(A/N: Hi there! This time I need to thank more people than usual. My dear readers who have left a review, like FuzzyFurball, Sandra and Destroyerdrt. A big thank you goese to IronChefOr for his great help in editing the chapters. Here is chapter 11. I hope you'll enjoy!)
Chapter 11. CONSPIRATORS IN THE SHADOWS
The sun had almost set, its last rays of light filtered through the tall windows of the castle. Harry was slowly walking along a dark corridor, on his way to Magnus Erudio's office. His head down and his hands in his pockets, he felt his heart squeezed by the huge boulder that had been dropped on him.
The previous evening, while he was still in the hospital wing with his friends, Professor McGonagall came to bring Neville horrible news. A group of Death Eaters had attacked Longbottom Manor; his grandmother had been killed. Without providing many details about why the Death Eaters chose Mrs. Longbottom as a target, their teacher added that other wizards had also lost their lives. Members from the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance and Elphias Doge, fought courageously to protect Mrs. Longbottom. In the end however, their efforts were in vain as they too fell.
Neville reacted with unexpected composure. Without saying a word, he followed Professor McGonagall out of the hospital wing. A few hours later, he left Hogwarts to return to his family house and take care of all that needed to be done.
With Madam Pomfrey's permission, Harry returned to Gryffindor Tower that same evening. He spent the night awake in the common room, along with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Dean, and Seamus. None of them wanted to go to bed after what had just happened. Theo Mustle approached the group and tried to apologize for the accident during Erudio's class; Harry dismissed him with a quick "It's all right, don't worry," spoken with no energy.
The following morning, most of the students were in poor mood. The news about Neville's grandmother spread quickly, making everyone feeling uneasy... everyone, that is, except Draco Malfoy and his crew, who kept taunting Harry whenever they met him, mimicking his collapse repeatedly.
Harry finally reached Erudio's office. He stopped in front of the door and knocked twice.
"Come in!"
Harry silently entered the classroom and closed the door. The warlock was waiting for him, sitting at his desk. The annoying ticking of the hundreds of clocks hanging on the walls filled the air.
"Please, take a seat," Erudio ordered; Harry obeyed.
"Before our lesson begins, I need to talk to you briefly," started Erudio. His eyes were unfixed on some indistinct point at the back of the room. Though Harry was giving him his complete attention, he still couldn't leave his sadness behind.
"Your accident during class yesterday... well, it was all my fault," Erudio confessed placidly.
Harry's eyes widened in surprise. "What are you talking about?"
"I knew that you weren't at the best of your ability, but I called your name for the duel, just the same." Erudio looked almost proud of it. "Please, don't misunderstand. I didn't want you to get injured. I just wanted to test you."
"Test me?" asked Harry in disbelief.
"Yes, test you. I wanted to see if you were able to close your mind and leave the pain behind."
After a moment of surprise, Harry laughed nervously. "I bet I disappointed you."
"I can't deny that I was expecting a better effort on your side, but it's nothing we won't be able to improve during our training." Erudio smiled; Harry had the feeling he was making fool of him. "I know that you're facing one of the hardest periods in your life. Am I right?"
Harry swayed his gaze. I don't want my mind to always be an open book to him, he thought, irritated.
"Would you like to talk about it?" Erudio insisted.
"It seems I don't need to! You already seem to know everything about me, don't you?"
Erudio's smile widened even more. "Let me tell you then what I know about you, or better yet, what I've guessed by analyzing your actions and moods. I have the impression that you're feeling... how shall I say it... somehow left hanging, suspended... precariously balanced."
Harry didn't reply, but turned to stare at the warlock with deep attention. He now wanted to see where this conversation was leading.
"Yes, you understood right, my boy. You're precariously balanced on a precipice and you're terribly afraid of falling down. If we consider the chasm below to be something evil, we can view the edge where you're standing now to be your salvation, the light, the good in yourself. The trouble here is not to just remain on the edge, but to also not get dragged down below to where your enemy is waiting for you."
Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I'm sorry, sir, but you're terribly wrong."
"You're scared, Harry. You can't hide that from me. You fear to discover that you and your enemy are equals. Am I right?"
