His vision was blurred when he awoke, but his head was lacking the piercing pain of a headache so he guessed that his glasses had been removed. From what he could remember of last night's events, he seemed to have recovered quite well. His mind was lingering on Professor Snape's actions and he stuck by his decision that he was correct in finally confronting him over his prejudiced behaviour. He was not expecting Snape to just concede defeat or forget the past and become his best buddy, but he could not help but feel satisfied that he had set something in motion.
He leaned forward from his pillows feeling stiffness in his back. It was then that he spotted Hermione asleep, her head resting peacefully just beside his hand. Not wishing to disturb her, he had a sneaky suspicion she had not slept fully in a few days, he furtively climbed out of bed and put on his faded black jeans that were folded on the bedside cabinet. He briefly wondered who had undressed him and put him into the itchy hospital apron he had been wearing. Gingerly he pulled the hospital apron over his bandaged head and pulled on his t-shirt. Finding his distorted vision was now making him feel nauseous he slipped his glasses on. He perched himself comfortably on the bed, his feet dangling slightly. His gaze found the other occupied beds that lay in rows down the Hospital Wing. To Harry it was a painful sight, a remembrance of all the distress and sorrow that this year had offered. Students younger than himself, subjected to fear caused by something they could never control. Since when had birth been the grounds for death.
He heard a somnolent moan come from behind him and peered over his shoulder to see Hermione rubbing her eyes without much conviction. "Harry?" Harry thought it sounded more like a question. He replied with a boyish grin. Scrambling over to her side of the bed he jumped off it and spread his arms out. "I'm healed," he cried. "Now let's go we have work to do." He was about to walk but she grabbed his elbow.
"Harry, you cannot just get up and leave when you feel like it. You've suffered some serious head trauma," she argued.
Harry laughed. "It's just a bump. A bang, a mere scratch."
She was not amused. With some force she dragged him backwards and commanded him to sit on the bed. She pulled her seat towards her and sat directly in front of him, an agitated expression on her face. "Harry…you have been out cold for nearly two days straight. Now…I can only put your somewhat…excited behaviour down to some sort of post traumatic…disorder…thing."
Just at that vital moment the double doors swung violently back on their hinges and Madam Pomfrey hurried frantically in their direction. "Mr. Potter! What on God's green earth are you doing out of bed?! In…now!" she demanded pushing him further back. Harry, now tired of people fussing over him, simply rolled over the other side of the bed and stood opposite them.
"Listen…I'm perfectly okay. I've rested…maybe a bit longer than I needed to but rested nonetheless. So just stop fretting…both of you," he pleaded, grabbing his jumper which was encrusted with dried blood. The sight and feeling of the dried blood sent him into silence. Just at that instant he heard the screech of the double doors opening again. Dumbledore's lavish boots clipped the marble floor as he strode down between the hospital beds. At first he wore a gentle morning smile but it faltered as did his progression down the aisle. Harry had felt it too. Hermione noticed the darkened brooding flash in Harry's eyes. He turned as if in slow motion but instead of his gaze landing on Dumbledore, it went to the nearest occupied hospital bed.
It felt like a terrifying presence in the back of his mind. A looming creature, a phantom of the darkness they faced. He could only sense it over the beds of those who had nearly been lost. Like a cloud of black smoke drifting over their heads, waiting patiently for a signal. It made Harry's blood run cold. A deep gaping dread that filled his stomach with burning fear. From the rigid bodies he sensed a hollowing loss. A void where humanity struggled to survive.
His breathing had stopped altogether. He squinted his eyes, desperately trying to see what he could overwhelmingly feel. Without fully realising what he was doing, he walked, with a mystified gait, to the bedside of Roger Davies. Everybody standing in the room remained silent, and Dumbledore, uncharacteristically clutched the railing at the bottom of the bed. Both Hermione and Madam Pomfrey had absolutely no idea what had possessed Harry's actions. He reached out a still hand and opened Roger's eyes. The effect of this small act was a despairing chaos. Madam Pomfrey shrieked, Hermione placed the palm of her hand over her mouth in alarm while Dumbledore himself seemed stunned.
Still Harry remained stationary, except his face had taken on a look of disparaging confusion. He peered wordlessly into the white ghostly eyes that stared back. They were empty, devoid of pupil and emotion. An abyss of barren feelings.
Finally Harry let out a shuddering breath. His eyes clouded over as he thought of all the monstrous beings that walked the earth but nothing could compare to this. Dumbledore suddenly sprang to life and began checking Colin in the opposite bed. The results were the exact same.
