumbledore was one of the people who'd sent their views regarding the books. Blaire also found some book recommendations for learners on the last page of the booklet. Overall it was an interesting read.
By the time Harry, Ethan and Neville joined her, she had written down the serial numbers of some of the appealing books on a piece of parchment. Then she asked them to go through the catalogue and give their opinion.
By midday, Blaire had ticked the books she wanted and she sent the catalogue and her card to the library via Hedwig. They then went back to the library and studied until lunch. After lunch, they left the Hall seconds before anyone else. Professor Snape was waiting in the Entrance Hall.
He gave them a small wink and then scowled as a few more students exited the Hall.
"Detention for your cheek, all four of you!" He snapped. "Meet me in the Potions classroom at 5.00. You will be scrubbing cauldrons the entire evening."
The four of them put on a show of annoyance and disappointment and went back to the library on Blaire's insistance to go ahead with their lessons for the next week. They left the library at a quarter to five and spent the rest of their first day having tea with the Professor. They told him of their opinions of Hogwarts and about their first few classes and, on Harry's request, left out his, Harry's, lessons with Quirrel and the resulting effects.
That night itself, as Harry lay down on his bed, Blaire's voice said, "I just got an owl with the books from F and B! They kept the card though."
"Don't bother going through them tonight, Blaire. Go to sleep." Ethan said sleepily and Harry could practically imagine his sister scowling. Harry laughed with Neville before he fell into a blissful sleep.
But, how easily a happy blissful night could turn into an ominous nightmare in less than a few hours was surprising.
Harry woke up to visit the bathroom while it was still dark. He came back to his brown walled cubicle and seeing that it was still four in the morning, he went back to bed and had just got sleep again when a rough hand forcefully clamped itself over his mouth. Harry woke up with a start and though he breathed in deeply through his nose, he found himself unable to scream, he couldn't even see who his attacker was! Harry felt sheer terror take over him, effectively preventing him from thinking straight.
The person simply waited until Harry could hold the air no longer and breathed out. The hand immediately lifted, however, now Harry didn't have any air in his lungs to scream.
Then it happened all too soon.
His mouth was hastily stuffed with a ball of cloth and something was taped over it. Harry finally began to kick, but he was too late. Hands held his legs down and tied him up. Then his hands underwent the same treatment..
Harry was unable to free himself and the terror returned with full force. And before he knew it, he felt something being tied around his face, particularly over his eyes, effectively covering them. Harry was lifted off the bed by powerful arms and as that happened, he felt rather than heard the bedspread that he had succeeded in grasping on to in his panic, tearing. With his arms restricted, struggling proved futile, but Harry thought he heard glass breaking as the person who carried him banged into his workable and swore.
Then as he forced himself to calm down slightly, he could have kicked himself when the thought of 'mindchatting' finally waded its way into his panic filled head
"Help!" he screamed in his mind, "Blaire, Ethan, Neville! Wake up! Help me! Someone! Anyone! Wake up please!"
But the three of them were too deeply asleep to here Harry and Harry couldn't even let out a sob if he tried.
He found himself roughly jostled for how long, he didn't know and finally he was thrown into something enclosed and small, almost as big as him. Harry let out an unheard whimpered and asked for help again.
"Harry?" Blaire's sleepy voice sounded in his head and he could have jumped for joy. Harry was about to mentally yell for help again, but someone kicked him in his side hard and painful. The pain pushed aside all thought from Harry's head.
He barely registered a steady cold voice say, "Let's see if you can live through this, Potter." And some pungent fumes hit Harry's nose, and fogging his mind, and he could hardly understand anything for a while.
Then it started. He heard a voice, a voice that sounded suspiciously like his father's portrait voice telling his mother to run up and ward the nursery, then Harry heard his mother screaming, even begging, begging for his life and the life of Ethan and Blaire.
He heard the a cruel cold voice laughing and telling her to step aside. He saw that green light all over again and then every humiliation he faced with the Dursleys. And it kept repeating in a cycle. Harry couldn't stop it and the more he struggled the louder and clearer it got.
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"Harry? Harry! Can you hear me Harry?" Ethan called out to his brother for fifteenth time today as he met with a worried Blaire and Neville outside the Great Hall for breakfast.
"What do you think could have happened?" Neville said. "Did we do something to him? Is he angry with us?"