Silence fell between them. Harry finally realized that Erudio had guessed correctly. Too tired to hide his feelings and wanting to be helped, he chose to let the mask fall. "I'm still having these awful nightmares," he confessed after a deep sigh. "I watch myself transform into Voldemort. I hear his hateful voice telling me that he's going to kill all of my friends. He wants me to join him."
"The image of Voldemort reminds you that both of you have faced the same difficulties in life," Erudio interjected. "You're both orphans who grew up amongst Muggles, without the love of a true family. There are, of course, several things that make you different from him, starting with the only thing that Lord Voldemort will never posses. I'm talking about your heart and your love."
"Tom Riddle was a solitary boy; he had no friends. Also, he always sought to impose his will and force everyone else to obey him, even employing extremely harsh methods.. He always felt as though he was the chosen one, the only one able to finally bring order to the magical world, forcing Muggles and half-bloods under his will.. He hoped to follow Salazar Slytherin's path in this way."
Harry wasn't sure if the warlock was reading or influencing his mind, but with each word, it was as if all of the wounds on his heart were slowly being healed, and the weights were being lifted.
"You, on the other hand, are a very compassionate and generous person. People will never follow you out of fear, but in respect," said Erudio. "Being scared is human. It would be against nature to not be scared. But I would like you to try to turn your attention away from this and concentrate on what we can actually do to improve our abilities. And this is exactly what we're going to do now. Are you agreeable if we go on to something more practical?"
"Yes, I am," replied Harry, smiling at him thankfully.
"Then what are we waiting for? Come on, stand up and come to the center of the room," Erudio exhorted him. "By now, certainly you're able to summon the elements at will. Now, we'll try to control them. You won't need... this!" With a slight movement of his hand, the warlock summoned Harry's wand, which was tucked inside his uniform. After a quick flight through the air, it landed softly on the teacher's desk.
With a second wave of his hand, Erudio conjured four small glass bottles that started to shimmer in the middle of the room. Each of them was filled with a different substance. The first one was filled with dancing flames. In the second one, there was a small amount of water that was churning as if in a sea storm. Contained within the third one was a tiny, twisting whirlwind. Finally, in the fourth bottle, a piece of earth was breaking apart and reassembling itself repeatedly, as if being rocked by a miniature earthquake.
"When the bottles open, the four universal elements will release their power. It'll be up to you to control them. For today, Aqua, Aere, and Ignis will be enough."
At Harry's alarmed expression, Erudio added, "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll know how to handle them."
After another slight movement of Erudio's hand, the tops of the first three bottles opened, one after the other. Aere came out first, a small tornado that started to grow faster and faster, soon reaching the ceiling. Then Aqua emerged, taking the form of a whirlpool rotating at great speed, swallowing everything in its path: wall clocks, chairs, desks, and candles.
Finally, Ignis came out. First, a few sparks shot out, then long, hot flames shattered the bottle and spilled out onto the floor, growing around Harry.
Erudio remained still, sitting at his desk with an amused expression on his face while Harry stared at the three elements around him, astonished and worried. His heart began to beat furiously in his chest; his panic was slowly gaining the upper hand.
Recalling his training with Hermione the previous year, he closed his eyes and did his best to concentrate, even though it seemed to be the most difficult thing to do at that moment. With a deafening noise, the air and water whirls smashed into one another, creating a huge, violent vortex of air and water.
Use your brain, use your brain! Harry kept repeating to himself. Think, think!
"Don't get confused. Try to solve one problem at a time," Erudio suggested, with an almost unnatural quietness in his voice.
Solve one problem at a time, Harry repeated to himself, nervously. An idea then came into his mind. I could put the fire out with the water, but I need to separate the air and water first, he thought. He then stretched his arms out toward the elements and pronounced the magical words with great determination. "AQUA EMANATUM!"
The vortex of water separated itself from the whirlwind, though they were still spinning at great speed next to each other.
Very good, Harry! Now make the water put out the fire. The word is MOTUM! Coming from seemingly nowhere, Erudio's words echoed in Harry's mind. Harry turned toward the warlock and he saw him smiling, satisfied.
Concentrating his attention on the elements again, he tried to send his command using all of his will power. He then pronounced the magical word. "MOTUM!"
The vortex of water started to move forward, but then it began to move dangerously toward him. "MOTUM!" Harry repeated, starting to lose strength. As with all of the other times he had used these powers, he quickly began to feel weaker and weaker.