"What is it? What's wrong with them?" Hermione begged fearfully. Dumbledore did not reply, his hands continued to examine Colin's lifeless face. Madam Pomfrey, who seemed to have been rendered speechless, pushed past Harry and scrutinized Roger.
A gruelling hour later and the Hospital Wing was a flurry of activity. Most of the teaching staff had been summoned and told of the situation. Harry spotted Mr. Davis analysing everything the bodies had to offer, even inspecting the Hospital Wing itself. Healers had been called for from St. Mungo's and the only conclusive thing they could say, was that the victims were indeed still alive.
Harry sat forlornly on the side of his bed feeling the energy in the room elevate once more. Hermione had been assigned to bath his aching wound in a potion that would eventually cause the vibrant bruising to fade and disappear. He remained oblivious to the throbbing the potion caused, his eyes clouded over. Hermione stood directly in front of him, pressing the yellowing cloth to his forehead. For a while she tried to catch his vague eyes but she failed. He did not talk, move or even seem to notice anybody else in the buzzing room. At one point Hermione firmly believed that Harry was in a trance. Then, just as she was beginning to crack with the tension, Harry lifted his arm and tenderly caught hers as she moved it to his forehead. Leaving a silent and perplexed Hermione behind, he trudged over to Roger's bed. The Healers, who were in a fierce discussion with Professor Sprout, withdrew from their conversation and gazed at him warily.
Harry raised a trembling hand over Roger's torso, watched mutely by the group. Dumbledore, seeing something odd in Harry's eyes, took a tentative step forward and said Harry's name aloud not earning a response.
Two of the puzzled Healers glanced circumspectly at each other while Professor Lockhart, who was surreptitiously browsing the mesmerized gathering, was feigning a strange bemused expression as if he knew what was happening.
"Souls," Harry whispered hoarsely. "Their souls are gone."
Dumbledore verified Harry's peculiar diagnosis, sending the entire team of Healers into hysterics. Not one person in the hectic room had even contemplated the idea.
"What could it be? A rogue Dementor?!"
"We would have felt its presence. You cannot pass by one of those dreadful things without knowing it. This is something else."
McGonagall spoke now, her voice more frail than usual. "What creature can be more frightful and ghastly as a Dementor? Surely it must be the Devil himself?"
Anxious murmuring met her timorous words. Harry inched back towards Hermione. He seemed to have recovered from his reverie and was now massaging his temples with his hand. Seeing the worried appearance of Hermione he gave her a wan smile before applying the potion to his own forehead, all the while wondering what had become of the world he had once wished so desperately for.
************************************************************
"We are going to be caught. Leaving school boundaries is one thing but stealing from the school librarian! I mean why don't we just walk up to Dumbledore's office and ask for expulsion." Hermione was fretting once again over Harry's decisions. Her graceful fingers were wringing her purple woollen hat in uneasiness and Harry knew if she continued like this she would probably have an anxiety attack.
"Look Hermione, I swear to you we will not be caught. You have my word. Everything quiet out there Ron?" he called out the doorway of Mr. Davis' office.
"Yep…dead as a doornail. Quieter than a cemetery. Like a bloody great morgue," he replied cheerfully with a cheeky grin. He was standing at the door to the library, his eyes peeled for any sign of movement.
"Enough of the clichés," Harry responded, with a roll of his eyes. He made his way to Davis' desk, crouched down and pulled out a short slender sword which he used for practice. He had intended to bring it along, if only to ease his doubting mind. Safety was always an issue entering the forest. He slid it with a light ringing into the scabbard, which he attached to his belt. "Does this look too corny?" he asked Hermione playfully.
She gave him a sharp glare but the corners of her mouth twitched with amusement. He nodded, acting as if she had answered him. Then covered his entire outfit with a cloak so the sword was imperceptible. "Does it make my ass look big?" he added with a mischievous grin.
Hermione let out an adorable chuckle making Harry pause for a moment. Seeing his holding gaze her laughter died down to be replaced by a confused yet slightly amused look. Noticing that she had inconveniently caught him staring he averted his eyes in embarrassment. On the other hand Hermione threw him another curious glance, her cheeks flushed slightly. There had been something in his eyes that made her feel apprehensive, nervous and excited all at once.
"We better go," Harry uttered quietly, gesturing the door with a wave of his hand and breaking the silent interaction. He politely held the door open for her and naturally switched off the light with a flick of his wand. Soon they had reached the shadowy Entrance Hall, creeping soundlessly across the marble floor under the protection of the Invisibility Cloak. A chilling breeze swept across the snow-covered grounds making them shiver and unwillingly move closer together.
