The Weight of the World

Chapter 9 - The Warning

It was really early and Ron wanted to go back to sleep. But he wanted to find Harry as well. He changed out of his pajamas and went into the Great Hall, but the only person that was in there was Snape.

"Sir, Sorry to bother you, but have you seen Harry?" Ron asked.

"Yes, Weasley as a matter of fact I have, he came in here and got some toast then went outside with it I believe," Snape said.

Ron was about to hurry after Harry when he realized something. Snape just answered his question. He didn't give him a foul look, or yell at him, or even take points away from him, even though he didn't think he could during the summer. He was actually... nice, well not really nice, but not mean at least.

"Well, have a good day, sir," Ron said as he casually walked out of the Hall.

"What in the hell just happened in there?" Ron thought to himself.

When he stepped outside, he saw Harry under the same tree that he found him under the day before. He was staring down at the Quidditch field again too.

Ron walked down there to sit by his friend.

"You didn't sleep much last night did you?" Ron asked him.

"No," Harry said. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Not really," Ron said.

"Sorry about that Ron. I can sleep back in our fourth year dorm until school starts," Harry said.

"No, you didn't wake me up Harry. I got up to use the bathroom and that's when I heard you having that dream," Ron sat there next to him for a minute or so before he tried to engage in conversation again.

"I saw Snape in the Great Hall. I asked him if he had seen you and you know what he said?"

Harry just shook his head.

"He said, 'I think he went outside Weasley'. I wonder if he is making some sort of happy potion and giving it to himself?" Ron said smiling.

Harry just stared out at the Quidditch field and then he spoke.

"He just realizes that something bad is probably going to happen to him Ron. He knows that the risk he is taking is too great. They'll kill him you know?" Harry said.

Ron wanted to change the subject in a hurry. "Harry, can you tell me more about that dream you had last night?"

"I already told you Ron," Harry said.

"Sorry Harry, but you're not a very good liar; I've known you too long."

"I don't want to talk about it Ron," he said.

"Does it have something to do with the Quidditch field?" Ron asked pointing down to the field.

"RON! I said I don't want to talk about it. Shit!" Harry's face was turning red.

"Sorry Harry. I won't ask about it anymore," Ron said in a sorry I asked sort of voice.

"Thank you," Harry said.

Ron found himself angry that Harry wouldn't talk with him, but when he though about it, the anger quickly went away. His best friend was suffering. Suffering from lack of sleep, depression, and who knows what else. He just wanted to help, and the fact that he couldn't, made him angry.

"Do you know when Hagrid is getting back?" Ron asked.

"I have no idea. I was going to ask Dumbledore, but we got caught up in another conversation and it slipped my mind."

"Is there anything in particular you want to do today?" Ron asked.

"I don't know Ron. I don't think I'm going to be up for much today. I want to spend some time in the library and then try to talk to Dumbledore if he has time."

Harry could see the disappointed look on Ron's face. "Ron, when the girls wake up, maybe you can take them into Hogsmeade. I am sure that Meagan would love to see the shops there, and you can't let Hermione bore her to death with her book knowledge, which is what will happen if you leave them alone too long."

"That may not be a bad idea, Harry. You sure you're okay here by yourself though?" Ron added.

"Of course I am you big lump. You think I'm going to get lost or something?" Harry said smiling.

"You might!" Ron said smiling back at him. "It's happened before," Ron said, thinking of the three-headed dog adventure.

Later after lunch, Ron convinced the girls to go to Hogsmeade. Hermione made a huge fuss because Harry wasn't going with them, but he convinced her that he needed to be alone to look some things up in the library. She finally gave in and left him in the common room.

Harry went to the library soon after that, and headed straight to the restricted section. He wanted to find out all that he could regarding Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor, and he figured the information in this section might be exactly what he was looking for.
After going to several of the shops in Hogsmeade, Ron, Hermione and Meagan went to the Three Broomsticks to have some butterbeer. Hermione and Meagan were talking about some dresses that they saw in a clothing shop across the street, when Ron interrupted them.

"Harry had a terrible nightmare last night," he said.

Hermione looked at him wide-eyed. "What about?"

"He didn't really tell me. But I could tell it was a bad one. I got up around three to go to the restroom, and he was breathing really funny and was shaking non-stop. He was also really sweaty, I mean like soaking wet sweaty. He even had to change his pajamas. It took me five minutes to wake him though. I almost went for Dumbledore."

"Ron this is really bad. I talked with Dumbledore yesterday when I got here and he said that he was really worried about Harry. And he doesn't look good. Did you notice his face yesterday? He looked as though he hadn't slept in a week," she said.