The whirlpool was now extremely close to him; he could feel the spray of the spinning water on his face. It would surely consume him shortly. His heart was beating furiously and his legs were about to give in, but Harry didn't move.
Panting heavily, Harry repeated the incantation a third time. "MOTUM!" Finally, the whirlpool changed direction at the last moment, directing itself toward the fire. When they met, the two elements appeared to struggle against each other for a few seconds, as if neither wanted to succumb to the other. In the end however, they finally canceled each other out.
Exhausted, Harry fell to his knees. The miniature tornado was still spinning in the room, but he no longer had enough strength to affect it.
Still panting to catch his breath, Harry turned to Erudio, who raised his right arm toward the whirlwind, making it disappear with a loud PUFF!
"Excellent! Excellent my boy. With a little more training, you'll soon be able to control the elements without losing your strength. I think that we can end the lesson here for tonight."
Harry slowly stood up and limped slightly to the desk. "I wouldn't have been able to do it without your help."
"Oh, not at all! I sent you the telepathic message, but I wasn't even sure if you'd be able to receive it, considering your lack of concentration. On the contrary, you've done extremely well."
"Yeah... even though I don't know how I did it," commented Harry, in a whisper.
Pretending not to have heard his last comment, Erudio went on. "Tomorrow morning in class, we will start learning how to use non-verbal spells. As homework, I'd like to suggest that you exercise your mind. When you're with other people, try to concentrate and send them telepathic messages, as I did with you tonight. The lesson is finished, Harry. I wish you a peaceful night."
Not allowing time for additional questions, Erudio raised his hand and the door opened. To Harry, it was clear that their time tonight was over.
***O***
The first month of school passed by extremely quickly. Between classes, homework, and tryouts for the Academics Tournament, the sixth and seventh year students barely had time to eat their meals.
As Erudio had said to Harry, during the subsequent Defense classes, the students began learning how to cast non-verbal spells. They had to do their best to not speak the incantations, but rather only think them. The result was that during the practical trainings, everyone remained in silence. Their eyes were closed and their faces red from their efforts to cast spells without saying a single word. In the beginning it was a complete disaster.
Lavender Brown, for example, had tried several times to cast a non-verbal stunning spell at Parvati Patil. The only result she was able to obtain was to shove the tip of her wand into Seamus Finnigan's eye. Harry also certainly found it difficulty in the beginning. By the end of the month though, he was able to cast a decent Jelly-Legs Jinx at Ron with only a whisper.
The only person who didn't seem to have any problem was Theo Mustle. He was able to perfectly cast non-verbal jinxes and hexes from the beginning, and without any apparent effort. Very quickly, Erudio put him in charge of checking on the other students during their training, much to the indignation of Ron and endless envy from Hermione.
Even Professor McGonagall began stressing upon her students non-verbal magic. After almost three weeks spent on the Portus spell to change an object into a Portkey, she started into human transfiguration. At the end of each class, someone always seemed to come out with multicolored hair or an unusually shaped nose.
Professor Snape barreled forward with his program like a runaway train; only a few of the students were really able to keep up with him. He started a new topic almost every lesson. After the Blood-Replenishing Potion, they moved on to the Blood-Reducing Potion (an antidote for the Blood-Replenishing Potion); from the Strengthening Solution they quickly moved on to the Weakening Potion.
Professor Flitwick was quickly becoming more and more busy with the organization of the Tournament, even during classes, much to the great disappointment of Hermione and contentment of Ron and Harry.
"Now we'll never be able to complete all of the coursework for our N.E.W.T. examinations!" she complained on a Thursday morning, frowning at the Charms teacher from her desk in the last row.
Professor Flitwick was standing on his desk looking rather uneasy. He was surrounded by a group of large Ravenclaw boys who were trying to get him to admit them to the Tournament. Charms classes had become very crowded recently. The fact that Professor Flitwick was the one in charge of selecting the students for the Tournament had made him extremely popular.
"Why don't you just enjoy this free time instead? After all, the year has only just started. We still have plenty of time to prepare for our N.E.W.T.s," replied Ron, leaning back in his chair and stretching his arms over his head.
Hermione frowned at him in silence before turning to her book, A Charm for Every Wizard; A Wizard for Every Charm, by Agnes Mirabilis.
