Chapter 2
Harry was eating breakfast with the rest of his Gryffindor classmates in the Great Hall of Hogwarts. He was quiet. The night before had unnerved him, and he had been summoned by Professor Mcgonagall for a private discussion before anyone else was even awake. He had repeated the same story to her that he had given her the night before, and Mcgonagall knew Harry's personality better than to think he was lying. She told him that she would be in discussions with Dumbledore about this, and then she had let him go for breakfast. Amazingly, she didn't take any points from Gryffindor for late-night wandering outside the dormitories. Still, Harry was quite shaken by the experience. He barely heard Ron and Neville's enthusiastic discussion about how England were soundly beaten by Belarus is a quidditch friendly. He glanced up from his plate toward the direction of the Ravenclaw table. He noticed that Cho Chang. Cho Chang looked tired as well. He managed to catch her eye and he quietly mouthed "you ok?". Cho Chang shook her head so slightly that no one but Harry noticed it, and she mouthed "talk later". Harry gave a nod and Cho looked away quickly. Harry however kept his eyes on her for a long moment until Hermione nudged him. "Harry, you alright?"
Harry shook his head. "Didn't sleep, that's all" he said briskly. He stood up suddenly from the table, excused himself, and made for the door, ignoring the sniggers of Neville who was clearly heard to say under his breath "Looks like Harry's got other priorities today". Harry stole a glance toward Cho who, he was relieved to see quickly left her place to join him. Once they were by themselves out of the great hall, they went for a stroll. They found an empty hallway and walked slowly.
"Did you see Mcgonagall?" asked Cho in a concerned voice.
"Yeah", Harry replied.
"And?"
"She didn't take any points off of Gryffindor, which is a relief", said Harry, "and she also said she'll be going to tell Dumbledore about it."
"She believed you?!" Cho exclaimed. "I thought she told you last night that…"
"I was dreaming, I know", Harry finished for her. He sighed. Cho slipped her arm through his and turned him to face her. They looked into each other's eyes.
"Harry", Cho whispered, "Are you sure everything is okay. I mean…"
"Don't worry Cho, whatever happened, I'm sure Dumbledore will sort it out. I'm sure of it. I think we need to just put it out of our minds now".
Cho nodded, then put her hands on Harry's shoulders and leaned in close to him as if she was going to kiss him.
"Hey Potter!" Harry and Cho pulled back suddenly. Watching them was none other than Draco Malfoy with a filthy smirk on his face. "Oh I'm so sorry", he sneered in a mock apologetic tone, "Did I interrupt a romantic moment? I am really…"
"Draco Malfoy", Harry snarled, stepping away from Cho, and striding toward his nemesis from Slytherin. "You dirty little spying…"
"Now, now Potter" Draco said in his unnervingly condescending tone. "No need for all that. I'm just curious to know something. Peeves says you were ghost watching last night with your pretty girlfriend here." He paused maliciously, enjoying Harry's fury, then continued "Well? Is that true?"
"Harry", said Cho, stepping forward. "Don't react to him. He's only winding you up."
"Ooooh", Draco smiled evilly, "She's looking out for you, Harry. You should listen to her or you will lose points from Gryffindor for sure. Pity Mcgonagall didn't take 50 points off of Gryffindor for your late night, ah, escapade."
"Draco!" boomed a sudden voice that came from directly behind Draco ,who jumped. Harry and Cho's faces both brightened in to a smile.
"Dumbledore!" cried both Harry and Cho at once.
Dumbledore looked sternly down at Draco. "You get out of here right now, and 10 points off of Slytherin for your disgraceful behaviour."
Draco spun on his heel and stormed off, muttering under his breath. It was not until he was out of sight and earshot that Dumbledore spoke again. "I want to speak with both of you in my office right now."
"But we have Snape's class in 5 minutes…" began Harry, but Dumbledore cut him off.
"This is more important" he said briskly. "I've already notified Snape, so now you two come with me."
Before long they were all seated in Dumbledore's circular office, along with Professor Mcgonagall, who had been waiting for them.
"Now", said Dumbledore once they were all settled in chairs. "Perhaps you might want to tell me what happened to the two of you last night."
