Harry Potter and the Black Grimoire

CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE - A SCREAM FROM OBLIVION

Harry Potter was just lifting his eyelids as a hazy sun rose in the east. He had gotten no sleep, even though both Dumbledore and Hermione said he needed it. He knew he did. But with the excitement of the night before, he could not bring himself to it. There was just too much to think about; too much to sift through. Sleep was not as important.

Remembering that today he would be going with the Order to retrieve the book was enough to make him forget his sleepiness and jump out of his bed to get dressed. After showering quickly, he went to wake Hermione, but found that her room was vacant. Puzzled and worried, Harry rushed down to the common room and stopped at the foot of the stairs to scan the room. He let his breath and worry escape his lips in one long whoosh of air. There she was, asleep in one of the squashy chairs in front of the fire, a book laid open on the floor in front of her.

He crossed the room slowly and silently, not wishing to wake her up just yet. Standing by her side, looking down upon the girl - the woman that had changed his life in so many ways, he temporarily forgot everything that had taken up residence in his mind the night over. How grateful he was to have realized his feelings for her.

He reached down to put the stray book on a table and then sat down on the arm of the chair his girlfriend occupied. She still had not awoken. He gently stroked her hair and smiled as her eyes opened, as he knew they would. She silently smiled back at him as the sun rose just a bit higher in the morning sky. He bent to kiss her and he knew his day was made. It was almost impossible to have a bad day with a girl such as Hermione at your side and on your mind.

Harry spoke first.

"You should really follow your own advice sometimes, you know."

"Whatever are you babbling about, Harry Potter?"

"You asleep in the chair; an open book at your feet. I can see the signs and I know well what they mean. You've been up all night reading."

"So I have. And what of it?" she mocked.

"I'm just saying, you shouldn't tell me to sleep if you know you're not going too. That's called a hypocrite, Hermione."

He smiled and stood back for the assault.

"Harry Potter! How dare you call me a hypocrite! Me? A hypocrite! Of all things! Of all people! Me! I do not think so, Potter! And I will not have you stand there and accuse me of hypocrisy!"

She paused to catch her breath. "And what are you smiling about?" she demanded.

"You're so cute when you're angry."

She stood back and assumed her normal pose, with her hands on her hips.

"Oh that's good Harry. You think you can just turn this all around - fix it all with one unfounded compliment. If you do, you're thick."

"Actually," he started, "I don't."

"Then how do you plan to - "

He cut off the rest of her sentence with a proper morning kiss and he let his tongue wander a bit longer for the effect. His hand found the bare skin of her side and then down to the soft firmness her butt. With a gentle squeeze he finally pulled away and looked into the dreaminess of her chocolate eyes.

That should do it.

"Good morning," he said.

She didn't speak right away, even though her mouth opened. Then, "Do you think it's that easy to win me back?" she asked him, putting on a look of utter distaste that both of them knew was false.

"It's not?" he asked, grabbing her and getting close once again.

She didn't answer, but instead kissed him as he had kissed her, being sure to include a quick pinch of his ass before she released the lip-lock.

"I'll take that as a yes," he said breathlessly.

"I only let you think that because I want to keep you around."

"And why's that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because even though you're the most pompous and self-centered boy I know, you're still very pretty too look at," she said matter-of-factly.

"Is that true?" he asked with mock curiosity.

"Every bloody word of it," she answered.

"Well -," he started.

"Oh and did I mention you have a nice bum too?"

With another quick pinch of his behind, she turned on her heel and walked upstairs to her room to change before they went down for breakfast. It was lucky Harry saw only her back as she walked away, for she wore quite a smug smile on her gleaming face.

~*~*~

All of the Order was waiting for them as they entered the Great Hall a short while later. They were all having breakfast and conversing with each other when they noticed the presence of the two youths. The enchanted ceiling above revealed gray clouds that slowly moved across the sky to cover the waking sun.

"Good morning!" Dumbledore said with a smile. "I trust you both slept well?"

"Not really, headmaster," Harry answered.

"Well I wouldn't think so with you're little adventure last night!" Sirius added, his mouth full of bacon.

They chuckled sheepishly and Harry asked, "Will the notes be useful?"

"Well I spent most of the night and early morning poring over them, but we can't be completely sure until the right team of Unspeakables has studied them," he replied. "But I think it's safe to say that they should be instrumental in the downfall of the Unforgivable Curses."

He winked at them as their faces broke out in large smiles.