Harry smiled slightly; his gaze then landed on the desk were Neville used to sit. His smile faded away. It had been a month and his friend had still not returned to school. Professor McGonagall informed them that he'd been busy with organizing the funeral, then dealing with the Manor and all of his family's belongings.
Harry was sure Neville was feeling extremely down for that whole time and needed his friends by his side, instead of having to face all those troubles alone.
The day of the Transfiguration Task finally arrived. It was the first Saturday of October and all of the students were excited for the upcoming event.
The competition was scheduled to take place in the afternoon. The Hogsmeade weekends had been canceled for security reasons, and so that morning, all of the students chose to walk out in the gardens or along the lake to enjoy the soft warmth of the autumn sun.
After having briefly considered spending the whole morning in the common room finishing their homework, Harry and Ron decided to leave their books behind and enjoy a little bit of rest. Luna joined them for breakfast; together, they planned to pay a visit to Hagrid.
Hermione was delayed by her Head Girl duties, but she told them she'd meet them in front of the castle. Waiting for her arrival, Harry, Ron, and Luna watched a group of students who were sitting by the lake, chatting happily with each other and eating Cauldron Cakes.
"... and then I told him that it wasn't my fault that using jinx detectors during the Defense task was forbidden! Those are the rules and I am not the wizard who made them," explained Ron animatedly as he held his right arm tightly around Luna's waist. Her large blue eyes were fixed intently on him in deep adoration.
"That Thomas Sullivan just wanted to see if you were thick enough to allow him to bring them in. He kept hanging around you like he was your best mate, ever since the date of the second task was announced," Harry emphasized, passing his hand through his ruffled hair. "By the way, the Defense task is going to take place at the beginning of December, isn't it?"
Ron nodded; a large smile appeared on his face. A few days earlier, Professor Flitwick appointed him head of the Gryffindor team, making him feel extremely proud. Since then, he'd constantly talked about the Tournament, about how the tasks were going to be tough and how Flitwick was counting on him for the organization.
Despite Ron's insistence, Harry had politely declined his offer to be part of the team. He had more important things to think about during that time. Aside from school matters, he also had training with Erudio once a week. And there remained the fact that he still wasn't able to sleep through the night due to his reoccurring nightmares, which often made him feel irritable.
"His father is a vampire."
Harry and Ron turned abruptly toward Luna, who'd thrown that statement out there as if making a comment on the weather.
"Well, yes... Mr. Lovegood did publish an article about vampires recently, but what's the connection to Thomas Sullivan?" asked Ron, vaguely.
"Actually, Dad knows the Sullivan family very well," Luna continued with an extremely serious expression on her face. "They deal in Floo powder, you know? They produce the powder exploiting the work of foreign goblins held in captivity. Dad asked Mr. Sullivan to give him an interview, but he refused to do it."
Harry chose not to comment. It was suddenly clear to him why Luna's father had insinuated that Mr. Sullivan was a vampire. Honestly, he couldn't blame Mr. Sullivan for not giving the interview; Mr. Lovegood's magazine, The Quibbler, didn't have the most solid of reputations in the wizarding world.
"Here I am! I'm sorry, but Mr. Filch kept us until just now." The ringing voice of Hermione made them turn toward the main entrance, from where she was coming in a hurry. "You can't imagine what happened last night. Whoever did it, they've really gone way too far this time. It's unforgivable!"
"What happened?" asked Harry, stretching out his hand to hold Hermione's as they slowly headed toward Hagrid's hut.
"We followed Mr. Filch to the Owlery and found a horribly disgusting scene. The floor was covered in blood... all those poor creatures were lying there, dead!"
"What are you talking about? Who would've killed all the school owls?" asked Ron, grimacing in disgust.
"Thank goodness I sent Hedwig to London two days ago with a letter for Fred and George." Harry commented, sighing in relief.
"There's something more," added Hermione, lowering her voice. "They also kidnapped Mrs. Norris. Filch is extremely worried. I wouldn't like to be in his place."
"This is definitely something only a vampire would do. If I were you, I'd ask Thomas Sullivan," Luna said resolutely.
Harry and Ron did their best not to burst into laugher. They turned to face away from Luna toward the Forbidden Forest. Hermione rolled her eyes. "Here we are, at last! But the door is open..."
