CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
THE CAVE
When did this happen?" Harry asked his blushing friend. He had known that Ron was spending a lot more time away from Hermione and him, but didn't fathom that he'd be spending it with Loony Lovegood. Ron was particularly terrified of this girl at one point.
"Well ..." Ron stammered, "It hasn't been too long." He looked to Luna for support but she seemed to be in a happy dreamland as she stared at her boyfriend. If it were possible, Ron blushed harder. "After, um, that row we had, I spent a lot more time in the library than usual, and when you two showed up, I found someplace else to do my homework."
Hermione looked at her red-haired friend in awe. "You buried yourself in homework? I didn't think that was possible." She let out a giggle and covered her mouth when she saw Ron's stern look.
"Yes, I buried myself in homework." Ron repeated. "It helped me to keep my mind off of you two. Anyway, one night when I moved to the great hall, Luna walked over and asked to sit with me."
Luna nodded absentmindedly.
"We got to talking about the Quidditch Illustrated magazine that she got for me when I was in the hospital. The next thing I know we're talking about what happened between the three of us. She just asked a simple question: You didn't see how they felt before you asked Hermione out? Well, I was shocked. It seemed everyone saw it but me. Luna and I started hanging out more often after that. And, um, here we are."
Harry laughed. He never in his wildest dreams ever thought that Ron and Luna would ever end up together. He had thought that Ron and Hermione were the ones who should be together, until recently that is.
"What's so funny?" Ron asked with a screwed up face.
"Just the way things worked out, Ron." Harry admitted with a smile. "Sometimes things that you think should go one way end up spinning off in another direction that nobody ever thought of."
Ron glared at Harry suspiciously but let it slide. "Well, we should go get cleaned up before lunch." He said after a moment.
The two friends kissed their respective girlfriends and made their way to the locker rooms.
"I find it hard to believe that you're dating Loony, Ron." Harry said with a laugh. "After all we've talked about and how she freaked you out?"
Ron grinned sheepishly. "Well, she tends to grow on you, and beneath her 'strange' behavior, she's a very sweet girl."
Harry nodded. "She is a nice person. I'm glad you got over your 'Loony-phobia.'" Harry laughed as Ron punched his arm.
"Well, nothing left to be afraid of, at least not that I've found out anyway." Ron laughed in response.
When they had finished cleaning up and dressed in their normal robes, Harry and Ron met the girls outside and headed back up to the castle. There was a calm comforting quiet about the walk and they reached the great hall to cheers from the Gryffindor table.
"Good game, Harry!" Dean said with a raised glass.
"Those were some impressive saves, Ron!" Seamus said a moment later.
There were general shouts of good this and great that, a bloody brilliant or two, and a lot of clapping of hands on their backs as they made their way to their normal spots along the table. Harry found that he was hungrier than he thought and Ron seemed to echo that hunger twice over.
"Whoa, Ron, slow down, you're going to choke if you keep eating like that." Ginny said from across the table.
Ron chuckled. "I always eat like this."
"No, you don't." Ginny said after a moment. "This is the first time that I've seen you eat so much so quickly. Are you ok?"
"Never felt better!" Ron said as he sputtered bits of chicken down his front. "Oops. I better clean that up."
Harry and Hermione looked at each other for a moment.
"Ron, how about you come with me and talk to Professor McGonagall? I think she should run a test on you to see if you happen to have ... uh ... some special qualities that might need this nourishment." Harry said after a few moments. He had been trying not to look because of the way Ron was ripping into another drumstick.
"Huh?" Ron said with yet another full mouth. He reached for some pumpkin juice and washed down his latest mouthful of meat. "What do you mean?"
"We'll talk after dinner at her office." Harry said then he bent closer and whispered. "Hermione and I think that you might be undergoing a particular change and it would be best to keep it quiet for now."
Ron's eyes went wide but before he could blurt anything, Harry said loudly, "How did you pull that save off with the Sloth Grip?"
