A/N: I really was not happy with the number of reviews that I received last time I updated, so if you could please say something after you read, that would help a lot! Thank you!
Chapter 17
Lost and Found
"What?" Harry breathed.
He attempted to snatch the paper out of her hands to see for himself, but Hermione simply folded it neatly and began tapping it against her hand as she paced up and down the room.
"Should we tell someone?" she suddenly stopped and asked Harry anxiously.
"What do you mean?" said Harry, still trying to stick one thing to another. "She's a registered Animagus, Hermione. You really think no one knows?"
"I just can't believe I didn't see it before..."
"What are you talking about?"
"Harry, I saw the list in third year, don't you remember? I even knew that Sirius, Peter, and your father shouldn't have been Animagi - "
"Don't - " he said angrily.
"I'm sorry, Harry! I know it's not something you want to discuss, but we can't escape it! This is kind of important, if you know what I mean!"
"Right..."
"Harry please don't be like this...you're not doing anyone any favors!"
"I know, okay! I said all right!" Harry yelled only to see Hermione staring back at him with tears in her eyes.
"I'm - I'm so sorry, Hermione. I - I didn't mean to - "
"That's all right, Harry. I understand that this is something difficult for you...I'm sorry too."
There was a bit of an awkward silence as Harry attempted to avoid looking straight into Hermione's face and Hermione seemed to be pondering with her hand up against her chin.
"You know what I think, Harry?" she finally said.
"Huh? What?"
"I think Narcissa doesn't really want us to know. I mean, I'm sure Dumbledore knows about it and so, but I'm sure that it's not something that she's about to claim to her students like Professor McGonagall. Why don't we just leave this alone?"
Harry thought about it for a moment and then nodded.
They exited the Room of Requirements and walked back to the Great Hall together.
"What kind of animal do you think she would transform into?" he asked curiously.
"Me?" she said immediately.
"Yeah, you, Hermione. Who else could I be talking to?"
"Oh - no, I just thought you said - um, never mind. Well, Professor Malfoy...I dunno, Harry. What about you? What do you think?"
"Well, for one, I don't know how people even consider becoming Animagi after reading the book. It's awful. I mean, first of all, it's painful in the beginning. Second, you've got all these weird senses to get accustomed to - "
"Yeah, but, I mean, I'm sure that you'd get used to it after a while..."
"I guess," said Harry. "So, I don't know either. Maybe a jaguar..."
"A jaguar?" said Hermione, laughing. "Harry, you're not serious!"
"Well you didn't say anything so - " said Harry, blushing.
"All right, all right...hmmm....I'd say....maybe...a fox?"
"A fox? Yeah, I think I could see that...how about a ferret?"
"Harry!"
"I was just joking!"
Harry and Hermione had decided not to inform either Ron, Neville, Ginny, or Luna of what they had found out, but rather preferred to keep that information to themselves. If Narcissa really was an Animagus, so be it, but the whole school didn't have to know. They weren't even supposed to know it in the first place.
"I see you all have read the material. That is good, but today we will go even further into the Animism Spell. Does anyone know who may use such a Spell?"
"Someone hit in the head?" suggested Harry.
"Not the time for a joke, Mr. Potter. It is never a time to joke in this class. Anyone other than Mr. Potter, please? Ms. Granger, you seem peculiarly quiet today?"
"Wha - oh. Sorry, Professor. Um...well, I suppose someone who might desire to produce a new species of animal? A legal, species, that is. Unlike something of the sort such as dementors - "
"You're telling me that dementors were created by - "
"Mr. Thomas, do you have a problem with handling your own mouth? Or is it that it seems to have the peculiar idea of not being quiet when required?"
"Sorry, Professor," he mumbled.
"Indeed, what Ms. Granger has noted is correct. Creatures such as dementors and even werewolves were created by spells such as this. Mind you, it would take magicians years to figure how to use the Spells correctly, only to get them right, and that is why it has caused so much torture. However, that is initially how some magical beings were developed. Now, moving on, for an essay, I want you to research any possible creatures whom you may believe may have been created by the Animism Spell. Next lesson we shall see your opinions and we shall know the truth about some of them. Two scrolls in the least!"
Harry was about to groan, but then held himself back, and he had the feeling as if much of the class did the same.