The four of them looked for Hagrid in the garden near the hut, but there was no trace of him. Then, after a good half hour, they saw him coming out of the forest, almost breathless, his clothes dusty. Fang ran toward them, obviously excited to see them.
"Hi there yeh lot! Thought yeh'd fergot'n yehr ol' frien' Hagrid!" the half giant greeted them with a large smile behind his thick black beard. He appeared to be in a very good mood.
"Hi Hagrid! Hi Fang." Harry petted the dog, who was doing his best to reach Harry's ears with his long wet tongue. "I'm sorry, but we've been really busy with..."
"Homework! Yeah, I know. Yeh don' need ter tell me." Hagrid opened the door and they all went in. "Take a seat. Tea'll be ready in a minute."
Everyone sat around the large table as Hagrid set four huge cups in front of them. "Thrilled abou' the tournament?"
"Are you already planning something for the Care of Magical Creatures task?" asked Hermione, looking extremely interested.
"Well, I... o' course! Tha's why I was ou' there in the forest. But this time I won' tell yeh nothin'. I swear," he promised, looking nervous.
"Let me guess. Is it going to be something that involves dragons or Blast-Ended Skrewts?" Ron couldn't hide his curiosity which was mixed with worry.
"I said tha' I won' tell yeh anything an' I won'!" Hagrid finished, pouring tea into the cups. "Yeh should know tha', Ron. When they give yeh such responsibili'ies, yeh need ter keep yehr mouth shut."
"All right, then. But we're all friends here. You could at least give me a hint..."
"Speaking of tasks, Ron" Harry cut him off, thinking it best to change the topic, "Which student did you select for this afternoon?"
Luna suddenly spoke up with a note of disappointment in her voice. "Oh, well, it would have been nice to compete for the Transfiguration task, but Professor Flitwick chose Padma Patil instead. I doubt I could do it any better than she could... after all, all they really have to do is transfigure a few glass jars into furry little balls."
"You mean crystal vases into Puffeskins," Ron corrected her, not realizing Luna had intentionally selected different words to express how simple she thought the task was. Ron then continued, drawing attention back to himself. "As for Gryffindor, I admit it's been very difficult to find a good champion. I've seen several very good people who wanted to try. I even considered Ginny for, you know, a second or two, but in the end, I chose the best one. It's that new girl, Jane Porter."
When Harry heard the name, he felt his tea going down the wrong way and began coughing as his drink spilled out of his cup and onto the table.
"Hey, hey, don' die right'n frontta us, Harry!" Hagrid gave him a strong slap on the shoulder; if the table wasn't there to stop him, he probably would've been knocked against the wall in front of him.
"Thanks, Hagrid. I'm fine," Harry whispered as soon as he regained his breath. He shrank back when he saw the furious look in Hermione's eyes.
"Yeah, she's just arrived here at school, but believe me, she's really good," added Ron, as if nothing had just happened. "She can cast non-verbal spells just like an adult and she... What?" he asked abruptly, when he finally noticed that Hermione was frowning at Harry.
"Nothing!" she replied annoyed, without swaying her gaze from Harry.
"Jane Porter is that girl who was out with Harry that night, isn't she? The one who made Hermione jealous?" Luna's comment let fall an embarrassing silence.
Hermione kept frowning at Harry; he returned her stare resolutely, trying to send her message through his thoughts. We weren't doing anything bad that night. I thought we'd settled all that, remember?
Ron cleared his throat nervously, trying to think of something clever to say to break the silence; Luna watched the scene, captivated.
"Why don' we stop talkin' `bout the tournament?" suggested Hagrid, rubbing his hands together anxiously. "Hey Harry! I thought tha' yeh couldn' wait ter see it!"
"See what?" asked Hermione, still frowning at Harry.
"What? You didn' tell yehr frien's?" Hagrid looked extremely surprised.
"Tell us what?" Now it was Ron who was frowning at Harry.
"Sirius's motorbike, yehr birthday presen'. I thought yeh were happy abou' that. Come on, come on! I'll show yeh. She's a real jewel."
Hagrid lead them out to backside of his hut. There was a ramshackle wall covered by wooden boards, large stones, and old ragged cloth sacks. The half-giant up lifted up all the debris without any effort; from underneath it all appeared an old, dusty motorbike. It was big and could easily seat three people. Beneath all the rust, the once metallic black iron parts could still be seen. On the front, the glass lens of the large silver headlight was broken; the rubber of the tires had begun to break down from years of exposure and disuse.