"Harry gets angry alright, but never with us." Blaire said reassuringly. "Do you think the connection between him and us is broken?"
"I hope not." Ethan said. "He may be in the Great Hall already, we are a bit late."
"No, he's not here!" Neville said panicked as he entered the Hall.
"Then he must be sleeping then?" Ethan said hopefully. "Let's keep calling his name until we get a response."
They screamed his name out until Ethan was sure he would get a headache, but there wasn't a sound from Harry. After breakfast, Ethan felt a tiny bit of worry settle in his stomach.
"If he doesn't respond by ten, we're going to tell Professor Snape." he declared when he noticed that is was already nine.
Harry never slept later than eight, he claimed his system wasn't used to it. If he was really asleep inspite of all the noise they were making, then something was surely wrong...Maybe he was ill?
"On a second thought," Ethan said, panicking a little, "Let's tell him now."
They immediately changed course and headed to the dungeons. They rushed to Professor Snape's office and knocked. Luckily for them, there was no one in the corridor.
"Enter!" came the Professor's sharp snap.
Without missing a beat, they entered the room and shut the door behind them. The Professor probably noted the look in their face for he immediately pointed his wand at the door and made some strange, complex movements.
"There," he said quietly, "no one can barge in on us. What is the matter?"
"It's Harry, Professor!" Blaire said without missing a beat.
"What about Harry?" the professor said calmly.
"We think he's ill, Professor!" Ethan said. "He didn't come down for breakfast and he never lies in!"
To their fortune, the professor didn't ask questions, but merely stood up immediately and said, "Come with me."
He walked to the only cupboard in the office and tapped it with his wand. The cupboard slid aside, revealing seven knobs fixed to the wall in a row. The Professor pushed down on the knob that had the number one engraved in it and it split into two halves. The upper half now had the letter B on it and the lower one, G.
The professor now tapped the B with his wand and the bit of the wall that had originally been covered by the cupboard vanished and the Professor walked through. They followed him into a large room with cubicles. Professor Snape lead them to the cubicle which had Harry's name on the door.
When they followed him inside, Blaire received the shock of her life.
It was a fact that Harry was the messiest of the three, but the state of his cubicle wasn't something his untidiness would have achieved, in a week at that! Harry's things seemed to have been deliberately knocked over...the floor was littered with quills, parchments and broken inkbottles and the spilt ink was everywhere. Harry's chair was knocked over and someone had messed around with his trunk, his clothes were thrown haywire and his books were ripped.
Blaire heard Ethan gasp and followed his line of sight to the bed which looked like it had been caught in a hurricane. The bedspread was ripped and the pillow and mattress stuffing was everywhere and Harry's blanket was on the floor.
The professor growled menacingly.
"Blaire," he said sharply, "Go out the same way you came and fetch the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall."
"Yes, Professor." she said and ran off.
...
It was so scary! Ethan wrote in his diary the next day. I thought I would never see Harry again. Now if I go back to think about what happened, it will all seem like a blur.
But the fact was that Harry was missing. I wanted to scream and yet somehow I couldn't. I don't know what I'd do if one of my siblings... Never mind. It's horrible to even think about it! Today simply was an absolute nightmare!
The Professor told us not to touch anything in Harry's cubicle until Harry was found. If we were lucky the mess would give the Professor some clues.
Somehow every teacher, ghost and prefect was involved in searching Harry. All except Dumbledore. He locked himself with the Slytherin students in their common room and he gave them a one-to-one interrogation.
By midday he hadn't yet found the culprit and we hadn't found Harry either. He wasn't even responding to our chats which implied that he wasn't conscious...Hopefully he wasn't injured too badly. Blaire was in tears by now and Neville was on the verge of breaking down. I felt like crying too, but if I did, it would only convince us all that something awful had happened to Harry.
After lunch, the Weasley twins joined in the search and somehow, thanks to them, within no time Harry was found in the innermost dreary cave of the dungeons of Hogwarts...
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Harry Potter had been attacked... By his own housemates, in his own cubicle, in his own bed, the space he would have ordinarily considered the safest place in the castle. And worse, the boy had gone missing until now.
Severus's heart was threatening to jump into his mouth as he ran after Fred Weasley, through the twists and turns of the dungeons and if that was his state, he could just imagine what the young boy's siblings were going through.
