The Weight of the World

Chapter 20 - Information

Harry headed down to the common room and was surprised to find Hermione, Ron and Meagan sitting down there. What surprised him was the fact that he hadn't heard them, they were all sitting there fairly silent.

"Why so quiet?" Harry asked them loudly.

They all suddenly turned around and Hermione jumped up quickly.

"Harry!" Ron said.

"Harry what happened, where have you been?" Hermione said.

"I was in the Pensieve,” Harry said.

"That whole time? Harry we thought you had left the castle or something,” Ron said

"What do you mean the whole time? It was just an afternoon right? How long was I in there?" Harry asked looking at them all.

Hermione looked at Ron then back to Harry.

"Harry you were in there for three days,” She said.

"Three days? You're kidding right? Three days?" Harry asked them.

Meagan, Hermione and Ron all nodded at him with amazed looks on their faces. Harry walked down the stairs towards them and was met with Hermione who gave him a hug.

"We were so worried Harry. Professor Dumbledore told Ron that you were supposed to disappear, but they made him leave and he didn't get to tell us how long you'd be gone," Hermione said.

"Made him leave? Where'd he go?" Harry said.

"Fudge made him leave Harry,” Ron said. "Fudge made him leave and he says he's running the school now."

"I asked him if Professor McGonagall would be the headmaster when she got back but he gave me a dirty look and said that it was Ministry business now and for me to stay out of it,” Hermione said.

"He's a jerk,” Meagan said. "He even told my mom that he would need to re- interview her because he didn't trust Professor Dumbledore's judgment anymore."

"Dumbledore told me and Ron to leave Harry, when he found out they were going to make him leave early. But we wanted to stay until you came back. We were starting to wonder if you were coming back at all. What happened to you?" Hermione asked.

Harry looked at the three of them for a second. Then walked over to a chair and sat down. The others looked at him for a second, but then sat down as well.

"There are some things I haven't told you guys," he said softly.

Meagan interrupted him. "Harry, I can go if you don't want to talk about this in front of me."

Harry frowned at her for a second. "Meagan, you're our friend. You're part of this group now," he said.

Ron and Hermione agreed.

"Of course you are Meagan,” Hermione said.

"Yeah," Ron said grabbing her hand.

Meagan smiled at them and then looked back at Harry. "Thanks guys. Sorry Harry, keep going."

"Well, remember when I told you all about me being a descendant of Gryffindor?" he asked.

They all nodded quietly.

"There is something that was passed down to me, a family heirloom of sorts. That's what the Pensieve was. When I went inside of it, it took me back to Hogwarts. Back in time I mean. I was here at the castle, but it was back in Godric Gryffindor's time. He was there and spoke with me."

"You talked with Godric Gryffindor?" Hermione asked.

"Yes Hermione. At first I thought it was like a regular Pensieve, but it turned out to be something different; way different."

Harry paused for a second and began to recall the moment when Godric touched his wand. The flashes suddenly came back, some of the memories, spells, and places. Harry slumped back in his chair. The others could see a glazed look in his eyes.

"Harry, are you okay?" Ron asked.

When Ron spoke it pulled Harry back to them.

"Harry you've been gone for three days. Are you sure you don't want to get some rest first? You look really tired," Hermione said.

"I am tired Hermione. I don't think I have ever been more tired in my life," he said. It wasn't a lie either. He had just now fully noticed it. Godric had told him that he would need to get some rest, but he wanted to finish. He wanted to tell them what he could. He knew they were anxious to know.

"I can go on. Then I just need some food and lots of sleep I think," he said smiling.

"Godric explained to me that back when he was alive, he had found a way to pass on his knowledge and memories, and I think his power as sort of a family heirloom. He said that it was my time to receive it. He made me pull my wand out, and then he touched it and made them all go into me,” Harry's voice kind of trailed off as he finished the last few words.

"Made what go into you Harry?" Hermione asked with a worried voice.

"I'm not sure. Memories and places, and I remember things... things that happened. I remember spells and people and. stuff I don't even know what they are exactly."

Harry was obviously confusing them. But he was confused as well. Every time he thought back to what had happened, his mind began to race as if injected with some sort of drug. He had trouble controlling it.