"So? Whadda yeh think, Harry? Isn't she beau'iful?" asked Hagrid proudly. "She jus' needs a good cleanin', and she'll be good as new."
Until that moment, Harry had been very excited by the idea of owning his own motorbike. Seeing it in such a sad state however dampened his excitement, almost to the point of feeling disappointed. Despite that, he made sure not to say anything to that effect for fear of hurting his friend Hagrid. "Well, unfortunately, I don't think it'll be too easy bring it back exactly as new... but, with a new coat of paint and new set of wheels..."
"New set of wheels? NEW SET OF WHEELS?" roared Hagrid in amusement. "Whadda yeh need wheels fer if yeh can fly?"
"Wow, this is so cool," commented Ron, gently caressing the dusty seat in admiration. "Sirius must've modified it with magic, just like Dad did with our old Ford Anglia. Please Harry, can I ride it when it's ready? After you, of course."
"I'm sorry to interrupt your daydreaming boys, but I don't think that either of you would be able to ride this motorbike," Hermione pointed out, folding her arms across her chest. "It would be misuse of a Muggle artifact. Besides, Harry would need a magical driving license and a written permission form the Department of Magical Transportation anyway."
"Sure, sure. Yeh'll need ter do everything prop'rly, Harry," Hagrid agreed, hurriedly. "Yeh'll see, Remus'll take care o' this an'..."
"Damn it, Hermione, why do you always have to be a spoilsport?" shouted Ron, cutting Hagrid off. "After all, Dumbledore has already given his permission, hasn't he? What's wrong in riding the motorbike once in a while?"
Hermione pursed her lips together. "FINE! Do as you want, like you always do. I'm tired of being the one to tell you what to do. But if something bad happens, don't come crying to me about it." She then turned on her heel and stormed back to the castle in a fury, leaving the others speechless.
Harry didn't know if he should be angry with her or not. He wasn't doing anything bad, after all. The motorbike was just his birthday present.
"She just needs to calm down a bit. Don't worry." Ron comforted him with a pat on the shoulder.
"Well, jealousy makes silly jokes sometimes," commented Luna oddly, nodding.
Harry realized that Hermione's anger probably had absolutely nothing to do with Sirius's motorbike, and everything to do with Jane Porter.
***O***
In the afternoon, the whole school followed the tournament's first task with great interest. A huge hall in the castle had been configured into a large maze. The four house champions had one hour to make their way through it and face the many obstacles placed in there by Professor McGonagall.
The Gryffindor students were excitedly supporting their champion. They'd even made several large, colorful banners, with "GO JANE, YOU'RE OUR GIRL!" written on them.
Only five minutes after it started, Millicent Bulstrode from Slytherin was the first to be knocked out of the task. A small army of extremely angry, biting Doxies had overwhelmed her. To overcome this obstacle, she need only have simply transfigured the Doxies into tiny statues, just as the other three competitors had done perfectly.
With about a half hour to go, Susan Bones from Hufflepuff also had to withdraw. She did as she was supposed to when she transfigured a marble statue into a flying creature and attempted make it fly up to the ceiling to gather a series of small golden trophies hanging from the chandeliers. Unfortunately, her decision to change the statue into a small spitfire dragon turned into a disaster. Her dragon decided chase after her instead, setting her hair on fire.
Jane and Padma had been at each other's heels until the last moment; each of them was holding a small leather bag containing all the trophies they'd collected along the way. They were neck and neck; whoever reached the finish first would win the task.
The entire audience's attention was set on Jane and Padma. Suddenly, a few step from the finish, Jane pointed her wand at her opponent and before everyone's eyes, Padma disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Jane reached the finish and won.
In the general confusion, Professor McGonagall rushed to her, followed by the other teachers, to verify the legitimacy of the results. When Jane explained that she'd transfigured Padma into a toad, the situation seemed settled.
Despite Professor Snape's objection (it was his opinion that Jane should be disqualified for her dishonorable tactic), Professor McGonagall decided that it was merely a perfect demonstration of a successful human transfiguration, nothing more, nothing less. A few hours later, Padma Patil was found hiding in the dungeons after an exhaustive search; she was promptly returned to normal.