Ron, momentarily distracted with Quidditch, smiled and began to tell Harry, and those who were close by, how the inspiration had come to him. Those who could hear smiled and laughed in the right places and made surprised sounds as they should. Ron ate the attention up and stretched the story to include a few of his other saves from past matches, including a time when he had stopped a goal by kicking the Quaffle through the other team's goal.
Harry smiled and laughed with the others, thanking himself silently for the distraction he pressed onto his red-haired friend. Dinner went along merrily and eventually ended.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed towards the instructor's table at the front of the great hall.
"Professor McGonagall?" Harry asked tentatively. "Do you have a few moments?"
"Yes, Potter, what is it?" She said nonchalantly.
"Well, it's sort of private and I was wondering if we could talk to you in your office." Harry replied.
Their professor looked at her watch and nodded. "There is a staff meeting in about fifteen minutes I think I can spare a few."
They followed her to her office and explained rather quickly why they asked to see her.
"Harry and I think that Ron might be an animagus as well." Hermione said in one quick breath. "He seems to eat an endless amount of food and we've noticed that Harry seems to be the only one who can match his metabolism."
"I see." Professor McGonagall said. "Would you like me to run a test on you, Mr. Weasley?"
Ron looked doubtful. "It doesn't hurt does it? I mean if it doesn't hurt, that would be fine."
McGonagall laughed. "No, it won't hurt. If you are not an animagus, then there won't be any problems, no transformation. But if you are, we will find out quickly, that is if your animal spirit has been rooted within you." She pulled out her wand and cleared her throat. "COMPERIUS BESTIA VENEFICCIO!" She said after tapping her wand on Ron's head three times.
A small puff of smoke rose above his head but nothing happened.
"Did I transform?" Ron asked excitedly.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Ron, if you had transformed into an animal, how could you have asked us?"
Ron screwed his face up at his bushy-haired best friend. "You never know." He said with a failing sense of dignity.
"Well, it seems that you are not an animagus, or if you are, you haven't found your alter-ego, Mr. Weasley." Professor McGonagall said with a smile. "Now, I have to get to my meeting, if you three will excuse me?" She straightened her robes, ushered the three teenagers from her office and hurried down the hall to the professor's lounge.
"Well, that went well." Ron said gloomily.
"It seems, dear Ron, that your metabolism is there to allow you to eat like a pig and nothing more." Hermione said with a snort.
Harry laughed. "Well, we had to see, didn't we?"
"It's a little disappointing, though, isn't it?" Ron said while looking at the floor. He had again been trumped by his best friend, the-boy-who-lived. "What do you say we head back to the common room? I have some homework to finish up before I meet Luna for dinner."
Harry and Hermione shared a look. It was still hard to get used to. Just a month ago Ron was scared to death that 'Loony' Luna Lovegood was going to reach out and rip a piece of meat from his arm or something. Truth be told, they weren't really surprised that she hadn't yet. The girl had had it bad for him for as long as they'd known her, which was just a year or so.
They made it to their common room and got to work on their backlog. Harry had been showing quite an improved knack for finishing his work even before Hermione and it was driving her mad, they could see it in her face.
Ok, slow down on the homework. Harry chuckled to himself as he made the mental note. Hermione doesn't like it when people outstrip her efficient study schedule.
Harry excused himself from the table. "I'm going to the room." He whispered conspiratorially. "I'm going to see about getting Snuffles back."
Hermione nodded. She was in her 'homework zone.' That realm that kept her so occupied that she wouldn't have noticed that the rest of the castle had disapparated from underneath her. Though she would quickly quote Hogwarts: A History and tell you that it was impossible to apparate or disapparate to or from the school grounds.