"I'm not sure what's happened. He told me that it would start making more sense in time. He told me that I needed to get some rest, but he told me that it would slowly start making sense."

Harry looked down at the table and then back up at them.

"I can't believe I've really been gone for three days," he said shaking his head.

Hermione stood up and went over to him. She put her hand on his forehead.

"You're burning up Harry. We can talk more about this later. Ron, can you go get him some food and pumpkin juice from the kitchen?" she asked.

"Yeah I'll go,” He said.

"I'll help,” Meagan said quickly getting up behind Ron.

They both quickly walked out of the common room.

Harry looked up at Hermione and he still had a confused look on his face.

"What's happened to me Hermione?" he said softly.

She sat down beside him and grabbed his hand with both of hers.

"I don't know Harry but I doubt it was anything bad. It sounds to me like he really gave you something very powerful. If he said that it would make more sense to you later, then I am sure he's right. We'll just have to wait and see. Professor Dumbledore didn't seem too worried about you being gone. Anyway, you look really tired, why don't you go up and get some rest. I'll bring the food up to you when Ron gets back," she said.

He looked into her eyes and smiled. Looking into her eyes seemed to make him feel better. They had done that more than a few times over the last several days.

"Okay. I may not be able to stay awake long enough to eat anything though,” He said.

"If you're asleep I can just leave it by your bed. If you wake up hungry you can snack on it," she said.

Harry got up and walked back up to his dorm room. Each step he took got a bit more difficult than the previous one. He was starting to feel as though he had in fact been awake for three days straight. His brain was really hurting him from strain. He didn't bother changing into his pajamas. He took his glasses off, then kicked his shoes and socks off his feet and fell on the bed. He was asleep just a few seconds after his head hit the pillow. Hermione walked in a few minutes later and did as she said and sat the food down on the table by his bed. She had felt better now that he was back. At least she wasn't worrying about him being gone, but she was still worrying. She wasn't sure what had happened to him. The events of the last three days seemed very overwhelming and it hadn't quite sunk in for either she or Ron, but she was sure that it possibly involved something very powerful which usually also meant dangerous. She gently woke him up and told him that the food was on the table. She also made him get under the covers before letting him drift back off to sleep. As she stared at him she couldn't help but smile, she was so glad that he was back safely. She leaned down and gave him a kiss and walked back down to the common room.

Wormtail made his way through the small village trying not to be too conspicuous. But the small balding wizard was just too nervous and he didn't realize that he was looking over his shoulder almost every ten seconds to make sure he wasn't followed. No one paid him much attention however. He was still very shaky though. His master had made it very clear that the consequences would be very severe if he led anyone here. He leaned up against a post and stared at two wizards that were behind him, and kept staring at them as they walked by chattering happily about the weather. They didn't seem to be too concerned about him standing there in fact they didn't even notice him. He turned and walked down the alley that was directly behind him and didn't even notice the black dog watching him from across the street.

Hermione walked down the stairs and sat down by Meagan and Ron. She and Ron shared a look of concern for Harry. Hermione finally felt the need to say something about it.

"Ron what is he going to do? After you and I go home I mean, where's he going to go? He can't stay here,” Hermione said.

"Hermione, I don't know. But we promised Professor Dumbledore we would go home tomorrow," Ron said.

"Ron, how can he expect us to just leave him here?" she said.

"Hermione, we can't stay here. You know we can't. Harry will probably end up staying with Moody at his house or something. We can't worry about that, he'll be okay,” Ron said.

"I hope your right Ron. Things are getting really messed up. When Fudge finds out that Harry is back, he'll probably want to see him," she said.

"I don't like that guy, and if he weren't dad's boss I'd tell him so,” Ron said with a tough voice.

"Ron, get real, he's the Minister of Magic, even if he wasn't your dad's boss, you still can't talk to him that way. You don't want to get on his bad side Ron. Look at what he did to Dumbledore," she said.

Ron yelled in frustration and walked over to the Foe-Glass to possibly try and break it like Harry had done. It had been facing the wall. When he turned it around he almost yelled out loud. He signaled for Hermione and Meagan to come and look at it. Instead of one shadowy figure, there was now several; so many in fact that the shadows seemed to all blend in together. They all stared at the mirror and Hermione gave a small whimper before she let her eyes gaze up towards the room that Harry was sleeping in.