"So there's hippogriffs, veelas, vampires, werewolves...um...I can't think anymore!"
"Harry, you have to try!"
"Easy for you to say, Hermione," groaned Ron, "you've already written like five scrolls when she only asked for two. Two! I thought you were good at Arithmancy!"
"I'm going to bed," said Hermione curtly before Ron could continue to rant and, picking up her books, left to the girl's dormitory.
"What d'you do that for?" snapped Harry. "She could have helped."
"Yeah, well, does she have to be such a know-it-all?"
Harry raised his eyebrows.
Ron narrowed his eyes, thinking. "Yeah," both boys finally announced together, returning to their essays.
"Say, Ron, just out of curiosity, do you - what animal do you think Professor Malfoy would turn into if - if she was an Animagus?"
"Er, why?"
"Just wondering," Harry shrugged.
"Well, I suppose something like a tiger or - "
"Yeah, why is that?"
"I dunno. I suppose it's something in her eyes."
"What d'you mean?"
"Have you ever looked into a person's eyes and could just tell their personality? I mean, it's kind of natural."
"Er, no - not really."
"Not even Hermione?"
Harry though about it for while and then said, "Well, yeah. I mean, when I look into her eyes, I can see her love for me and I can see when she's concerned and - "
"All right, all right, let's not get carried away," Ron brushed away his comments. "The point is, you can just - I mean you can just often tell, can't you?"
"I guess," said Harry, still thinking about it. "So what would be my personality, Ron?"
Ron looked at him as if he was insane. "Harry, that's just wrong, okay. Why don't you ask a girl that question?"
"Fine, be that way! I thought you were my friend."
"Yeah, friend, better come up with something more for this essay or we'll both fail."
"Right...what about...merpeople?"
"Yeah, that'd do! Why didn't I think of that?"
"Because you were unconscious for most of the time."
"But still..."
"Anyway....what else...?"
"I think I'll turn in for the night and finish this in Charms tomorrow morning."
"I don't think you can."
"Yeah...well, it can't be perfect, can it? `Night Harry."
Harry looked down at the essay and sighed, flipping through the stacks of books on the table and eventually scribbling down whatever he could and going to bed himself.
"Now that you all have turned in your essays, which I trust were written only to your best capabilities, I'm sure that some of you would like to know for a fact which of the creatures that you have proposed could possibly have been created with the Animism Spell."
Harry tried hard not to think whether Ron was finishing his essay in Charms at this very moment, but then decided that he probably wasn't going to bother.
"Who would like to volunteer? Anyone?"
Parvati raised her hand.
"Yes, Miss Patil?"
"What about unicorns?"
"Unicorns were actually created as they are. They were not bred in any manner. Although they may seem to be a mix between horses and something like goats, I assure you that they were not bred. Anyone else care to take a gander?"
Parvati seemed slightly put out.
"Dragons?" said Seamus.
"Wrong again, I'm afraid, but a good guess. Think of a something of a mix between humans now, those were all animals."
"What about veelas?" said Hermione rather stiffly.
"There's one," said Narcissa calmly. "Anyone know what an earlier breed of the veela was known as?"
"Erm...a siren?" said Dean Thomas.
"Very good, Mr. Thomas. Yes, sirens. Although they seem to have been part of the earlier mythological era, they certainly were the earlier version of today's veelas. They are a mix, as so many of you would guess, of dydrids - which are gigantic birds with the tails of reptiles - and, put it simply, witches.
"What about centaurs, merpeople, werewolves, dementors, vampires? Any of those?" she asked the class. "As a matter of fact, they all were."
"Not goblins or house-elves, surely?" said Hermione, her eyes wide.
"Well, Miss Granger, I wouldn't be so sure about house-elves. You see, they haven't been around as they have been for all eternity, if you know what I mean. I believe that they were something of a mix between goblins and wild elves, but that really could not have been done with this Spell. Remember, this is about a mix between animals and humans."
"How about aquapaths?" said Harry curiously.
"Peculiarly enough, Mr. Potter, not enough is known about the aquapaths to exactly suggest something like that. It would seem so, but no. Aquapaths are creatures too powerful for anyone to meddle with. Ancient people believed them to be gods and used to worship them us such, just as sea monsters and demons like Scylla. But no."
