The Shoebox
by Jardyn39
Chapter 10 - How Did He Manage The Stairs?
At a little before eight o'clock that evening, Harry waited in the Great Hall for the rest of his evening class students to arrive and find seats.
Hermione had spent all day in the Library researching any significant magical dates and Carmen had trailed Mark around the school under his invisibility cloak. Thankfully Mark hadn't gone out into the grounds at all that day and Carmen had managed to remain undetected, something Harry considered quite exceptional. It must have been very tempting for Carmen to play a few tricks on the unsuspecting students around her.
Harry wondered if Mark wasn't biding his time and planning out how he was going to search the Forbidden Forest.
His own search of the dungeons had been a complete waste of time, although he did think he heard sniggering at one point.
Carmen and Mark entered the hall and made their way towards him.
"Carmen!" said Ron loudly as they approached.
"Hi, Ron!" she said brightly. "This is Mark. Apparently Harry wants us to give extra-strong ear wiggling hexes to anyone who hasn't done the homework, so watch out!"
Ron burst out laughing while Mark looked on, apparently shocked that Carmen should call Harry by his first name right in front of him.
"Hi, Mark," said Ron, still smiling and extending out his hand. Mark nodded nervously and shook Ron's hand. "I hope you don't take any nonsense from Carmen. You know she stuck by best pair of slippers to the underside of my trunk lid, and I never did figure out how to remove them!"
Mark smiled nervously.
"Hey, there's Remus!" said Carmen. "Come on, Mark, I'll introduce you to a real Werewolf!"
Ron smiled widely as she grabbed Mark's arm and pulled him off towards an unsuspecting Lupin who was chatting with a small group at the side of the hall.
Harry perched himself down on the bench beside him.
"I bet she's a handful," observed Ron.
Harry snorted and nodded.
"The worst of it is, I actually encourage her most of the time."
Mrs Ledred came into the hall followed by Moody. As usual, he was being interrogated on Auror tactics by Mrs Ledred's young daughter, Janeen.
Moody limped up to the front and growled, "Right. We all here? Hm, I think we need to attract everyone's attention."
"Me! Me!" said Janeen, jumping up and down.
Everyone turned to watch as Mad-Eye handed her his wand.
"Go on, then."
Janeen pointed the wand up straight up and made an enormous Bang!
Harry joined in the cheering and clapping as Janeen returned Moody's wand to him before taking her usual seat right next to him. Everyone quickly found a seat and listened.
"Excellent!" roared Moody, rubbing his hands. "Now this week we're going begin learning to perform a couple of old favourite charms. Banishment and Summoning. As usual, we'll divide up into three groups after our initial demonstration and there'll be time next week to continue practising for those that want to."
Moody conjured a small mountain of brightly coloured cushions and sent them flying off in all directions as he explained how to perform the spells. Janeen would usually retrieve the cushions for him but this week Carmen and Mark did the honours.
There were a couple more children this week, but Harry suspected Moody's appearance was a factor in them preferring to remain close to their parents.
Janeen, whose Auror ambitions were as strong as ever despite the harrowing tales Mad-Eye kept telling her, soaked up every second of Moody's demonstration. Harry thought her presence was definitely improving Moody's teaching too, since he took the trouble to explain things in simple to understand terms.
After about half an hour, everyone started having a go themselves and Harry joined Lupin in going around and helping people with their wand-work.
Shortly after that, Harry divided the class into three. Moody continued to teach the summoning and banishing charms while Harry practised the previous week's charms and Lupin helped with any other spells people were having difficulties with.
In the beginning, people had been a little shy about admitting not being able to perform the simplest spells properly. Harry had been very thankful that Ron, with typical good humour, put himself forward. This seemed to break the ice and now everyone seemed happy to come forward.
Harry looked around the hall. Carmen and Mark were helping Lupin at the back of the hall and both seemed happy and relaxed. Moody was showing how it was possible, with a little practise, to simultaneously summon one object whilst banishing another. This was something Harry had never been able to master fully and he was tempted to wander over to watch. Then he thought better of it as his other students better deserved his attention.
He was about to take another tour when Carmen shrieked loudly. Everyone turned to see Mark dive for cover, his robes suddenly ablaze.
Lupin jumped forward to help, but Carmen beat him. She pointed her wand down and blasted him with cold air, putting out the flames at once.