What about Harry? Was he hurt? Was he afraid? Was he even alive? Oh, those cowardly attackers were going to pay, Slytherin or not. No one but a Slytherin could enter the dormitories, except on his express permission and, he was most ashamed of his students' behaviour.
Now, he and Blaire, Ethan, Neville and the other Heads of House followed Fred Weasley deep down into the intricate, oldest, cave-like dungeons of Hogwarts. And as they approached a dimly lightled cave, they could hear a commotion echoing eerily.
"-ry!" George Weasley was saying, "Calm down. Please! Help's on it's way, Harry! You'll be ok. Come on, Harry!"
But it looked like Harry couldn't be reassured and Severus couldn't blame him. Who knew for how long the boy had been stuck in there? In a narrow cupboard!?
A simple Alohamora proved futile and that, if possible, worried Severus even more.
Every charm, Flitwick could think of did not work. Severus instructed them all to refrain from using the blasting curse on the lock for there was every possibility that Harry would get hurt and the faint, muffled whimpers from the cupboard were already a bad sign. Severus finally let out a yell of frustration and hit the cupboard with a nonverbal unlocking charm of his own invention and to his surprise, it opened.
No one had the time to contemplate on that spell, for the sight before them was unnerving.
Harry lay bound and tied and gagged and even in this state he was trashing around and he looked conscious but he wasn't able to respond to them. Tears were rolling down his face, he was too pale for Severus's liking.
"Weasley!" Severus said sharply, "Hurry to the infirmary and tell Madam Pomfrey to get a bed ready!"
Both the red-headed boys hastened to obey, for once, and Severus, after casting a few detection charms put his hands in the cupboard and gently eased the trashing boy out.
A dark green vial came into view. It had been knocked over and the fumes of the silvery liquid that flowed out of it left Severus with a chilly feeling in his chest.
"Malignus memoriae." he muttered with barely suppressed rage and moved away from the cupboard.
With a vicious swipe of his wand, he shut the cupboard doors with a snap and immediately, Harry stopped trashing. The boy was still deathly pale and Severus wasn't happy about it.
Filius helped Severus take off the boy's bonds and gag, causing Harry to groan in relief. He placed two fingers on the boys neck and to his consternation, Harry's pulse rate was racing.
With a sigh, he began checking the boy for physical injuries. And apart from the bruising and a slight swelling on his right side, he seemed fine. Whoever was responsible for this would have been tortured to death by him, if Severus had his own way. However he would see to it that they spent the rest of their life in the cell next to that of Sirius Black... underage or not.
"H-how is he, Professor?" Ethan said hesitantly, cutting through Severus's dark musings.
Severus looked up at him and scowled, "Considering the situation he was in, I'd say he's doing quite well."
"What do you mean, Severus?" Minerva, who had her hands on Blaire's shoulders, said.
Severus swallowed in an attempt to compose himself. Heavens! The boy could have gone insane!
"Harry was restrained and locked in that cupboard with an uncorked vial of Malignus memoriae."
"And what is that, Severus?" Pomona asked.
Severus sighed as he conjured a blanket and wrapped it around the small boy and lifted him and stood up.
Without looking at the rest, he began hurrying out of the room and said, "Malignus memoriae is a potion that has been banned for over a century. Inhalation of its fumes gives the victim a feeling akin to that of being close to a dementor."
Sharp intakes of air informed Severus that his explanation was understood by the teachers. He heard everyone rushing behind him and glanced behind and caught the anxious faces of Blaire, Ethan and Neville and said, "Dementors are vile creatures, you wouldn't like to come across. They leave you feeling terrible.
"Now, while this potion does bring back your worst memories, prolonged exposure of more than forty-eight hours leads to terrible aftereffects, including frequent nervous breakdowns, twitching and constant nervousness. Now, we know Harry was in the Great Hall for dinner last night, which means he's been in this, this hell- er - terrible place for less than twenty four hours.
"All that we can hope for at the moment is a not so severe trauma... There is no reverse for this potion while the person is under it's effect and the fact that Harry hadn't yet woken up means he hasn't yet overcome its effects. His waking up rests solely with him and he will need to wake up before the forty eight hours are up. Only once Harry's awake can we give him a potion for the effects. If he wakes up beyond the time limit, the counter potion will be of no use.