"Oh, what about a hippogriff?"
"Another guess, but, once again, that is an animal."
"Professor Malfoy," said Harry. "I may be only curios, but how were dementors created with this Spell. I mean, what were they a mix of?"
"Good question, Mr. Potter. Dementors, actually, were created with two of the Eternal Spells. One being the Animism Spell and the other if anyone should guess, the Transferral Spell. I believe that they were also the result of demonic possession as an illegal practice. Dementors are still being studied even today and it is still curious as to why not all muggles tend to see dementors."
"Not all muggles, Professor?"
"There are those few who seldom are able to see what they call shadows of dementors, claiming them to be demonic spirits from the Realm of Death. And I assure you, demons do exist, but they are even invisible to a magician's eye. However, demons are not what most muggles imagine when they see them rather as horned lizards or something of the sort. Demons are usually characterized to be present at the hand of murder or something of the sort. You can often tell when a demon is acting withing you, but I assure you that no one in this class in near demon possession, so let us move on from this topic. Yes, Miss Brown..."
The lesson continued as they discussed further inclinations of the Animism Spell and the types of effects that it had on the receiver.
Professor Malfoy announced that the eighth spell that they were going to be dealing with would be called the Astral Spell where a star would be cursed to have a certain effect on a person.
Lavender Brown passed Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they were eating lunch that day. Harry watched her suspiciously for any sign of giggles, raised eyebrows, pointing, or all of the above. Instead, she seemed to mindlessly keep walking and sit herself next to Parvati only a couple of seats away, not even glancing at them once.
Harry turned to Hermione.
"So, are we going to do anything about Lavender?"
"Don't you worry about that too. I've taken care of it."
"So what did you tell her?"
"I didn't. I erased he memory.'
"You did what?!" Ron nearly fell out of his seat.
"You heard me. I had no choice, Harry, I'm sorry."
"But, you could get into serious trouble for that, Hermione."
"I know, but people kept coming up to me, asking what Lavender was taking about. I could tell that she hadn't spilled the whole truth, but it seemed that she was definitely on the verge of being completely out in the open."
Harry was speechless and Ron was staring at her with his mouth hanging open his fork half-way to his mouth.
"I think you need to see Madam Pomfrey, Hermione. Honestly," said Ron.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because your showing signs of mental insanity. I mean, how could you do that?! She shares a dorm with you! Don't you feel guilty?"
"I wouldn't feel guilty, Ron, if I knew that she'd keep her mouth shut."
Ron didn't say anything but continued to grumble over his food.
"She's got a point," Harry told him.
"I dunno, Harry. I'm still worried about her."
"Oh, Ron, that's so sweet!" she said in an overly high-pitched voice, folding her hands over her heart and kissing him on the cheek. "You're such a ickle-wickle sweetie pie!"
Ron looked as if he'd just seen a Crumple Horned Snorlak.
He turned to Harry. "I'm serious, man. You've gotta get this one to the Hospital Wing."
Hermione began laughing and shook her head saying, "Ron, you know we still have to pretend, right? Trust me, I haven't lost my mind. If anything, you should make sure that essay of yours is up to scratch. I'm sure Professor Malfoy will have more than one look at it."
"Yeah, right...whatever..." he said, returning to his food. "Aaaargh!" he suddenly fell backward on his chair, dropping his fork to the floor and grabbing his foot in pain. Crookshanks emerged serenely from under the table.
"Crookshanks!" breathed Hermione, picking up her cat. "Did the mean little boy hurt you?"
"Hurt it? Hurt it? Look what it did to me, Hermione! You know, my foot might be bleeding!" said Ron furiously, getting up and clutching his foot.
"I wonder what he's doing here. Last time I checked, he was in the Gryffindor common room. Do you think Ginny might have let him out?"
"Hermione! I'm kind of in pain here."
"Oh, don't be so pathetic, Ron. Listen, can you take him back upstairs for me?"
Ron got up and faced her. "Take it upstairs? After what it just - ?"
"Ron! First of all, it's not an `it.' His name is Crookshanks. Second of all, it's what any good boyfriend would do, right Harry?" she said teasingly.