Harry kissed her on the top of her head and left for the room of requirement. It didn't take him long to cover the distance from the Gryffindor common room to the seventh floor and he concentrated as he walked up and down the hall three times. If anyone had been watching, they would have had an urge to look away and when they looked back, he would have been gone. He stepped into the room and found, to his astonishment, a large mirror with the words Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on whosi engraved along the gilded frame.
His eyes went wide as he walked to face the mirror properly. "The mirror of Erised?" Harry said dumfounded. "What does it have to do with Sirius?"
Truth be told, since Sirius' 'death' at the ministry, Harry had wanted nothing more than to find his godfather and bring him back. But he couldn't go through the veil because everyone told him that he'd die too and that was a risk they couldn't take.
Harry looked into the mirror and saw his reflection staring back at him. I wonder what it'll show me this time. He thought earnestly. Will it show mum, dad and everyone else like before? He walked closer. He was now to the point where he and his reflection had their noses pressed to one another.
Then he saw it. He saw how Sirius could be rescued. It was right in front of him in all of its reflected glory. Every detail was sharp. Every step was concise and to the point. He saw himself in another land with snow capped mountains.
Someone placed their hand on his shoulder and he jumped! He was so absorbed in the mirror that he hadn't noticed that someone else had entered the room. Harry spun around.
There was nobody there. He looked around the room and found that he was the only one in the room. The visions he'd seen in the mirror pulled him back and he began to gaze into its reflective surface once more. He saw the snow capped mountains again, the small fishing village in the foothills of the range. He saw the path to a cave, a deep foreboding cave. He felt his scar begin to burn, his head began to ache. Harry fell to his knees as he heard sickening, high-pitched, cold laughter fill his head.
Breathe deeply. Empty my mind. Step back into the shadows of still and quiet thought. He snapped to and found himself lying on the floor of the room of requirement. He glanced around nervously. He tried to get up but he was weak and covered with sweat.
I have to get to Dumbledore! He shouted to himself as he stood on what had to have been Jell-O because his legs weren't supporting him. How long was I out? He asked himself as he stumbled to the door. He looked at his watch ... FOUR HOURS?! Harry was dizzy and having a hard time keeping what lunch he had down, his stomach seemed to be writhing of its own accord and he lost what willpower he had. He wiped his mouth off and wobbled uncertainly towards the door. He fell to his hands and knees unable to support himself on his shaky legs.
The door opened seemingly by itself and a refreshingly familiar voice trailed through the opening.
"Ron! How many times do I have to tell you?!" She said through gritted teeth. "You cannot copy my essay for History of Magic!"
Hermione tripped over Harry as she entered the room followed quickly by an oblivious Ron.
"Harry? What's wrong?! What's happened?!" She was at his side helping him to his feet. "Harry, speak up, I can't understand you, you're mumbling!"
Harry looked up at his girlfriend, his face was pale. Contrasted with his raven hair, he looked near death. Hermione gasped.
"Ron, we need to get him to Madam Pomfrey!" She said quickly. Tears were starting to form in her eyes but she blinked them away furiously.
"D-Dumbledore ... V-Voldemort ..." Harry gasped. It feels like a Dementor sucked the life out of me, what the bloody hell is happening?!
Hermione looked at him with concern and fear. Ron shuddered at the name of the Dark Lord.
"We'll get Professor Dumbledore as soon as we get you to the hospital wing." She pressed as they made their way down the halls towards the white-walled room. Thankfully they didn't run into any other students or any professors in the halls. They didn't want to have to explain anything that included Voldemort in it.
Madam Pomfrey was tending to her paperwork when the door burst open and the three most recognizable students in the school came in the door. Two of them were dragging a nearly unconscious third.
"The bed on the end." She said hurriedly as she grabbed her wand. "What happened?"
"We found him like this." Hermione said with a shaking voice. "Ron, get Professor Dumbledore!"
Ron nearly flew out the door as she continued the explanation.
