(A/N: As always, I wish to thank you all for your wonderful reviews! I'm happy to read that you've found good my way of portraiting Luna Lovegood; I've done my best to write her in canon! Regarding Viktor, well, I'm sure you're all thinking the worst about him and I can't blame you!! Did you want to know what's Harry going to do now? Here we are then…)
Chapter 11. THE DREAM
...
What do you know about a wheat field?
A poem of a profane love...
The fear of being taken by hand,
What do you know?
...
"Thoughts and Words" by Lucio Battisti
Albus Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, with his hands folded and eyes closed, thinking. Harry and Ron were standing in front of him, both in silence, intensely staring at him, waiting for him to speak. Professor McGonagall was standing near them, extremely worried, her narrow lips closed tight in a grimace of anxiety.
Then Dumbledore broke the silence.
"I want both of you to go back to your dormitory, and remain there... NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS!"
The Headmaster said these last words looking Harry directly in the eyes; Harry's anger rose up so much that he thought he would explode.
"But, Sir... did you understand what we just told you? Hermione has been kidnapped... by Viktor Krum! We must do something immediately, before she... she..."
Harry didn't dare speak further. The thought of Hermione in danger was totally unbearable to him.
"Watch your behavior, Mr. Potter!" Professor McGonagall scolded him, but Harry couldn't keep calm. Then Dumbledore spoke again, in an almost unnatural way.
"Leave the job of finding Hermione to the wizards of the Order, and be patient. We will do our best to bring her back to Hogwarts, as quickly as possible."
"Do you already know where they are keeping her?
At this question, Harry and Ron immediately turned to Dumbledore to carefully listen to his reply.
"I have a theory, Minerva. In the meantime, please escort Harry and Ron now to Gryffindor Tower. And you boys remain in your dormitory until Professor McGonagall comes to you with some news."
***O***
Harry was sitting on his bed, his back leaning against the wall. He was staring blankly off into space, Hermione's wand in his hands. Ron was flat on his bed, his arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling.
Almost two hours had passed without either of them saying a word; they hadn't even had anything to eat. Shortly, their roommates Neville, Dean, and Seamus would be joining them.
Suddenly, Harry took a heavy book from his bed table and violently threw it at the door.
"'BE PATIENT' he says! 'REMAIN IN YOUR DORMITORY!' How could he be so... so... IRRESPONSIBLE! I hate Dumbledore, I can't stand him anymore! He's always there, ready to tell me what I SHOULD do or what I SHOULDN'T do! Who does he think he is?"
Ron propped himself up on his elbows, and stared at Harry in a desolate way. Was Ron feeling so helpless, too? Was he feeling so much anger inside him, like he was? Harry thought that if the answer to those questions was yes, then his friend was disguising it very well.
"And you, Ron? You don't say anything? You don't care that Hermione is in danger?"
"Of course I care, Harry. It's just that... Dumbledore told us to..."
"DAMN IT! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR HIS NAME AS LONG AS I LIVE!"
Harry chucked another heavy book against the door.
"If I stay here any longer, I'm going to go mad!"
"But what should we do? Do you want to set a trap for YOU-KNOW-WHO, alone?"
"VOLDEMORT, Ron... that monster's got a NAME!"
Ron remained in silence, but he was still staring at his friend, mortified. Then Harry tried to calm down and spoke again in a lower voice.
"If I only knew where he was keeping her at this very moment! If I only..."
"Why? If you knew where YOU-KNOW... V-Voldemort has her, would you go? All alone?"
"Yes, I would!" Harry answered back. He then thought of the prophecy and added to himself, at least I would put an end to it.
"You're absolutely crazy, Harry!! Are you going to go there and get killed? Are you going to risk your life and Hermione's? Listen to me mate, it's better to wait here patiently and trust the wizards of the Order. At least they are Aurors and know how to fight better than us."
"Ron... I'm telling you... if I knew where Voldemort was hiding, I'd go to him right now!"
"And I'll stop you from doing it, with all my strength!"
Ron answered back with such determination in his voice that Harry stared at him for a few second, astonished.
***O***
Harry was flying on the back of a giant owl. The darkness of the night was lit by a tiny, faraway light, which was slowly becoming larger and larger. Then, the owl took Harry directly to the source of the light. It came from an ancient and dilapidated mansion, with broken windows and an unkept garden. Harry landed in front of the main gate, and saw a great emblem on it, half covered by ivy; the emblem had "RIDDLE HOUSE" written in large letters.
Harry pushed the gate, which was half open, and entered the garden. He went through it and reached the huge main door, pushing it open as well. The entrance was empty and dark, lit only by the moonlight coming through the huge windows. On his right and left, two large marble stairways led to the upper floors.
Harry counted the floors; there were three. Then, he slowly climbed the stairs to his right, heading to the second floor.
Suddenly, he heard a desperate scream coming from one of the rooms at the end of the corridor; it was Hermione's scream and it made Harry's blood freeze. He desperately tried to get to the room before it was too late, all the while feeling his panic and fright growing.
The door was half open; Harry pushed it slightly to have a look inside. The room was dark, lit only by the flickering light coming from a fireplace in the corner. In front of the fireplace was a large black armchair, but he wasn't able to see the person sitting there, as the armchair was facing the fire.
A short bald man was standing in the center of the room with his wand pointed at Hermione who was flat on the floor, looking at him, terrified, with her face bruised and covered in blood, her eyes wet with tears.
Before Harry was able to do anything, he heard a cold and clammy voice coming from the back of the armchair.
"Do you not realize that it is impossible to resist the Dark Lord? Until now, I was asking politely, you IMPERTINENT LITTLE MUDBLOOD! Now, however, I am going to have to use something a little stronger."