"What are we going to do Ron?" Hermione asked.

Ron looked at the mirror with anger in his eyes, before he turned it back around to face the wall. "Nothing Hermione. There isn't anything we can do. Not now anyway. We just have to trust Dumbledore just like Harry said. We'll go home tomorrow, and when Dumbledore gets this all straightened out, we'll come back. Harry will be fine."

Meagan didn't know what to say. She walked up behind Ron and grabbed his hand. He looked at her and then gave her a reassuring look that tried to tell her that everything would be okay, even though he wasn't sure that was true.

The large black dog waited across from the alley for the short wizard to reemerge. It was a few hours later before he saw several wizards come into view. They would come out a few at a time, and would keep walking out of site. Then another few would come out of the alley and do the same. He kept a close watch and kept counting them. He wanted to gather as many details as he could about what these wizards were up to. His count kept growing, five, ten, fifteen, eighteen, twenty two, and then finally the short wizard appeared. He came out and leaned against the same pole he had used to rest against just a few hours before. The short wizard looked into the direction that the wizards had walked until they were all gone into the darkness. He didn't look nearly as nervous as he had before. Evidentially he had fulfilled his masters' request and was a bit more relaxed, almost proud of himself. He stood up straight and then began to walk down the street. The black dog followed him and stayed in the shadows so that it wasn't detected.

When the wizard reached the edge of the village, the black dog made his move. He ran quickly and silently behind the wizard and when he became very close, he leapt at the small wizard's back. When he was mid-air he transformed into a man, wrapped his arms around the small wizard's neck and pulled him down. He freed one of his hands, and with one quick movement pulled his wand from his robe and stunned the smaller wizard with it up around his neck. He then conjured ropes and snugly bound the unconscious wizard so that when he did awake, he would be unable to move or yell for help.

"Nice to see you again Wormtail. Let's get you to a safe place then we'll wake you up and see what you and your close friends were discussing back there."

That night, Harry, had a series of strange dreams. In the first dream he had, he was looking down on an enormous group of people. He seemed to be standing on some sort of balcony of a large castle. There were thousands of people looking up at him as though they were waiting for something to happen."

"Sire, the people are waiting."

Harry looked over his shoulder and saw an older looking wizard talking to him.

"Excuse me?" Harry asked him.

"The people, my Lord. The people are waiting for you to speak with them sire," the small wizard said again pointing down on the large crowd.

"Me? Why would they want me to speak with them?" Harry asked.

"Is sire feeling okay?" the wizard said again.

"I think I am okay,” Harry said but he really wasn't sure about that question now.

"Well sire, the people want you to tell them sire. They want to hear about the victory. They want to hear about how you stopped the killings sire. About how you and the others stopped the Dragon's Wizards sire."

"The what?" Harry said.

"The Dragon's Wizards sir. The Dark Wizards. Sire, you are not feeling well at all are you?" he asked.

"I guess not,” Harry said.

Harry turned back to look over the crowd but instead found himself sitting in a classroom. He was surrounded by wizards that all seemed to be at least in their twenties. There was an old woman at the head of the class and she was drawing something on an old blackboard.

"Today we will be continuing our Alchemy discussion. Please take out your cauldrons and your supplies for studies," she said.

Harry looked around and saw everyone reaching under their tables and pulling out supplies. He was very confused, but reached under his desk anyway and didn't find any supplies. He then stuck his head under his desk and saw a pair of feet in front of him that suggested that someone was suddenly sitting at the same table as he was, but directly across from him. He rose his head up quickly and hit the back of his head on the table when he did. He was rubbing the back of his head with his eyes closed, but when he opened them, he was no longer in a classroom; instead he was in some sort of pub with a very large man sitting across from him.

"Did you find it sir?" the man asked.

"Find what?" Harry asked him still rubbing his head.

"Your wand sir, did you find it? You said you dropped it under the table, remember?"

Harry was confused again, and it seemed to show because the large man smiled at him.

"Maybe sir bumped his head a bit too hard eh?" he said laughing loudly.