Ron snatched the cat from her hands. "Hey, be gentle with him!" cried Hermione. Unwillingly and grumbling worse than ever, Ron made his way up to the Gryffindor common room.
"You can't make this easy for him, can you?" said Harry, shaking his head.
"Well...no," said Hermione, grinning and sitting down. "It's him that's making it hard. I'm just trying to play along and he's...well...not trying."
"That's Ron for you."
"I guess you're right. Have you worked on anything with Matt yet?"
"Does it look like I've had the chance to do that?"
Hermione thought about it for a moment and then said, "Not really."
"That's what I thought. I don't even know when to work on this. It's either school or the war. Take your pick.'
"This is kind of more important that school, here, Harry."
"You're right, Hermione. I really need to budge up, fit this into my schedule, and then go through school in any way I can. So I'll probably be failing a few classes - " Harry stopped at the sight of her screwed up face.
"All right, all right, so I won't be failing any classes. I'll just...I have no idea what to do."
"Don't worry, Harry. I'll help you out."
"Thanks, Hermione. There should honestly be more people like you in the world."
"Don't you wish that?" she said with a grin.
"Hey, watch it there, Lavender's still within earshot."
Hermione laughed, shaking her head until they saw Ron coming back, his face slightly while and solemn.
"Ron, what's wrong? You look terrible!" said Hermione seriously.
Ron sat down across from the two and said, "Um, Harry...there's....something you need to know. There's...been a break in..."
"What?" said Harry and Hermione together.
"The Portrait Hole was removed by...something..."
"So the Fat Lady's not there?"
Ron shook his head. "And...er...there's something else..."
"What?" said Harry suspiciously.
"Um...Harry...nothing was taken...but we think...I mean, your trunk was open and we think..."
"That they took something of mine?" said Harry. "Why would they do that? I don't have anything to take of importance."
"Harry, are you sure?" asked Hermione, looking concerned. Harry thought about it and they decided to get up and look for himself. What did he have? Maybe they took some of his money, but he doubted that any student would break into a common room just to take some galleons.
Ron and Hermione followed him up to Gryffindor tower where he found a group of students whispering together and standing outside of the entrance as if afraid to go inside in case the thief came back.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way past them as they stared and their whispers intensified.
As they made their way to the boy's dormitory, Harry opened the door slowly. Hermione stayed outside and agreed to wait for the both of them.
Harry saw his four-poster and looked around to see the dormitory deserted. He came to his trunk, where he saw that the top was, in fact, thrown open. He bent over on his knees and began searching through. What would they take...what would someone want? He thought of the gifts that Sirius had given him and be searched down to the very bottom of his trunk, but they seemed to be all there. He suddenly grasped his chest for a sign of the necklace that his grandmother had given him and had just realized that he had taken it off. He looked at the bedside table, searching through books and drawers but it wasn't there. He looked back to see the mirror, but that was gone too.
Lifting the trunk top so that it almost closed Harry stood up slowly.
"What's up?" asked Ron. "Harry, did you - what the bloody hell?"
Harry backed away from the trunk. On top of it, a green smoky skull with a snake coming out of its mouth was engraved.
"It's the Dark Mark," Harry whispered.
"Harry?" Hermione called from outside. "Harry, is everything all right?"
"Yeah, come on in, Hermione," said Harry in a voice unlike his own.
"Harry what happen - " Hermione froze as she reached the two boys and saw the mark, gasping and raising a hand to her mouth. "Who could have done this?" she said, looking at Harry with her eyes wide.
"Yeah...and why," said Harry.
"What did they take?" Hermione asked.
"They...they don't want me to keep in contact with Cilia. She must know something..."
"I don't understand. How could they - ?"
"I don't know. I have to go and see Dumbledore."
Hermione nodded and looked once more at the trunk sternly.
As Harry was walking to the Headmaster's office, all he could think was why would anyone want to stop him communication with his grandmother. It made no sense whatsoever. What could she know that someone like Dumbledore couldn't tell him? And even if they did have a good enough reason, whoever they were, how did they break into Gryffindor tower and just who the heck did they think they were?
After reaching the gargoyle and guessing at several passwords once more, Harry was finally let in and practically burst into his office without the regard for manners. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk and examining a rather large piece of parchment.
"Sir?" panted Harry.
Dumbledore looked up.