"This is just how the potion works. And there has never been a record of this potion being used on children. Back in those days, it was primarily used as a threat to get suspect criminals to confess to their crime. I can only wish for something more than an expulsion for the culprit."
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It was now past curfew and Harry hadn't woken up yet.
Neville, Blaire and Ethan were sitting by Harry's bed in the hospital wing for hours and he hadn't moved, save for a groan or whimper here and there. They couldn't even mindchat with him, but made it a point to send him some encouragements time and again, telling him that what he was seeing wasn't true.
By their side were Lily and James Potter, who rushed in the minute they got wind of Harry's condition. They succeeded in pushing out the stuffy ancient witch from her portrait and took her place. The witch, called Agatha, didn't give in without a fight. Time and time again she would return to portrait with wierd muggle medical equipment and tried to use them on Mr. Potter. His yelps and protests would have been entertaining had the situation not been so dire.
Overall, it was a terrible experience and Blaire didn't think she would be in a position to see one of her siblings in such a situation ever again... Harry looked so frail and helpless. She didn't like it. She didn't like it at all.
Madam Pomfrey, the school matron, had long since healed his ribs and bruises. She was a nice witch who could be very strict when she wanted to. She wanted the three of them to go back to their dorms when it was nearing curfew, but after almost half-an-hour of arguing, begging and flattering, she gave in.
Professor Snape came in for a few minutes every hour. At first, he too shared Madam Pomfrey's initial idea of sending them to bed. Soon, he realised he wasn't going to win against three stubborn first years and he too let them sit.
To everyone's surprise, Dumbledore wasn't able to find the culprit. It was really odd. Professor Snape was furious, but decided that staying and watching over Harry was more important than finding the culprit. They all knew, however, Harry wouldn't be safe until the culprit was found.
...
Harry felt a warm kind of a presence among the ocean of chilling nightmares he seemed to have been suffering from for what felt like forever. It was as though something was trying to get his attention, but was unable approach him.
Harry decided to ignore it for a while and find a way out of this mess he was in. But the presence that had disappeared, returned in a little while. Was that the exit?
Harry angled himself towards the presence. He hoped his accuracy was right, for he couldn't see not hear it. It was just a feeling. He slowly waded through the dark nightmarish liquid all around him which, surprisingly, left him dry. But a large wave pushed him back.
Harry didn't give up. He moved towards that presence again. The closer he got to the presence, the further his mother's screams, his uncle's voice and everything else he didn't want to hear, went.
Harry still had long way to go and that presence seemed to simply appear for a moment and disappear, only to appear again and it kept changing places. So far, Harry notices that it took three specific places. Harry moved forward, and the black liquid began to get shallower and Harry could just make out that the presence had sound.
Now Harry was a little apprehensive. He didn't want to hear his memories all over again. But he had come too far already and he definitely wouldn't find out if he didn't look into it. So, Harry waded forward until he realised that the presence was actually voices. Much to his relief, the voices weren't screaming or yelling, they were gentle and familiar, even loving. Feelng a little braver, Harry moved forward, and he was almost out of the dark liquid.
But suddenly, Harry felt something grab him, pulling him back into the liquid, back to his terrible memories. The moment Harry began to hear his uncle screaming, he started to struggle, now fully convinced that the warm presence was safe. He struggled harder and harder against his restraints and it was after what seemed like an eternity that he managed to escape. He used his remaining ounces of strength to head to those voices.
And the minute he reached the place at which the presence appeared, he heard what the voices were saying...
'Please, oh, please wake up, Harry. You can do it, I know you can."
"Come Har! I don't know how much longer we'll be allowed to sit here. They're sure to chase us out in the Morning."
"Yeah, Harry! We really wanted to be with you when you awake!"
The presence converged on him and Harry let the encouraging voices wash over him.
Then out of the blue he realised he had ears and he could feel. He found out, a second later, that he had a body with arms and legs and fingers and toes. He had a nose and he could breathe. His surroundings smelt like that of a hospital.
Why was he in the hospital? What was happening? What had happened? Those voices! Didn't they belong to Blaire, Ethan and Neville?...His family! Yes, they were his family!... The last time he heard them, Blaire was telling him about the Occlumency books she had received! Ethan told her to wait till morning to read them.
Did they read them in the morning? Harry couldn't remember. Why?... Because he hadn't woken up in the morning! The last time he woke up was to go to the bathroom and when he came back to bed...