"I don't think he has, not well anyway. I can tell you that he didn't go back to sleep last night. I got up at seven this morning and he was already dressed and back down by that tree staring down at the Quidditch field again."

"Why the field?" Meagan asked.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other and then Hermione spoke up.

"That's where it happened; end of last year. Someone tried to kill Harry. They put his name in the goblet and entered him into the Tri-Wizard tournament. He was competing in the last task when he and Cedric Diggory, were tricked into grabbing a port key that took them somewhere. Voldemort was there, and he killed Cedric and then tried to kill Harry. He only just got away and he was injured. But I think he blames himself for Cedric's death. In fact I know he does," she said.

Meagan obviously didn't expect something this intense to come out of Hermione's mouth. So she just looked terrified for a minute before she spoke. "Why does he blame himself if it was someone else that killed him?" she asked.

"Meagan, we really aren't sure what all of the details are. Dumbledore is the only one that Harry talked to, and he said it was terrible," Ron said. "When we heard Harry was going to spend the summer at school, we both wanted to stay here too so that he won't be alone. Dumbledore really wanted us here to try and help him. His aunt and uncle treat him awful and I think Dumbledore knew it would only make things worse. Hopefully soon, he'll talk to us and we can help him get through this."

Meagan sat there for a minute then she looked at the both of them. "You two are really special you know that? You three must be really good friends. I can't imagine what it would be like to have friends like that. I have always heard my mom talk about Harry's mom, Lilly. She was one of my mom's best friends and my mom still gets upset when she thinks of her. I guess I am just amazed at the friendships that are built here."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other for a second and smiled.

"You'll probably find out what it's like pretty soon, Meagan. We Gryffindor stick together you know," Ron said.

She looked at him and smiled.

Hermione was troubled though. If she was such a good friend, how come she didn't feel like she was helping Harry? What was she doing out having fun, when Harry was back alone at the castle going through books trying to find information about who he was?

"Ron, Meagan, I hate to leave you two, but I think I am going to head back to the school and help Harry in the library. I can find books in there faster than most people and maybe I can help him find what he's looking for faster so he can relax and have some fun," she said.

Ron wasn't opposed to this at all. He was about to be left alone in the presence of the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

"Is that okay with you, Meagan?" Ron asked fighting back a smile.

"Yeah that's fine with me Ron. You need to show me the joke shop anyway. Hermione told me about your twin brothers. She said they love that place. I can't wait to meet them," Meagan said smiling.

Hermione had a lot to think about on her walk back to the castle. She tried to rehearse what she wanted to say once she got to the library. She tried to think about what she could do to help him deal with everything that was going on. She hated not knowing what to do. She hated it. She almost always knew the answer to every question, and if she didn't know it, she knew where to go look for it. But this was different, and she honestly didn't know what to do, or what to say. She just kept walking staring at the ground.
Harry had pulled a few books out of the restricted section that he wanted to skim through. His body was aching because he was hungry and he hadn't slept well in a really long time. He had been sitting at one of the tables for most of the morning and his back and legs were throbbing. He took his stack of restricted books over to the large sofa by the window. He sat two of them on the table and then lay down on the couch and opened the third. The book was titled "The History of Salazar Slytherin." It was a very old book, and looked as though it might fall apart at any moment. Every page was coated with dust, but the text inside was very legible. He began reading the introduction of the book.

The work within regards the powerful life of Salazar Slytherin. The knowledge was collected in the year 1205 AD, and then revised in 1500 AD. These events have all been verified to be accurate.

Harry went into the first chapter, and began reading about what was known about Slytherin's childhood. It started talking about the different regions his family moved to and from. He didn't feel like this chapter was going to help him. Harry took a deep breath and quickly flipped to the middle of the book. A cloud of dust fell into his face when he did this and he dropped the book on the floor and took off his glasses to get the dirt out of his eyes. He sat his glasses on the small table by the sofa and lifted his shirt to rub his watering eyes. He then pulled his shirt back down and closed his eyes to let them continue to water and help clean the dirt out. He took a deep breath, and before he knew it, he had drifted off to sleep.

Harry jumped up off of the sofa to find it extremely dark. He must have slept for a long time because the sun had already set. There weren't any lit torches in the library at all, and the only visible light was coming from outside the window. He stood up, put his glasses back on, and glanced out of the window expecting to see a full moon. The light was coming from the Quidditch field. It was the same small light that he had seen in his dream the other night. He couldn't tell if there was anyone next to it this time though, but he knew he had to go find out. The next thing he knew he was out of breath from running at almost a dead sprint to the field. He had just realized that he didn't have his wand again, when he heard the loud scream. It was even more terrible than the night before in his dream. But that was a dream. Could he be dreaming again? He didn't think so. This seemed too real. He stopped to catch his breath and kept patting his pants for his wand.