That evening, everyone in the Gryffindor common room was celebrating with butterbeer and firewhisky-filled chocolates. The banners used during the task were hanging from the walls. Ron was sitting in the center of the room, surrounded by a large group of girls with whom he was discussing every slightest detail about the task; they were congratulating him for choosing Jane instead of Ginny.
A large group of boys was crowded around the armchair where Jane was sitting. It appeared as though she had suddenly become the heroine of the school, the only one worthy for them to fancy. In the beginning, Jane seemed extremely pleased by all the attention she was getting. As the long hours began to pass by though, she soon became bored with this. Several times during the evening, Harry saw her stand up and look over the tops of her housemates' heads, looking for someone.
For his part, Harry spent the evening sitting in a far corner of the common room with Ginny, observing the scene absentmindedly as he sipped his butterbeer. Hermione had already gone up to her room, or at least Harry assumed she did, for they had not seen each other since their little disagreement at Hagrid's. He wasn't sure if she'd even attended the task.
Maybe if Ginny was in Jane's place in the tournament, she'd have acted differently, he wondered to himself, sure that Hermione was still angry with him and Jane, even though he didn't know why.
"Really! I don't know why we're celebrating as if nothing has happened out there. Neville is all alone in that huge mansion of his," said Ginny, deeply frustrated. She had spent the whole evening talking about Neville, seeking Harry's support and assurances.
As he listened vaguely to her, he occasionally replied tiredly with a "Yeah, of course" or a "I agree with you." Even though he was concerned for Neville as well, Harry still had his own troubles to think about.
"We wrote to each other recently. He said he still didn't know when he'd be able to come back to school. He misses all of us so much," Ginny finished, sighing deeply. After a few minutes of silence, she suddenly stood up from her armchair, her face full of excitement. "Why don't we go and pay him a visit?"
"I wish we could. Did you forget that the school year just started?" Harry replied resigned, stretching his legs out on a small table, trying to get more comfortable in his armchair.
"We could ask Dumbledore for special permission. Just a few hours... to see if he's okay. Neville's house is not that far from here."
For the next half hour, Ginny made several different plans to try to arrange it, the only result being to give Harry a terrible headache. When most of the students finally left the room, Ginny also decided it was time to go to bed.
Finally alone, Harry took advantage of the quietness; there were only Ron, Jane, and a few sixth and seventh years left. He slowly moved toward the stairs leading to the boys' dorms.
"Harry, please wait a minute," Jane called after him as she rushed up the stairs.
He stopped on the landing, not sure if he was happy or annoyed to see her. "Great job," he said, trying to be polite. "I couldn't have done any better, really."
"Well, thanks. It was just luck," she replied, staring intensely at him with her deep brown eyes. More ruffled than ever, her long dark hair fell over her shoulders. Her red cheeks contrasted with her snow-like skin. "How... how's it going with your girlfriend? I hope she didn't give you too hard a time after last night."
"What? Oh, no, no, it's... everything's all right. Don't worry," he hurriedly replied, feeling an odd pang in his stomach as he lied.
"I've heard that you're a great Quidditch player... or at least that's what everybody says," Jane said, looking extremely nervous as changed the subject. "I've never played before, but it'd be great if you could teach me sometime... I mean, when you have a bit of spare time."
"Well, I..." Harry stuttered as he thought frantically. He would have given anything to be able to go out and play Quidditch again. Doing it with Jane however would have meant even more trouble with Hermione. "I'm sorry but... actually, I'm really busy with homework, you know? Why don't you ask someone else? I'm sure that lots of students would be happy to teach you."
The smile on Jane's face disappeared. "Yeah... you're right... homework..."
Harry's attention was drawn by Theo Mustle who was standing at the bottom of the staircase, frowning at the two of them.
"I'm sorry, but I need to go now. I'll see you around, then." Harry moved away, feeling awkward.
"No, please. Wait a minute!" Jane called him again and he turned to face her. "Please, I hope you don't think I'm being too forward, but..." she said, trailing off as she started playing with the pleats in her dress, her embarrassment obvious.
"I'd like to... I would really like to... to get to know you better, to become your friend. Please believe me. It'd mean so much to me." Jane's cheeks looked redder than ever.
Harry stared her with his mouth open in deep surprise from her words. Does she fancy me? Is she only interested in my name? he wondered, getting suspicious.