Harry felt a chill going down his spine; he had to do something quickly, but what? He was thinking as quickly as he could. As he did, Voldemort spoke again.
"TELL ME all that you know about the PROPHECY."
Harry jumped in surprise and turned to Hermione, who was still staring at Wormtail with fear.
"Very well, then! WORMTAIL, you know what to do..."
"CRUCIO!"
At Wormtail's order, Hermione started to scream again, but this time it was more terrifying than ever. Harry felt his scar burning; it was as if his head was going to split in two from the pain. He woke up screaming.
"NOOOO! LEAVE HER ALONE... LEAVE HER ALONE...."
When Ron and his other roommates got to him, Harry was still screaming, seated on his bed with his hands on his burning scar.
"HARRY! Harry! It's us... Everything's OK.... Calm down now... You're safe...."
But Harry wasn't able to calm down, and was still panting heavily.
"NO! Ron, I saw her... she's in danger, we must do something to save her... now!"
"I'll go to Professor McGonagall." Harry heard Neville heading to the door and suddenly tried to stop him.
"No, I'm going to call McGonagall myself. It's better if I go." said Harry, still trembling as he tried to rise from his bed; he fell down immediately. Then Ron grabbed his arm.
"I'll help you, Harry. I'm coming to see McGonagall as well."
Harry nodded to him, put on his glasses, and got up, leaning on his friend's shoulder. When they went down to the empty common room, Harry headed to the sofa in front of the fireplace, and sunk heavily onto it, staring blankly into space, trying to bring order to his thoughts.
"Harry, are you OK?"
"Yes... I just need a moment to think."
"What is it? You're not going to McGonagall, are you?"
Harry remained in silence while his brain tried to put together the pieces of his strange nightmare; he realized something important, and his face lit up.
"I know the meaning of this nightmare! I saw clearly where Voldemort is hiding... it's an ancient and dilapidated mansion! It's the RIDDLE HOUSE! It used to be Voldemort's father's home and he's hiding there!"
"That's good, isn't it? Now, we can go to Dumbledore and tell him, so he can.... You'll tell everything to Dumbledore, right Harry?"
Harry didn't reply. He felt that he had to do something, and that he had to do it soon; he couldn't wait for Dumbledore to believe him. Maybe Dumbledore wouldn't use the information, just like he hadn't with Harry's previous vision about the Death Eaters' escape from Azkaban.
"I saw everything Ron. I entered the house, I climbed the stairs, and then... I saw Wormtail torturing Hermione on Voldemort's orders... that MONSTER!" added Harry, with rising disgust. Ron was shocked hearing about the dream, and he fell into a nearby armchair. He then spoke with a trembling voice.
"Harry, listen to me! Don't you think that maybe this nightmare is a trick? I mean, maybe V-Voldemort wants to draw you there. Maybe he isn't torturing Hermione... maybe it's just like the vision you had last year, the one with Sirius in the Department of Mysteries. Now that I think about it, I'm sure that it is a trap.... we must tell Dumbledore, right now."
"And if it isn't a trap? If Voldemort really is torturing Hermione at this very moment, while we are here wasting precious time? What if she isn't able to resist? What if she... DIES before the wizards from the Order do something to save her?"
Ron looked even more shocked and started staring at the floor. Abruptly, Harry got up and ran upstairs to his dormitory, Ron following him like a shadow.
"Harry, did you talk to McGonagall?"
"Are you feeling better?"
But he didn't reply to Neville or Dean; he rushed directly to his trunk and quickly took off his pajamas, put on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and took Hermione's wand from the bed table and put it in his pocket.
"Harry, you can't do this... it's completely crazy!"
While Ron was trying to talk him out of it, Harry took out his invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map.
"Harry, will you stop for a moment?"
Without any explanations, he left the room, leaving his friends still in their beds staring at him with their mouths open.
He went down to the common room, jumping two stairs at a time in a fury; Ron was faster than him, however, and jumped in front of the portrait hole, extending out his arms to prevent him from going out.
"Go away, Ron... LET ME GO!"
"No... if you want to go, you have to get through me first, because I won't let you to sign your own death sentence. What you are planning to do is pure craziness!"
"You don't leave me any other choice..." Harry's temper was out of control now; he took out his wand and pointed it at his best friend.
"You're not going to use that against me..."
"Let me go, Ron... GET AWAY!"
"NO... I'm not moving!"
Ron was resisting bravely, but Harry was determined to put his crazy plan into action. He had made his decision, and no one could've stopped him.
"I'm sorry, Ron... you asked for it... PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"
With the incantation, Ron became stiff like a marble statue and fell heavily to the floor. Harry was really sorry, but he thought that it had been necessary. He went past him, put on his invisibility cloak, and left the common room.
He ran along the corridor and went down the stairs; shortly, he was outside. He didn't know how to get to the Riddle House, so he rushed to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, looking for the thestrals. He remembered how last year they had helped him and his friends get to the Ministry of Magic.
Since the only way to attract them was with the smell of blood, Harry headed to Hagrid's hut and took two fat dead ferrets, which were hanging from the wall. He then reached the Forest, and waved them over his head.
Soon, a pair of Thestrals approached him and started to sniff the dead animals. Harry then slowly approached one of them patting it on the head, walked around it, and climbed on. The thestral was quite calm and didn't mind him on its back. Then Harry whispered sweetly into its ear.
"Erm... I must get to the Riddle House... as quickly as possible."
Suddenly, the thestrals extended its large black wings and started to run, as Harry grabbed its neck tightly. Then with a great jump, the creature took flight, heading up into the night sky.
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