"Is something wrong, Harry?"
"Er...someone's broken into our common room, sir."
"Yes, I am aware of that, Harry," said Dumbledore calmly and continued to look at the parchment.
"You - you're aware of it? Er...sir...they - they took something of mine. Sir, I don't think that they want me to keep in contact with Cilia. Do you - do you have any idea why that would be, sir?"
"Something like a break in is bound to stay secret for about two seconds after its occurrence due to the circumstances which we are in, Harry," he spoke. Dumbledore looked up and walked around his desk. "I do not think that they could have been aware of the fact that the Order has other ways of communicating with each other. Fawkes" - he turned to the phoenix - "I believe you heard what Harry just said. Would you kindly inform Mrs. Potter that she is not to attempt to communicate with him through either item, although I am more than sure that she will be able to figure it out for herself?"
Within seconds, the phoenix burst into a flame and its song pierced the room.
Dumbledore looked at Harry with a peculiar look on his face.
"Harry, who do you think would have done this?"
"Er," Harry was taken aback at being asked the question. "I don't exactly know, sir."
"You haven't a clue?"
"No sir," Harry shook his head. "Do you?"
"I have a suspicion, and nothing more, Harry, that whoever did this was most definitely not a student."
Harry looked perplexed. "Why do you say that, sir?"
"Simply because whoever did this must have clearly known that you were in contact with Cilia. And the only people that knew of her coming here were only those that you met at the lighthouse, Harry."
"So you're saying that whoever did this is the traitor, sir?"
"Whoever did this, Harry, doesn't want you to know about an upcoming death."
"Sir?"
"Cilia is the only known banshee alive who is not a servant of Lord Voldemort, Harry, and she also happens to be your grandmother. If he is planning something, it is to kill me, but my death could just predict his coming here, to the school."
"Of course...why didn't I think of it before!" Harry said to himself.
"So, you see, Harry, Cilia could have proved to be rather useful in times like these, but, unfortunately, thanks to someone's rather handy work, I'm afraid that we will never find out."
"Sir, could I ask you something?"
"You may, Harry."
"Um...I don't want to sound as if this is something that scares me or anything, but, sir, I - earlier on Draco Malfoy...he said something. He - he told me...that he knew how to get me to Voldemort."
Dumbledore looked at him, deep in though, he felt as if his eyes were piercing right through him. "Harry, do you have any idea what Mr. Malfoy might know, by any chance?"
"What do you mean, sir?"
He walked over to him. "What I mean, is that, would Mr. Malfoy know of any relations that you might currently be having."
"Er...no, sir?"
"Harry...about Miss Granger..."
"What about her?" Harry said very quickly and almost immediately.
Dumbledore smiled.
"Just take care of her, Harry."said Dumbledore and walked back to his desk where he began to examine his parchment again.
"You know nothing, sir," Harry suddenly said furiously. "You know nothing about that..."
Dumbledore looked at him, blinking. "Harry, has anyone ever told you that all of the answers that you are searching for can be found as if through a looking-glass, in one's eyes."
Harry looked at him. "Ron said that."
"Another extraordinary person like Miss Granger and yourself. I believe he got that from Miss Lovegood."
"That would explain it," Harry whispered to himself.
"Take care, Harry. I assure that mark will be removed from your trunk soon enough, you need not worry. Other than that, just make sure that your plans with Mr. Thompson go smoothly...and, Harry...watch your dreams, please. I have a feeling you haven't seen the last of what has started tonight."
"Okay," said Harry, nodding, and left his office with something to ponder about.
When Harry got back to the tower, he met Hermione and Ron sitting on at one of the tables and talking together. Harry came up to them and Hermione immediately asked, "What did he say?"
"He reckons it's not a student," said Harry, taking a seat.
"Well, of course it wasn't a student!" said Hermione at once. "To think! Taking out the Portrait hole and leaving the Dark Mark - I should think not!"
"I think you made your point, Hermione," said Ron.
"He reckons Malfoy might know, though," said Harry, not looking at Hermione.
He saw her eyes widen. "Know? Know what? What in Heaven's sake - ?"
"About us."
"Us?"
"Us?"Ron repeated.
"About Hermione and I, Ron," said Harry.