The smile quickly went away though and was followed by a serious look. "I hope you found it sir, because they just walked in the door."

"Who walked in the door?" Harry asked.

"Mylor, sir. He and two of his followers are here sir. Should we take them now, or wait till they've had a few drinks?"

Harry didn't know who Mylor was or even who the large wizard across from him was. He was beginning to panic.

"Umm... Let's wait till they've had a few drinks,” Harry said.

"Good idea sir. I need one myself," the large wizard said smiling again.

Harry put his hands under his glasses and rubbed his eyes. When he pulled his hands away, he was now sitting in a small kitchen. The large wizard wasn't there anymore. No one was. He was alone. He looked around and saw a tea kettle over a small fire in the stove. The kettle began to whistle and he heard someone come through the door behind him. It was a woman.

"Good morning honey, did you sleep well?" she said.

Harry stared at her for a second to make sure she was talking to him. She stared at him waiting for an answer.

"Umm. yes I slept well thanks,” Harry lied. He had no idea who this woman was.

Then he heard small, quick footsteps behind him.

"Good morning father!"

It was a small girl of maybe five or six years old. She walked up to Harry and pulled herself up into his lap.

"Father, can we go down to the river today?" she asked.

Harry didn't say anything. He was a Father? What was going on? Who was the woman and this little girl?

"Sweetie, daddy has got to work today. He can take you to the river tomorrow," the woman at the tea kettle said.

These weird dreams went on for a while until Harry found himself awake in his dorm room bed. He sat up and looked over and saw Ron asleep. He was so shaken by the dreams he had experienced, it took him a while before he looked away from Ron.

He saw the food that Hermione had put by his bed the night before. It was morning, very early, but it was in fact morning. He went to the bathroom and got a shower, then walked down to the kitchen and got some breakfast. He was starving. He spent a while listening to Dobby talk about what he did on his last day off, which turned out to be doing extra work for a family in Hogsmeade, then he decided he would go to the Headmaster's office and see if Fudge was there. He wasn't about to be accused of something unless he had the chance to defend himself. As he walked to the office entrance and gave the gargoyle the password, it didn't work. Fudge must have changed it.

Harry decided to wait for him. He sat outside of the office for about fifteen minutes, and then decided to head back to the common room. On the short walk back he realized that his mind seemed a bit calmer. Other than him still thinking about the dreams he had the night before, he had control of his thoughts again. He could actually concentrate on something now.

When he got back to the common room, Hermione was there sitting on the couch, eating some toast and reading the Daily Prophet.

"Good morning Harry. You feeling any better?" she asked smiling.

"Yeah, loads better thanks. I had some really weird dreams last night though Hermione. They were so real and so vivid. It was like I was living other people's lives. In one, I was some sort of leader fighting Dragon's Wizards or something like that, in another I was in a classroom studying Alchemy, and another I was trying to catch someone named Mylor,” Harry told her.

"Mylor and Dragon's Wizards, Harry?" Hermione said.

"Yeah,” Harry said.

"You must have done too much reading in the restricted section Harry. Mylor was the leader of a large group of dark wizards like way over a thousand years ago. They were responsible for thousands of people's deaths and were finally stopped by a group of wizards trained by Merlin I think. And the Dragon's Wizards used dark magic to tame dragons. They were really evil wizards too and were kind of like the Death Eaters are now, except they would use dragons to kill people and burn villages and stuff."

Harry slumped back into his chair. He knew right away that these dreams had something to do with what Godric had given him. It took Hermione a second, but she realized it too.

"Harry do you think this has something to do with."

"Yes,” Harry didn't let her finish.

"Harry, Professor Dumbledore wants Ron and me to leave today but I don't want to. I can't leave you here alone like this," she said.

"I won't be alone Hermione. I'm sure I can go stay at the Leaky Cauldron, or get a room in Hogsmeade, or I could even go stay with Lupin," he said.

"Please just go somewhere where you'll be safe Harry. Please tell me that you will. And promise me you'll send me an owl when you do, I'm going to be sick with worry anyway," she said.

Harry got up and pulled her up from her chair by her hand. He then pulled her into a hug and they wrapped their arms around each other tightly.