Harry sighed, leaned forward, and poured out the full story of what transpired the night before. There was total silence for the whole time he was speaking. When he finished, Dumbledore looked at Cho who nodded in affirmation. For a moment, nobody spoke. Harry and Cho glanced at each other for a second for support. Finally, the Hogwarts headmaster spoke. "So, it appears that we have an uninvited guest in Hogwarts." He stood. "I am not going to discipline either of you this once. However, I don't want any more late night wandering. And, I also want you to know this, you are not the first person to have reported such an occurrence."
"What?!" exclaimed both Harry and Cho at once.
"Indeed", nodded Dumbledore. "Tonks saw something similar in the exact same area as you did only two nights before." Harry and Cho exchanged glances. "Then, I dismissed it as a mere trick of the light. I should have known better. Now, I want you to promise me something."
"Yes?" said Harry quietly.
"Not a word to anyone about this", Dumbledore said sternly. "I mean nobody. It's a closed incident that I will look into with the other professors. I want nobody getting panicked about a haunted Hogwarts."
"Well", began Cho tentatively.
"Yes?" said Dumbledore. "Don't tell me you…
"No, I didn't tell a soul", Cho hurried. "It's just…"
"Peeves apparently saw the incident and told Draco" finished Harry for her. "Draco told us himself just before you intervened earlier".
Dumbledore and Mcgonagall both put a hand over their eyes in exasperation. "That infernal poltergeist", Dumbledore muttered. "Why did he tell Draco of all people?"
"Why can't he keep his mouth shut at all?", said McGonagall. " I wish we could just eject him from Hogwarts for good and all."
"Easy McGonagall" said Dumbeldore sternly. "Peeves is a nuisance, but he is as welcome in Hogwarts as anyone else here is." After a little, Dumbledore sat up straight and said, "Well, that makes things a little more complicated, but my rule still stands. You are not to give any information about the apparition last night. No matter what. I will deal with Draco. Now off to your classes." Dumbledore stood and ushered the two students toward the door. "And remember, not a word".
"Yes sir" replied both Cho and Harry in unison.
Once the two students were outside Dumbledore's office they headed straight for where potions class was sure to be underway. As they half-walked half-ran Cho said "So we aren't the only ones who saw that, whatever it was."
"Looks like Hogwarts is haunted", Harry replied, "and I don't like how that makes me feel". Although he didn't tell Cho, or anyone else for that matter, Harry's scar had burned intensely as soon as he had seen that phantom the night before, which could only mean one thing: Voldemort was somehow involved.
Despite the best efforts of Harry, Cho and the Hogwarts faculty to keep the phantom occurrence quiet from the other students, the news still got around, courtesy of Peeves and Draco Malfoy. (Draco could not help telling his two best Slytherin friends Crabb and Goyle (in whispers) what Peeves had told him. Before long, it was the topic of conversation all over Hogwarts, and there was not a little bit of fear running through the school. After all, who knew where the spirit would appear next, and what he, she, it whatever it was would do when it did decide to appear next.
A fortnight later…
Harry was sound asleep in the Gryffindor dormitory. It was midnight, and a heavy mist hung around Hogwarts. Unbeknownst to Harry or any of his fellow Gryffindor dorm-mates, a single wisp of mist floated from outside and in through the open window of the dormitory. Then, the wisp of mist began to gradually assume the form of the same figure that Harry and Cho saw in the corridor not long ago. A soft wind began to blow in the dormitory, and Harry, though asleep, began to be dimly conscious of his scar starting to burn. It was Ron Weasley who woke first. For a moment, he was confused by the feeling of wind in the room, then, he saw it. With a scream, he drew his wand and pointed it at the intruder, but he was too slow. The phantom had its own wand out in a flash, and with a single spell uttered in the most unrecognisable voice, ripped Ron's wand right out of his hand, resulting in the wand flying across the room and into the far wall, waking Harry and the others in a flash, all that is except Neville Longbottom who still slept soundly. Harry barely had time to register what was going on when the phantom unleashed it's next spell, lifting Harry up into the air and slamming him into the same wall that Ron's wand had hit. Dean Thomas successfully launed a fiery blast from his wand at he ghost, but the phantom used it's own wand to fire a blast of it's own, resulting in the two blasts meeting in the middle of the dorm. However, the ghost's magic was too powerful, and Dean was hit by the ghost's blast, knocking out of the bed onto the floor, totally winded.