"Hem, hem."
Theo cleared his throat loudly; Jane jumped in place. He slowly walked upstairs and joined them on the landing. "Hi Jane. Harry, good to see you. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I haven't congratulated our new champion yet. You did a great job during the task, Jane. I'm very impressed."
Jane frowned at him, looking disappointed. Harry on the other hand, felt suddenly relieved. He was grateful Theo interrupted them; that whole exchange was quickly becoming way too uncomfortable for him.
"May I steal our new golden girl for a few minutes, Harry?" As he asked, Theo wrapped an arm around Jane's waist, pulling her downstairs with him.
"We'll talk about it later, then. Good night, Harry," she called, looking back over Theo's shoulder. She appeared as though she would've rather remained up there with him.
Harry frowned at the sight of the two of them and followed them with his eyes until they reached two chairs in a corner of the room. They sat down and started to whisper to each other in what appeared to be a very serious discussion.
Those two are up to something, he thought, feeling concerned. He then slowly retired to his room, shaking his head.
***O***
Once they were finally alone in the common room, Theo and Jane sat next to each other on the sofa in front at the fireplace. In the silence of the night, only their low voices and the crackling of the fire could be heard.
"I told you it would be useless! Now, all you've managed to do is push him away from you even more," Theo scolded her, in a whisper.
"Your idea wasn't any better than mine!" Jane replied in an accusatory tone.
"You just ran up to him, asking to be his friend. It's insane!"
"What was so wrong with it? I had to start somewhere," Jane huffed as she stretched out on the sofa. Theo was still staring at the flames, frowning.
"We have to find the right way to do this. We don't have much time left," he said, sounding resigned.
"If I just could gain his trust," said Jane, lost in thought. "Tell me again what's going on in your classes. Maybe we could find something useful there."
Theo got more comfortable on the sofa before speaking. "Let me think for a second... During classes, Harry always seems so quiet. Hermione never takes her eyes off the teacher. Ronald," Theo said, rolling his eyes, "is his usual lazy self." He placed great emphasis on his last few words, recalling with distaste the studious habits of the redhead. "I still can't believe they named him Head Boy!"
"What about Malfoy?" Jane asked with a serious expression on her face. "Don't tell me they're good friends, because I'd never believe you."
"Oh, not at all. On the contrary, Harry and Draco always seem to be ready for a fight, for one reason or another." Theo sat silently for a few seconds and then stood up abruptly, as if he just suddenly had a brilliant idea. "Of course! We could use their animosity towards each other to our own advantage."
"That's true, Theo!" exclaimed Jane. "And I already have an idea that would fit into that perfectly. We just need to get Harry and Draco together in the same place. I'll take care of the rest. It'll have to be in the right place, of course, and at the right time, and..."
"How do you plan on getting them to meet in the right place and at the right time? The castle is huge, not even counting all the secret passageways, and the gardens, and..."
"I'll use the Marauders' Map," replied Jane promptly with an odd sparkle into her eyes.
"Do you mind telling me where you found that?" asked Theo, almost scolding her.
"I just forced one of Mum's secret drawers and then..."
"YOU WHAT?!"
"Shhhh! Do you want everybody to wake up?" Jane shushed him, alarmed.
"You've always been a little crazy, but this is too much. You do know what you're risking now, don't you?"
Jane nodded in silence. A veil of deep worry appeared over her eyes.
"Are you going to tell me what you've got in mind, or am I going to have to wait to find out afterwards?" asked Theo, looking at her sternly.
"Let me figure out a few things first. Don't worry, everything will be all right."
"Who's worrying? It's just our future that's in danger," replied Theo sarcastically. "I'll see Erudio tomorrow. Shall I mention anything to him?"
"Sure you can," Jane said, then stopped, thinking it over for a moment. "Just, please... don't tell him about the Marauders' Map. I'm sure he won't be happy about that."
"All right, then. But I want you to know that whatever we end up doing, it will be extremely risky. I'm not even sure that it'll work very well since..."
"Oh, don't be so pessimistic!" Jane cut him off. "The only thing we can do is try and hope. Hope is all we have left," she added bitterly.
Once silence again filled the room, Jane stretched her hand out toward the fireplace. With a loud fwoomp, the fire extinguished itself and darkness enveloped the common room.
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