"I'll be fine Hermione. I promise I'll take care of myself. I told you and Ron both to just have faith in Dumbledore, he'll come through.

They sat there for a second in their embrace.

When are you catching your train?" he asked her.

"Ron and I both are going into Hogsmeade later this afternoon. He's going to take the floo home, and I am going to stay at the Leaky Cauldron tonight, and then catch my train home out of London tomorrow," she said fighting back tears.

"Harry, I am really going to miss you. Please keep safe and promise to send me an owl. oh yeah that reminds me, Hedwig is upstairs. She had a message for you. I told her to wait upstairs and that you'd be right back," Hermione said as she let go of him and wiped her eyes.

"Oh, maybe it's from Professor Dumbledore," he said suddenly and then he ran up the stairs.

Sirius had a special cave that he'd found, and it was here that he had been spending the past few days. It wasn't too unlike the cave outside of Hogsmeade that he had become accustomed to staying at during the end of Harry's last school year. He brought his prisoner back to the cave that night and secured him to some homemade shackles that he had wedged into the cave wall with netting below it to prevent this particular prisoner from changing form. He used his wand to tie him up to the shackles, and then revived his prisoner.

Wormtail's eyes immediately widened when he saw his old friend come into focus. He knew that last time he had him in his clutches, Sirius wanted to kill him. He doubted that this time he would feel any different.

"Hello Wormtail. It's nice to see you again. I see you have a nice new hand down there; it even has all of the fingers,” Sirius said talking about the magical hand that Voldemort had made for him.

"Sirius, it's good to see you too Sirius. You have to help me Sirius, it's who-know-who Sirius, he has control of me, and I can't get away from him. He even did that to my hand. He took my real hand Sirius,” he said hysterically.

"Save all of your talk Peter. I'm not going to kill you. At least not right away.. Tell me something Peter; I want you to tell me everything that is going on and I might just hand you over to the Ministry instead of torturing you to death."

Wormtail's mouth involuntarily opened and the lower part of his jaw began to shake.

Sirius knew right away that he had already placed a good load of fear into his old friend.

"Peter, tell me what you and your friends were doing back there in the village. What were so many of you gathering for?" he said.

"Gathering? I. I.don't know. don't know what you're talking about," he said.

"Peter, don't play dumb with me. I'll go ahead and tell you that I have been following you for some time now. You aren't very smart Peter. You were never very smart. So don't play games with me, I don't have the patience or the time for it. I'll simply start to hurt you Peter, hurt you very bad. Now let's try this again. I'll make it easy for you. Answer my questions quickly because every second that you stall, is a second that I hold the Cruciatus Curse on you Peter. And, look at me Peter, look me in the eyes. You've known me for a long time, long enough to know that I am not bluffing you."

Wormtail's jaw kept shaking. He could see the matted hair, the dirty face, and the seriousness in his old friend's eyes.

"Now let's start Peter. You're meeting tonight; they were all Death Eaters right?"

"Right, yes Right" Wormtail said quickly.

"Voldemort sent you to tell them something right?"

"Right, yes. Uh-huh," he said quickly.

"Good Peter. You're doing well. Please don't make me hurt you. Please keep answering, because I can promise you that no one outside of the cave can hear you scream," Sirius said plainly.

"Peter, what did Voldemort send you to tell those men in there?" Sirius asked.

"Padfoot, old friend. Call me Wormtail. Remember? I'm Wormtail,” he said.

"Crucio!"

Wormtail screamed louder than he had ever screamed in his life. The pain was unexplainable. Then, just as quick as it came, the pain was gone. He was gasping for air and he had begun to cry and drool on himself while sobbing.

"Peter, I'll give you a few free seconds to recover from that. But as I warned you, answer me immediately or you'll pay with pain. I'm not fooling around here. Now that you seem to have recovered from that, I'll ask the question again."

"What did Voldemort send you to tell those men?"

"A plan. He sent me to tell them about a plan of attack," said Wormtail.

"Peter you really aren't answering my question. Another round of pain perhaps?" Sirius said raising his wand.

"No! No! It's a plan of attack; they are going to attack the school. The school, Sirius."