"How in blazes would he know that?" said Ron.
"He went on about some rubbish about my eyes," said Harry, shrugging.
"Not like...what I said, was it?" said Ron, bewildered.
"Sort of," said Harry simply.
"What should we do, Harry?" said Hermione.
"Do? Hermione, you're usually the one with all the answers!" he shot at her.
"Yeah, well, why don't you try it for a turn, Harry?" said Hermione furiously.
"Me?"
"Yes. Why do I always have to be the one to tell you what to do? Why does it all have to be - ?"
"Oh, don't even start with that, Hermione, you know perfectly well that every time we're out there on an adventure, it's me that's got to - "
"How dare you, Harry! Ron and I - all right, well, I do just as much as - "
"Maybe you do, but that's no reason to - "
"Maybe? Maybe? Maybe you'd better appreciate what's in front of you Harry while you still have it!" yelled Hermione and, picking up her books, slammed her chair furiously into the table and left.
Harry watched her go and couldn't tell if he was feeling more pain or resentment at the moment, but he could tell that he had a fair doze of both.
"Mental, she is," said Ron, shaking his head.
"Sod off, Ron," said Harry and, watching the stricken expression on his face, Harry left him alone in the common room, walking up to the boy's dormitory and getting ready for bed.
The next couple of days were probably some of the worst that Harry had ever had in his life. He, Ron, and Hermione were not only talking to each other, but they were studying in separate rooms at all costs. Not only that, but they couldn't even stand to see each other in the same room. Not that Harry minded, but Hermione would show signs of repulsion every time she saw Harry and would leave. Ron didn't seem to mind either, but Harry got so fed up with his sulky self, sitting within corners and avoiding looking at Harry that he often found that it would be best if he left the room as well. All three avoided sitting next to each other during classes and Harry couldn't even tell them that the Dark Mark had been removed from his trunk or anything whatsoever since each would either turn away from him whenever they got within each other's sight or look as if they had smelled something particularly nasty under their nose.
Harry was so tiered of this routine that he didn't know whether it would be better to try talking to them or leave it alone, lest it got worse. He knew that he had apologies that he had to make, but just as he was about to come up to Hermione in the common room, Matt called out to him from across the room and Harry had no choice than to turn around and walk the other way.
"What's up?" he said.
"I'll tell you what's not up, Potter. Your plans. I though we were supposed to work this through, remember?" said Matt. "I thought you wanted to help this school, but I guess I thought wrong."
"No - I do. I really do I just - so many things have been going on at the same time that I've barely had time to think - "
"Yeah, well, better start looking for time, or we just might run out. Listen, meet me in the library tomorrow and maybe we can work something out. I know my dad's going to meet with you pretty soon, so we better have something planned out. Look, just meet me there around six so that we'll have enough time to get everything together, all right?"
"Sounds like a plan," said Harry, nodding.
He looked over where Hermione was sitting a moment ago and noticed that she was gone.
Sighing, he turned in for the night and, going up to the boy's dormitory, climbed into his four-poster and slumbered off to sleep.
"I know how to get him the one thing that he needs to stay alive..you, Potter," sneered Malfoy somewhere off in a haze.
Harry looked around and saw that he was amongst a very foggy mist though which Malfoy's voice seemed to echo.
"You'll never win, Malfoy! You're a lousy captain and you were an even worse excuse for a human being. You'll never win, you hear me?! Never!"
He heard Malfoy laugh in return.
"Have I touched a nerve?" he laughed even harder. As Malfoy's laughing face sneered somewhere through the haze, Harry attempted to grasp at it, but eventually felt the mist swim over him like a lake of water and he was in another vision.
He was in the Chamber of Secrets. He walked around, starring at the stone pillars that occupied the underground tunnels. As it had been destroyed four years ago, there it stood fully renewed. Harry wondered if there was another basilisk and whipped around in fright. He turned around once more only to see a person standing with his back to him. Oh, no, wait...it was a woman with long hair. She had her back to Harry and her hands were intertwined at her back and she was wearing a Hogwarts robe. Harry hesitated firstly and then slowly came up to her, tapping her on the shoulder.
"Excuse me?" he asked. "Who - ?"
The woman turned around solemnly and he looked into the face of his mother, clearly in her Hogwarts years and looking at him with glassy eyes.