"I'm so sorry!" cried Mrs Ledred as Carmen collapsed beside Mark, crying with laughter.
Harry, though, was afraid Mark might not see the funny side of things. If he retaliated, someone could get hurt.
Harry was a only few feet away when Mark emerged from his charred robes. He was very red-faced but managed a smile.
"You okay, Mark?" asked Harry, helping him to his feet.
"Yes, I think so," he replied, looking very embarrassed.
Mrs Ledred was still looking horrified at what she had just done.
"It was my fault, really." Mark said to her. "I should have known you'd get it right on only your third attempt."
The bell went signalling the end of the evening class and Harry thanked everyone for coming and hoped they could make it the next week when it would be his turn to select a new spell.
As everyone gathered their things he turned to Mark. Carmen was still wiping away tears and kept bursting into suppressed laughter when she met Mark's eyes.
"Well, thank you for your help, both of you. I think you'll receive twenty points each."
"Should we really get House points for coming to a detention?" asked Mark, examining a charred sleeve.
"Don't remind him!" Carmen muttered.
"Well, this is a Monday night detention, after all," said Harry with a smile. "Carmen, please take Mark up to Madam Pomfrey and make sure he gets checked out. Leave your robes out so the House Elves know which ones to collect for mending."
Harry watched the two of them leave and then realised Ron and Lupin were standing next to him, both with an expectant look on their faces.
Moody limped over and characteristically cut to the chase.
"Alright, Potter," he growled. "Out with it."
"Let's wait for everyone to leave, okay?"
A few minutes later, Professor McGonagall and Hermione joined them in the Great Hall after all the students other than Ron had been escorted from the grounds.
"Unless I'm very much mistaken, Harry," said Moody. "You were quite ready to stun that kid, weren't you?"
Harry nodded reluctantly.
"I was afraid he would react badly," he admitted, "especially with Carmen laughing at him like that."
"Actually, I think that's what calmed him," said Lupin quietly. "There was no spite in her laughter."
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat.
"I don't think we should be discussing any issues that one of our students may be working through."
"Oh, why not? We used to talk about Potter all the time," said Mad-Eye with a wink at Harry.
"It is a private matter for now, Alastor," she replied firmly. "Now, I'd like your assistance in another matter. Harry discovered evidence that someone may be living in the forest. I'd like you all to consider how we can find out who they are and what they want."
"Why not ask the Ministry?"
"I'd rather not involve the Ministry just now. I'll call upon them as a last resort."
"Well, the only way is to go in there and look," said Moody. "How are the Centaurs these days?"
"They're not too friendly towards us at the moment; well some are but I'd imagine most aren't," said Harry.
"Perhaps we could," began Lupin when the great doors flew open and Carmen came running back in with note for Professor McGonagall.
She read it quickly and said, "Thank you, Carmen. Please return to the Hospital Wing and make sure everyone stays there. I shall want to speak to them presently. No-one is to leave. Please ask Madam Pomfrey to make everyone comfortable until I get there."
Carmen turned and ran back at once.
"What is it?" asked Harry, getting to his feet. "Has Mark done something?"
"No. Alec Brown is missing. He left a note saying he was returning to the forest to obtain a sample of the plant that may have poisoned Adeline."
"Poisoned?" repeated Harry. "I thought she was fine."
"It seems her condition deteriorated suddenly this evening. She is poorly but stable."
"When did he go?" asked Ron.
"He was last seen about three hours ago."
"We'd better get a move on, then," said Moody.
"Agreed," said Professor McGonagall, conjuring a tartan travelling cloak out of thin air.
"Um, Professor," said Hermione tentatively. "I know you must be keen to get Alec back to safety, but wouldn't it be best if you stayed here? What if Mark Stannard takes advantage of all the confusion to slip into the forest himself?"
"Hermione's right," said Harry. "Let us go and search for Alec."
*
Harry paused before leading the small group into the forest.
"We'll go directly to the Unicorn's clearing. If Alec isn't there, we'll split up and search in groups."
"Lead on," ordered Moody from the back. "Don't wait for me; I know my way around this forest."
They headed off with Harry taking the quickest and most direct route he knew. Hermione, Ron and Lupin hurried along in his wake.
After several minutes they arrived at the clearing but there was no sign at all of Alec.
"We should collect a sample of the plants for Madam Pomfrey while we are here," said Hermione.