When they reached the Forbidden Forest after heavily treading through the opaque snow Harry threw the cloak off them and shoved it into the rucksack Ron was reluctantly carrying. He thrust his woollen hat onto his head, strands of his unruly hair still sticking out from underneath it. He desperately needed a haircut. He pulled on a pair of fingerless gloves and watched contentedly as Hermione and Ron did the same with theirs, Hermione donning blue ones while Ron slipped on red ones. "Ready?" he posed, momentarily spellbound by the breathy mist that hovered over them.
They both acquiesced and soon Harry was leading the way down the worn path, relishing the view of the forest in winter. His last trip had been wet, grimy and blindingly dark. The forest had fronted a sinister, threatening appearance until something happened that changed Harry's opinion of it. He had heard the Forest's soul. It's furious voice had called out and he had listened. Even though he had been frightened and horrified, the life he had felt emanating from every fibre of the forest, the power it held over every single organism living in its province, made him feel oddly connected with it. He would never kill a single being in the forest, not unless he had no choice.
Snow glistened on mossy branches and packed up around the thick trunks of trees. The snow deepened as they kept to the path and soon clawed at their soaked knees. They struggled on until Harry recognised an area where he had stopped the previous year. "Are we near yet?" Ron enquired with a shiver.
"Yep," Harry answered pulling a piece of red fabric from his pocket and skilfully twisting it around a branch that stuck out on the right hand side of the path.
"What's that for?" asked a bewildered Ron.
"So we don't get lost. It's a trail that directs us back to the path," Hermione said, cottoning on. Harry continued down the steeping ground that ran down into an indecipherable darkness. He clung on to vines that ran up the slope so as not to slip further down. Wanting to know more of what was waiting in the darkness, he snatched a branch up from the dark soil and held it out to Hermione who was in a less precarious position. "Light it with your wand. Your flame is always stronger than mine."
"Incendio," she said demandingly. A green bluish flame sparked where the wand connected with the branch. It then travelled fluidly down the branch until it almost reached Harry's hand. With a sharp flick, he threw it down into the darkness, where it illuminated a dehydrated stream bank. Harry resumed his vertical progress and landed carefully at the bank. He helped Hermione down and Ron clambered down last.
"Would the cold not affect the plant? Does it even grow in the winter?" Ron enquired. Hermione answered the question with a simple `yes'. She immediately set out looking for it, her wand tip lighted, illuminating her face. Harry extinguished the flaming branch, fearful it might set the whole forest alight. His eyes roved the opposite bank then made their way to the gurgling stream. It's pace was a lot slower as frost had clogged up the icy embankment. He tapped the ice with his foot and with a tinkling sound it cracked across the width of the stream. Ron threw a watchful glance in the path's direction and pulled his jacket closer around himself.
After about twenty minutes of close investigation, they discovered the plant hidden in a crevice, which was completely devoid of ice.
Using a trowel, Hermione deftly extracted the plant and placed it in the rucksack. "Well I suppose that's it. Back we go…" Harry said, grabbing one of the thick green reddish vines and using it as a rope to climb back up to the murky path. The exertion of climbing showed in their determined sweaty faces as they ascended out of the darkness. Harry's laboured breathing emitted in a hazy vapour before him and he let out a sigh of relief when he reached the path again. Helping Ron over the edge he sized up the amount of time they had left.
"Shouldn't be too long getting back. Ten minutes or so," he estimated.
"There isn't any signs of animals around. I thought you said there was centaurs and stuff living in the forest?" Ron asked with another furtive glance around him.
"Be thankful there isn't anything to halt our progression. I wouldn't say they're that nice the way Harry described them," Hermione admonished. As they traipsed through the heavy snow the surrounding trees seemed to arch over their path. Only Harry noticed this and refrained from telling the others in case they became more apprehensive. Harry felt the forest around them grow denser and picked up the pace a little, hoping to escape it sooner than later.
Python-like branches loomed overhead creating an opacity that Harry could almost feel. Then there was a shrill whistle from a distance behind them and Harry felt his heart stop. Spinning around he peered into the depths of the forest but could not see anything beyond the ordinary. Hermione and Ron had paused mid-step, the panic clear on their faces. Suddenly Harry heard an outbreak of hooves from further down the path, where they had just come from.
"Run," Harry whispered frantically and they were soon running, as fast as they could due to the thick snow, towards the border of the impending forest. The galloping increased as did their pace but Harry knew that they would not make it out of the forest without confrontation.
**********************************************************
Dum Dum Dum..cliffhanger.
I don't think I've ever done a cliffy like this one. Hope you enjoy. Hope you don't have to wait too long but I must admit that my life is a tad bit hectic at the present moment. Well thank you so much for reading and also your wonderful reviews.
Take care,
Radagast
-->