"You woke up remember?" he tried to reassure himself. "This has to be real."

The scream echoed again and he ran again, to the entrance and through the maze. It was almost as though he knew exactly where to go this time. He made every turn and didn't hit one dead end. He was back. He was looking down the long, open passage with the same light at the end of it. The man was back too; and with the light still shadowing him so that he was unable to make out the features of his face.

"Who are you?" Harry screamed. "Are you okay? Do you need help?"

Nothing. The person didn't answer.
Hermione walked into the library and didn't see Harry at any of the tables. She walked around so that she could see inside of the restricted section's cage but still didn't see him. She was just about to go look for him in the common room when she saw him lying on the couch asleep. She was about to say something to him but then realized that she didn't want to wake him up because she knew he probably needed the sleep. But as she walked closer to him something wasn't right. He was breathing very strange and was sweating really bad. He was acting the same as Ron had described him acting the night before. She knelt down by him and grabbed his hand. It was shaking badly.

"Harry wake up. Harry!" she said while she started lightly slapping his hand that she was holding.

He didn't move. She yelled louder this time. "Harry! Please. Wake up!" She started slapping his hand harder. Once again he didn't move.

Hermione began to cry as she grabbed a hold of his shoulders and tried to shake him awake. "Harry please. You're scaring me. What can I do? Someone help me," she screamed.

She was crying very hard now; sobbing so badly that she couldn't even say his name anymore. She just knelt back down by his side and grabbed him around his shoulder and around his waist with both of her arms and squeezed him. His shirt was soaked with both sweat and her tears. Every few seconds she would try to shake him awake, but he didn't move. She thought about going to get Dumbledore but she didn't want to leave him and she was crying too hard to scream for anyone anymore.
Harry was still trying to catch his breath, but he decided to slowly start walking towards the person in the shadow anyway. He had closed within about ten meters when the man in the shadow spoke.

"He's coming for you Harry. You know that don't you?" the man in the shadow said.

"Who are you? Who's coming for me?" Harry asked.

"Voldemort, Harry. He won't stop until he kills you. And he's coming for you. He's sending them after you," the man said.

"Sending who? Who was screaming? Who are you?" Harry was getting annoyed, but he didn't dare run at the guy to see who he was. He decided to take a few more steps towards him when he heard crying and felt a weight on his chest.

He found his face full of bushy brown hair, and that could only be, "Hermione?" Harry said.

She looked up at him sobbing.

"What's wrong? What's happened?" he said frantically.

"Har...Har-ry, you.....you.....wouldn't," she was having a horrible time talking in between sobs.

"Hermione, calm down for a second and try to tell me what's wrong." Harry leaned up slightly and wrapped his arms around her to try to comfort her. She was still holding onto him, but she let go with one hand to try to get the tears out of both of her eyes.

"Hermione it's okay, just try to calm down and talk to me," Harry said once again. He noticed that he was shaking and was slightly out of breath.

She looked up at met his eyes. He smiled at her quickly to try and calm her down a bit.

"Harry, something. is wrong with you. You. were having some... sort of dream and I couldn't wake... you up. You were shaking and breathing... real fast. I shook you and yelled at you and you didn't wake up." She was still sniffing frequently.

Harry knew that what had happened was something more than a dream. If what Hermione was saying was true, it was something else that was preventing him from waking up. The person in the dream was trying to warn him. He couldn't remember exactly what they had said, but he remembered being warned, and it was about Voldemort coming. But coming where? To Hogwarts?

"Hermione, I think it was more than a dream. Both last night and just now, it was the same dream. I was down at the Quidditch field running through the maze. I get to this long pathway and there is a man standing at the end of it behind this bright light and I can't seem him clearly. Last night he didn't talk to me though. I think Ron woke me up too quickly. But today he spoke to me. He told me that Voldemort was coming for me. He was trying to warn me. He said that someone was being sent. That Voldemort was sending someone to kill me," Harry yelled loudly in frustration startling Hermione.

"What does it mean Hermione?" he asked.

"I don't know Harry. We should probably find Dumbledore," she said. She then gave Harry a big hug and he instinctively put his arms back around her as well.

"Harry I don't think I have ever been that scared. I wanted to help you so bad, but I didn't know what to do. I just broke down and started crying. I needed to help you but I just started crying," she said as she began to cry again.

"Hermione, it's....." He stopped. He didn't know what to say. He just held on to her and let her cry for a few minutes before he slowly nudged her up.

"Let's go find Dumbledore," he said.