"M-mum?" he asked.
She forced a very small smile which suddenly turned into an equally small frown and her eyes filled with sorrow.
"M-Mum what are you doing here? This is the Chamber of Secrets! We have to get out! M-mum?"
The woman turned her head and looked away to another direction. Harry followed her gaze and saw the dead body of Sirius lying there.
His eyes widened and ran up to him.
"Sirius! Sirius, wake up! Sirius!" Harry tried to shake him, but his head lolled to the side and he didn't stir. There were blood marks all over his body and he lay in a pool of what resembled his own blood. "S-Sirius," Harry whispered through tears that he found forming themselves at his throat.
He looked back at Lily and saw that she was still staring at them both, wearing the same frown. Suddenly she opened her mouth and let out something which sounded very much like a sweet, sweet song.
She sung strange words in one phrase and then stopped.
"M-mum?" said Harry. He looked at Sirius's dead body and them back at her, then gasped. Lily was gone and Tom was standing in her place, looking sternly at Harry.
He began to walk toward him and Sirius and Harry grasped for his wand, but it wasn't there. Instead, all he could find was his grandmother's locket and, as he looked into it, he saw his grandmother's face calling to him. "Harry, run! Harry, save yourself! You have to get out!"
"I can't!" he yelled back at her. "I have to save the others!" he cried, though he was not exactly sure who the others were.
"Noooo....Harry...Noooo...." cried Cilia as Harry watched Tom shadow himself above him and Harry saw his grandmother's face disappear.
Harry stood up full height and said, "I'm not afraid of you anymore."
Tom smirked and suddenly turned into Lord Voldemort. Harry watched as his piercing red eyes looked at Harry with hate and his scar burst open with pain, but Harry didn't stir.
"I'm not afraid of you, either," he said as if he felt there was a need to say those words. He looked into his eyes with most difficulty and saw his rage to get his hands at Harry and murder him, but he saw something else there. Something that he hadn't noticed before, and it was as if everything had been happening all over again - everything was flashing before his eyes again. And there she was - Lily again. Harry didn't know when it had happened, but his mother was standing before him. This time, they were not in the Chamber of Secrets, but it was only the two of them. Lily smiled and laughed, taking Harry's hands and she leaned over to kiss his forehead. She let go of his hands and slowly began to walk away, waving her hand at him and her face returning to the small frown that she had earlier. Harry waved back and he could feel the dream ending...he would have expected himself to wake, but it was as if something held him back. Harry suddenly opened his eyes fully and saw himself at the front of what seemed like hundreds of hooded and masked figures, all standing as if in one army and facing him.
"My Lord," one of them croaked, "how long will it take?"
Harry stroked his icy chin and said, "They're planning something...but no matter...I'd say...give it enough time and it will only be too easy to say when and how...I still have loyalties there....we'll have to work from inside out..."
"And then, my Lord?" asked another Death Eater anxiously.
Harry turned his head toward him and said, "And then...we do what we do best, gentlemen...we attack...but first...we need a hostage..."
"A hostage, my Lord?"
"But who?"
"Silence! It cannot be anyone within Hogwarts, since it is only too well protected, but I believe I can think of just the thing that will work.."
"My Lord?"
"We'll aim for his heart...that always gets the fool...Tetra!" he barked at a Death Eater.
A dark figure stepped forward and nodded it's head.
"I'll need to induce a plan with you. You will be working individually during our little...Hogwarts reunion..." Voldemort laughed and his Death Eaters followed suit, though Harry could tell that they had no idea why they were laughing. "Salience!" he said. Voldemort turned around from them and said to himself, "It is only a matter of time, Harry Potter...I hope you hear this...because I'm coming to get you...and this time, you will not escape." Harry felt his mouth stretch out into a horrible grin and could tell that he was laughing inside only moments before he woke up breathing deeply from another vision that was, unfortunately, as real as it got.
A/N: And there it is. Yet another chapter gone by as I get closer and closer to the end, although I've still got quite a while until I finish. Please review. It won't kill you to put a couple of words into the textbox below, I promise. If you have a question or comment, say so. If you agreed or disagreed with something, say so. If you liked or didn't like the story so far, say so, but say something at least! Thank you!
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