Aroused by the battle in the dormitory, Professor McGonagall rushed in with her wand at the ready. The ghost at first barely reacted except to fire a spell that almost knocked McGonagall off her feet. However, there was soon a true battle on as McGonagall quickly recovered, as did the other Gryffindors in the dormitory, and together they battled the evil spirit back and forth across the room for what seemed like hours. Eventually the combined pressure began to tell, and the demon began to retreat and dissaparate. However, Mcgonagall was not going to let the enemy go that easily and she fired a spell neither Harry or the others had ever heard of that sent the demon flying into the opposite wall and then, strangely, to take on a physical appearance. Harry gasped when he looked at none other than Voldemort himself! Harry felt his knees go weak.
"What in the name of Hogwarts are you..?" began Mcgonagall in a barely audible whisper but Voldemort cut her off.
"…doing here", he finished for her. "I was going to finish tonight what I began all those years ago. I had that boy", here Voldemort pointed at Harry with a bony index finger, "right where I wanted him."
"What? Asleep and helpless?" cried Harry outraged. "You were trying to kill me in my sleep?"
"Shameless" snarled McGonagall, "But then, can we expect any higher from the lowest creature on this earth". Just then Dumbledore, Tonks, and Snape rushed into the room. However, just when they had fully entered the dormitory, Voldemort vanished into thin air leaving only a mist where he had once been. For a moment, nobody moved or said a word. Then, Harry spoke in a faltering voice "Was that…Voldemort? I mean, really Voldemort?"
"Appears so", replied Dumbeldore somberly. "And he got past our guard into Hogwarts."
"We'll have to double the guard in this place so that he won't slip past us again" said McGonagall. "He was after Harry the whole time."
"He could have taken out more than just Harry if Ron hadn't woken in time", said Dean Thomas. "How are we to know if he wanted to wipe out the whole of Hogwarts from the inside?"
"We won't let that happen", Dumbeldore replied firmly. "He won't try that trick again. Although I wonder how long he spent thinking of that idea because it could have worked."
"I'll bet he was just sussing the place out over the last few nights", said Tonks. "Remember he just wandered around and disappeared without causing any problems."
"Pity we didn't know it was, well, him before now, we could have got him straight away", said McGonagall.
"I wonder" began Harry, then he stopped suddenly. Everyone looked at him.
"Continue", said Dumbeldore.
"I wonder why he didn't fight me that night when I was with Cho?"
"Who knows? Nobody knows what's going on in Voldemort's mind", Dumbeldore said. "Allright. Students all back to bed. You all have a busy day tomorrow." With that, Dumbeldore spun on his heel and exited the dormitory, with McGonagall, Tonks, and Snape close behind him.
After dinner the next evening, Harry and Cho were alone in the room of requirement, a favourite place of all the students for secret rendezvous. Harry had not been able to see her at all that day until then, due to the busyness of the schedule and the quidditch training session which had gone twenty minutes over the average length of time normally allotted for training. Harry had told her everything that had transpired the previous night, and Cho listened with a mixture of horror, awe, and a little disbelief.
"I can't believe it" she kept repeating, "He could have killed you."
"Well, he didn't and I don't intend that he ever will" Harry replied firmly, taking a gentle hold of Cho and pulling her against his chest in a tight hug. Cho wrapped her arms around him and tightly hugged him back. For a moment they held each other, then Harry kissed the top of her head. Cho caught her breath as Harry brushed his lips against her cheek and then his lips met her lips. Cho pulled back.
"Are you sure?" Cho whispered.
Harry looked deep into her eyes, then he put one hand on the back of her head, on her gorgeous dark hair, and his other hand wrapped around her waist. "I've never been more sure", he replied in a low voice. "I love you, Cho". Then, he pulled her close to him again and locked his lips with hers in a passionate kiss. How long they spent making out, neither of them knew, neither did they care. All that mattered was that each of them had found true love for the first time, and there was no separating them now. The night belonged to them and them alone. Moonlight streamed into the room of requirement, bathing Harry and Cho in glorious moonlight. Outside Hagrid looked up at starlit sky and said "Such a peaceful night", before entering his cabin and shut the door, which is where our story ends.
THE END
Written by Nathan O'Toole on 18/09/2024
Copyright 2024
3