"Good idea, Hermione," said Lupin. "Where abouts did she hurt herself, Harry?"
"We came through to the clearing from over there," he said pointing and Hermione and Lupin hurried over.
"I don't see anything obviously poisonous," commented Lupin and the two of them scanned the dense bushes with their wand beams. "Let's cut our way through, shall we?"
"Um, we ought not to use Reductor spells. We need to be careful not to damage the plants in case we destroy the very thing we need."
"Good point," agreed Lupin. "Well, it looks like we'll have to risk being scratched ourselves."
"Hang on," said Ron, marching over. "You give me some light and I'll make a space."
Before the others could object Ron had practically dived into the thorny bushes.
"Oh, be careful, Ron!" said Hermione as the sound of ripping cloth reached their ears.
Trying to ignore Ron's loud mutterings, Harry scanned the surroundings. He hadn't seen or heard any sign of the Centaurs, but he assumed they wouldn't be far. He hoped that Alec hadn't fallen foul of them.
Although Harry was itching to start searching, he knew that finding the plant that had poisoned Adeline was important.
"Harry Potter," said a relaxed voice.
Harry spun around and pointed his wand in the direction of the voice. Two narrow wand light beams followed and before them a Centaur was illuminated.
"Firenze!" cried Harry with relief, lowering his wand.
"Hey, what happened to the light?" complained Ron, sounding like he was thrashing about.
"Sorry, Ron," said Hermione.
Harry walked forward to greet the Centaur.
"I'm sorry to have disturbed this place again so soon, Firenze, only we have a slight emergency. One of my students is missing."
"His name is Alec Brown?"
"Yes! You found him?"
"Yes. He is safe, although he did manage to offend a number of elder members of the herd," Firenze said, smiling slightly.
"I'm so sorry."
"There is no need to apologise. I can assure you that you would be most proud of the way Mr Brown conducted himself this evening."
"Apart from breaking school rules and being an idiot by coming in here alone?"
"I am convinced his motives were well-founded."
"Thanks, Firenze. Where is he?"
"Valiente and Alec are collecting some herbs that will make an effective antidote to the plant he was looking for."
"You know what it was?"
"Alec showed Mergus and Valiente the path you took into the forest. From the symptoms he described, it seemed that the girl had reacted to either Taupe Bearberry or Underwort, to use the wizarding names. Mergus found both. Fortunately, the remedy should be equally effective in either case."
"Um, Ron?" called Hermione from behind them. "You can come out now. Ron?"
Harry turned but he heard more swearing and tearing that told him Ron would be fine.
"Firenze, did you have any luck finding the intruder who was camping out in here?"
"We have continued to search but without success so far. It seems clear that it is a lone individual and they are very familiar with the forest."
"If you don't mind, Professor McGonagall would like to send search parties into the forest as well. She has not informed the Ministry, though."
"Does she have any particular concerns?"
"Well, I'm concerned that whoever it is may represent a risk to the students. If they are familiar with the forest they may also be familiar with the school."
"I see. I will discuss the matter with the herd elders. Provided the Ministry stay out of the forest, any objections should be overcome. I would suggest a joint effort, but I would want to carefully select who we sent along to join you."
Harry nodded.
"Thank you, Firenze. I am in you debt once again."
Firenze bowed slightly.
"Please give my warmest regards to Professor McGonagall. It has been too long since we have spoken."
"I'll tell her." Harry promised.
"Would you and your friends like an escort out of the forest? Given the late hour, I suspect the Valiente will have escorted Mr Brown back to the edge of the forest by now, although Mergus only reported back a short while ago."
"No. We'll be fine, thanks."
Harry bid Firenze goodbye and then helped extricate Ron from the undergrowth. It seemed Ron had got so far in he had actually met Moody coming through in the opposite direction.
*
They dashed up to the Hospital Wing as soon as they got back to the castle. To Harry's surprise, there was quite a large gathering at the far end of the ward.
The centre of attention seemed to be Adeline, whom Harry could hear laughing.
Luna stepped out from the group and met them halfway down the ward.
"Professor McGonagall called to say you'd be late, so I thought I'd come and meet you. Ron, look at the state of your robes! What have you been doing?"
"Helping," he replied with a grin.
Harry smiled and said, "I take it Alec got back okay?"