"Hogwarts, Peter?" Sirius said with his wand raised.

"Yes Sirius, he wants them to attack the school."

"Why the school Peter? What's happening at the school?" Sirius asked.

"Because Dumbledore has been suspended. He's not there. Moody's gone too. Harry Potter is there unprotected," Wormtail said.

"So they're trying to take over the school, but why Peter?"

"Fudge is there running the school now. They are supposed to take Fudge alive. Voldemort wants him alive. Voldemort wants the castle. He wants control of the castle," he said.

"So what about Harry, Peter. What are they supposed to do with Harry?" Sirius asked.

"Kill him Sirius. Voldemort told me to tell them to kill him," he said.

Sirius stared around at the castle for a brief second in thought. Dumbledore gone? Fudge running the school? He hadn't seen a Daily Prophet in several days so he had no idea if what Peter was saying was true.

"When Peter?"

"What? What?" he said shaking badly.

"When are they supposed to attack the castle Peter?" Sirius said again, now yelling.

"Tomorrow Sirius. They all went to Hogsmeade tonight, after the meeting. Tomorrow they're going to attack," Wormtail said.

Sirius felt his stomach drop. It was already four in the morning. Even as a dog he could never make it to the castle by sunrise. He was too weak and hadn't slept in days. He could never stop an attack of over twenty men, or even find enough allies to help in time.

"What time tomorrow Peter?"

"I don't know!"

"Crucio! What time tomorrow?"

"Ahhhhhh.. I.don't..know."

"What time Peter? Crucio! What time?"

Peter's screaming in the cave was causing an eerie echo that made it sound as though there were ten men screaming instead of just one. Sirius pulled the curse off of him after a few seconds and stared over him.

"What time Peter?" he said softly.

Wormtail was limp with only the shackles holding him up. He was crying loudly and his wrist was bleeding where the shackle had almost cut him to the bone.

"I.don't.know.Sirius.Please I don't know. They.are.just.supposedto..attack when they.. when they are ready," he said struggling to talk from the sobs.

Sirius believed him

His problem now was that he didn't have a way to aid against this attack. Even if he could get there in time, he could never get to Harry without being seen. He used his wand to again snugly tie Wormtail so that he couldn't move or talk. He even pointed out to him that if he did decide to change to his rat form; he would fall into the contraption, become trapped and then probably be eaten by one of the large cave bats. Sirius needed to rush to the village and find an owl to send Harry a message. He knew that if in fact Fudge was running the school, that Harry needed to just get away from the castle to make sure that he was safe. He couldn't risk sending a warning directly to Fudge if the Death Eaters had already captured him. This wasn't a comfortable plan, but it was the only one he had, given the lack of time. It was a long shot.

When he got into the village, he scribbled a message on some trashed paper to Harry then gave it to a small speedy looking owl.

"Sorry this isn't parchment but please take this to Hogwarts as fast as you can. Try to find Hedwig in the owlery and have her deliver this to Harry herself. If you can get there quick enough, I'll show you the fattest rat you've ever seen when you get back. He'll be the best meal you've ever had," Sirius said stroking her under her head.

The owl hooted happily and zipped off into the night. Sirius took another piece of paper out of the trash and scribbled another message to Dumbledore. He then found another owl ready for the task and rubbed its wing while he attached the message. He saw that his hands were now shaking badly. It was probably from lack of food, sleep, and now horrible worry all combined.

"Please find him. And Please hurry,” Sirius said.

Harry walked up to his dorm room and saw Ron still sleeping in his bed, and that Hedwig was also sleeping perched on the chair by the window. Harry smiled at her but he didn't see a message on her leg. He began to walk over to her, but then spotted a dirty piece of what looked like packing paper folded clumsily on his bed. He pulled it open and read it silently.

Harry

You're in danger. Death Eaters are going to attack the castle today. You have to get yourself out right now. Do not go to Fudge. Don't try to be a hero and do something stupid. Just get out. They'll be coming from Hogsmeade so don't go that way. Don't waste time collecting your things. Get out immediately. Make sure Hedwig comes with you so you can send her to tell me where you are.

Sirius.

Harry dropped the letter on the floor and then stared up at a sleeping Ron.