"It looks like he vomited and he seems to be very weak. He couldn't stand on his own. We found him on the floor on all fours." She said in one breath. She didn't want to mention the Dark Lord's name, no need for a panic ... yet. "Ron and I picked him up and brought him here."
The school nurse examined Harry quickly. He was very groggy but still conscious.
"Mr. Potter, try this potion, it should help with any nausea."
Harry nodded mutely and drank the potion that was being fed to him. His nausea cleared almost immediately but his head was still pounding furiously. He took a deep, shuddering breath.
"Head is pounding like a drum." He said quietly, wincing with each word.
The nurse nodded and handed him another potion. "Let's see if this helps."
It tasted like wet, sweaty socks. Harry choked it down and closed his eyes as he felt the throbbing ebb from his skull.
"How are you feeling, Harry?" Hermione said with a squeak in her voice after the wrinkles in his forehead disappeared.
"Do you have any mint? I'd even eat toothpaste to get that flavor out of my mouth." He shuddered.
Hermione let out a weak laugh.
There was a commotion at the door and everyone looked up to see Professor Dumbledore standing in the frame.
"What's happened?" He asked quietly as he walked to Harry's bedside. Ron was right behind him, his face pale.
"I was researching something." Harry said quietly. "It involved the mirror. Only something went wrong. I thought I heard Voldemort's laughter."
Madam Pomfrey let out a whimper of fear at the same time that Ron shuddered and winced.
"Madam Pomfrey, could I please have a word alone with Harry and his friends?" Dumbledore asked quietly yet with a tone that meant there would be no argument about the matter.
She glanced at him then at Harry. "I'll be back to make sure you're alright." She said before turning on her heel back to her office.
Albus Dumbledore pulled out his wand and drew three chairs in the air which suddenly became solid and landed hard on the floor. He offered one to Hermione then to Ron before he pulled one up for himself.
"Start from the beginning, Harry." He said quietly.
Harry began telling them about the research he was going to look into, about Sirius and reminding them that he thought that his godfather was lost on the astral plane. "I figured the best way that I'd be able to find a solution was to use the room of requirement." He explained. "When I got to the room, I concentrated on how I could possibly save him, how would I find a way to bring him back.
"When I entered the room, the only thing there was the Mirror of Erised." He continued after taking a stronger, deep breath. His face was beginning to return to its normal color. "I figured that the reason the mirror was there was to help me find a way."
"So you looked into it." Hermione whispered from the side of his bed.
She had heard Harry and Ron talk about what they'd seen in the mirror. Harry had seen his family; at least the family members he believed were dead. His parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, the list went on and on. He wasn't sure who everyone was besides his mum and dad. Ron had seen himself as head boy, Quidditch captain, and holding the house cup. He'd always had to live up to whatever his brothers had accomplished during their stints at Hogwarts. Harry reckoned that Hermione wanted to see what was in that mirror for herself. After today, he couldn't, he wouldn't, let her. The mirror was far too dangerous and it had to have been a fluke that it showed up.
Harry cleared his throat and nodded. "I saw a way to save him. To bring him back. There were mountains with snow on their peaks, a small fishing village, and in the foothills, a path that led to a cave in the side of a cliff. The next thing I know, my scar started hurting and I heard Voldemort laughing in my head. He seemed happy about something." He said. "It felt like there were Dementors all around me, I felt cold, sickly cold. Then the next thing I know I wake up on the floor and I have barely any strength to move."
Dumbledore took it all in with a nod here and a nod there. He let Harry speak his peace and when his young charge finished his tale, the headmaster rested his pursed lips on his long fingers and thought silently for many agonizing minutes.
"You already know what the Mirror does." He said softly after a moment. "And it showed you a way to save your godfather, Harry. There are others. The route that you saw today is far too dangerous to take at this time and should be used only as a last resort."
"Why's that, Professor?" Harry asked bluntly.
"Why?" The wizened wizard repeated. "Because what you saw was the last known headquarters of Voldemort's inner circle."