"Yes. Professor McGonagall sent him up to her office once the antidote was administered. You should know that Madam Pomfrey has asked her not to be too harsh in her punishment."
"Okay. Thanks, Luna."
Harry continued down the ward, but was this time interrupted by Madam Pomfrey.
"How is Adeline?" he asked.
"As you can hear, she is fine," said Madam Pomfrey over more laughter. "Mr Brown has been telling me constantly since Friday evening that something was wrong, you know? I realised it might possibly be Taupe Bearberry but it is such a rare plant. I never even considered Underwort as it isn't supposed to grow in our climate."
"Well, so long as she's okay. That's the main thing."
The Hospital Wing doors opened again and in came Carmen, followed by Mark, Natasha and, incredibly, the Centaur colt Valiente.
"We've just been showing Valiente around the school," Carmen announced brightly. "He's seen the Library and we had a quick look around the Transfiguration Department. Mark wouldn't tell us the password to get into the Hufflepuff common room, so we had to make do with Gryffindor."
"You didn't make Valiente go up and down all those stairs, did you?" asked Harry, feeling quite exasperated. "I'm sorry, Valiente. You are more than welcome here, of course, but we must seem very poor hosts."
"Not at all," said Valiente politely. "The, um, Gryffindor entrance was a little challenging, I admit."
"Don't worry," said Natasha. "The Fat Lady's always shouting stuff like that at Carmen, especially when I sneak in."
"Valiente wanted to say goodbye to Adeline before he went home," said Carmen, taking Valiente's hand and pulling him towards the end of the ward. "Hello, Madam Pomfrey," she added with a grin.
Madam Pomfrey looked simply too shocked to reply at this point.
Harry looked down at Mark who had not followed the other three.
"How did he manage the stairs?"
"Carefully," replied Mark, making Hermione snort.
"Tell me she didn't really make him go through the Gryffindor entrance hole."
"She was most insistent. The Fat Lady objected to her using the same method we got into the Library, though. Madam Pince is not going to be happy."
"Don't tell me. There's a Centaur shaped hole where the door should be?"
Mark just nodded but then leaned forward to ask quietly, "Is Madam Pomfrey alright, Sir?"
"She'll be fine in a moment," replied Harry reassuringly.
"Harry?" interrupted Hermione. "I'm going to take Luna and Ron up to the staff apartments so Ron can get cleaned up."
"Sure," said Harry. "I won't be too long."
Harry walked slowly towards the students gathered around Adeline's bed.
"Oh, you have to come again," Carmen was insisting to Valiente. "You haven't seen the Astronomy Tower, the Owlery or the Kitchens yet!"
Valiente continued to look doubtful but Adeline spoke before he could muster a reply.
"Thank you again for helping Alec, Valiente," she said warmly. "I do hope you'll come and visit us again."
Valiente bowed and said, "You need rest now, and I must return to the forest. I am glad I could help."
Valiente stepped back and those who had been seated on adjacent beds rose.
"We'll escort you back," said Natasha.
It was clear that the entire group intended to go with Valiente.
"Just a moment," said Harry. "We don't need any more excursions out of bounds tonight."
"But we have to," objected Carmen loudly and there was much murmuring of agreement.
"Harry, Alastor and I will escort them," said Lupin from behind him. "We'll make sure they all return safely."
Harry looked right at Carmen and said seriously, "No messing around, okay?"
"Me?" she said innocently, making most of the students burst out laughing.
"Alright," said Harry. "Go on, then."
They moved en masse out of the Hospital Wing, shouting goodbyes as they went. When the doors finally swung shut the silence that followed seemed to ring.
Harry went over to Adeline and smiled down at her.
"You feeling better?"
"Yes. I'm just a little tired, but Madam Pomfrey says I can go back to classes tomorrow."
"Good."
"Um, Sir? Professor McGonagall seemed very angry with Alec earlier. He was only trying to help, after all."
"The forest can be a very dangerous place, Adeline. Both of you knew that. Alec should never have even considered going in there alone and at night."
Adeline nodded.
"I will have a word with Professor McGonagall," he said gently, "but he will have to be punished. Now, try and get some rest, okay?"
Harry turned and remembered what Firenze had said earlier.
"Adeline? Do you know what happened between Alec and the Centaurs?"
"No. Did something happen, then?"
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure it was nothing. You can ask him about it tomorrow."