Harry gasped in air, vaguely registering that he had a mouth and he opened his eyes... Oh, he had eyes as well! Harry had come back to his senses and he sat up straight in his bed only to be gently eased back to his sleeping position again. Now Harry realised that he was on a bed and he was safe.
...
Ethan was so relieved, his eyes were not far away from spilling tears. Harry was now staring at Professor Snape with startled wide eyes as he pushed him back on his pillow.
Neville rushed away to bring in Madam Pomfrey and when she came, he was running her wand over Harry, muttering under her breath. The Professor still had his hands on Harry's shoulder as a precaution. Blaire was crying now and she ran out of the hospital wing so as to not upset Harry further. Neville followed her out leaving Ethan to take advantage of the distracted adults and mind chat with Harry.
"Harry, how do you feel?"
Harry started and turned his head to look at him and smiled.
"Numb, actually. Where's Blaire? And Neville?"
"Outside, Har. They'll come in as soon as they compose themselves. You really had us worried."
"Sorry about that." Harry said, as he turned to look at Madam Pomfrey. "But I couldn't help it. Who is this lady? "
"She's the school nurse. Madam Pomfrey." Blaire said tearfully. "Oh, Harry! I'm so glad you're awake. Just give me some time or I'll start bawling again."
"Of course." Harry said a little confused and touched.
"Me too, Harry." Neville said. "Blimey, I got the fright of my life today. I never want to see you getting hurt again. Any of you!"
"Oh, Nev." Harry chuckled.
"What time is it?" he asked out loud.
"Two in the morning." their mum replied from her portrait.
Harry looked up at her and smiled broadly, "Hey Mum, Dad, Professor, Ethan."
"Hello, Harry." the Professor and their Mum and Dad said.
Ethan said, "Hey, Har."
The Professor nodded at Madam Pomfrey and said, "Harry I want you to drink this for me."
He held up a vial with a dark blue liquid and helped Harry up. Then he put the opening of the vial to his lips. Harry drank without complaint. Then Madam Pomfrey held out another vial to his lips and Harry drank it without a word. The next moment, he was asleep.
"I suggest you, Blaire and Neville should follow Harry's example, Ethan." the Professor said to Ethan in a manner that had no room for objection.
With a sigh, Ethan nodded and slowly made his way out of the hospital wing.
"Potter!" Madam Pomfrey called. "Don't bother going to your houses. Go and call Potter and Longbottom in. You may sleep here tonight."
"Thanks, Madam Pomfrey." Ethan said gratefully.
She smiled at him and then said sternly, "Just don't make this a frequent occurrence."
...
When Harry awoke, it was quite bright outside and Ethan, Blaire and Neville had gone for their classes. Lily and James stayed though. He asked Madam Pomfrey if he could leave too, but she downright refused.
"Leave?!" she repeated incredulously. "Absolutely not! Do you know how bad your state was just yesterday afternoon? You may be feeling better, but you aren't healed yet."
So Harry sukily lay in bed and stared at the white ceiling.
And just as he thought he would go insane, the doors to the infirmary opened and Professor Snape entered. He brought with him a device that he called a recorder, but to Harry, it merely looked like a wooden cube. Oh well, Harry told him everything that had happened, right from the rough hand that clapped onto his mouth to the moment he heard his terrible memories. He carefully kept out his mental call for help...it wasn't necessary.
The Professor paled when Harry told him about his mother's dying and he pulled Harry into a strong, comforting hug.
That evening, Blaire, Ethan and Neville came back with all their notes and homework and the four sat and quietly worked through it
The next evening, Madam Pomfrey declared Harry fit to return to his daily schedule, but with an order to return to the infirmary every Sunday for the next two months, following which he would visit her on the first of every month until the end of the year.
Professor Snape put up heavy wards around Harry's cubicle and also an alarm alerting him if any of the four were in danger. He even asked the other Heads of House to put protections around Blaire's, Ethan's and Neville's beds.
According to Adrian Pucey and Marcus Flint, the Professor had given his house a terrible talking to that left all the girls and younger boys in tears. And all in all, Harry's respect for his favourite professor increased tenfold.
By now, the seriousness of his position dawned upon him... Harry realised that he and his siblings would forever be a target...a target because of something they weren't responsible for. This was a terrible reality, a very terrible reality indeed.
tbc...