There was a chorus of many, "Bloody good job!" "Way to go!" and many pats on the back before they were able to start eating their breakfast. Harry noticed Hermione looked rather more smug than normal all the way through the meal.

After they were all finished and the plates had returned to normal, Dumbledore got their attention and filled them all in on the plan-of-action. As it was quite early in the morning still, no other students were awake yet to hear and he could speak freely.

He informed them that they would proceed to the doorway, led by Harry, and then attempt to breech Slytherin's office door. They were just on their way to go as the first of the remaining students filed into the hall, looking sleepy and curious as to where this large group of adults and two kids were going.

Swiftly they made their way up to the North Tower amidst feelings of curiosity and content. The whole group had a carnival-like atmosphere to it. Everybody was intrigued to see what was inside the Founder's Office.

But as they walked up the spiraling staircase and at last faced the tall picture of Sir Cadogen the knight, a small bit of that atmosphere lessened.

The dim knight said nothing, apparently too apprehensive with this large group of witches and wizards staring at him. Finally, after the silence had lasted a few seconds, the knight spoke nervously.

"H-How did you f-find out?"

Apparently valiant knight he was not. At least not when outnumbered ten to one.

"Harry told us," Sirius answered.

"H-he d-did?" he stammered. And then, "Is this true?!" he bellowed, now noticing only Harry.

He didn't know what to say.

"I told you that in the strictness of confidence! With the bond of a knight! Does the bond of brothers mean nothing to you? Speak knave!"

Still Harry could not find the words.

"Sir Cadogen, are you meaning to tell us that Harry was not supposed to speak of what was behind this door?" Dumbledore said in a calm, but demanding way.

"Behind the - behind the door?"

He looked very bewildered for a moment and then suddenly his whole attitude changed and he looked relieved.

"Oh! What's behind the door! Of course, of course! That's what you meant! How foolish of me! For a moment there..." he trailed off.

"What is it?" Hermione pressed.

"Oh, nothing. It's nothing my fair lady. I just thought for a moment they had found out about the chambermaid... but it's nothing!" he said very quietly, adding that last bit with a renewed bit of volume and character.

"I don't get it," Remus said, baffled.

Meanwhile, Harry had slowly figured it out and Hermione was trying her best to suppress a sudden fit of giggles.

"I'll tell you all later," Harry whispered, so that the knight could not hear him.

"Good," Dumbledore said. "Well let's be on then. Harry, speak the password and then the incantation.

He nodded and reached into his pocket for the Marauder's Map when suddenly, out of nowhere, a piercing shriek split his head. He fell to his knees in blinding pain as his chest burned red-hot. He opened his eyes with difficulty and reached under his shirt to feel his pendent, which was glowing crimson. His eyes watered and his head pounded from the lingering affects of the scream as he noticed everyone around was also either on their knees, or bent, covering their ears and holding their heads.

Harry's head hurt so much he could not think of anything to say. He was too surprised and he was in too much pain. The shriek - it sounded eerily like a howl of pain. And slowly, as in waves, he felt the pain start in the rest of his body. His neck, his back; it was all sore. The muscles in his arms were worn-out, as if he had been hanging by them for a long period of time. He didn't know what to think. He didn't know why it was happening. Or how it happened. All he knew was that he wanted it to stop.

Slowly he began to tolerate the ache and he made his way to Hermione, who was on her knees, obviously experiencing the same pain that he was. It seemed they all were.

"Harry..." she breathed. "Why?"

It was then that the waves of pain began to recede and Sirius was the first to stand. He helped up a weakened Dumbledore, whom, despite all his power, was unforgettably an aging and very old man. When he was brought to his feet and steadied himself, he spoke.

"Everyone to the Meeting Room at once," he said, with apparent effort.

No one asked any questions of him, or delayed in any way. They all simply took hold of their glowing, hot, key-pendants and transported themselves to the room the Order of Light used as a meeting place.

They all sat in their chairs, obviously relieved to be off of their feet. They sat that way for some minutes as the pain slowly receded and they were allowed to regain some of their earlier composure. It was McGonnagall who spoke first.

"Albus... what was that?" she asked, her voice not hiding her fear.

Dumbledore took a moment to compose himself further and gather his thoughts and then he attempted to answer her question. By now all of the Order was wondering the very same thing. He had their undivided attention.

"I cannot be sure, Minerva, but given the nature of the... attack and the heat given off by our pendants, I believe we all collectively experienced a cry for help."

"From whom?" she asked.

"I would think that was obvious, Minerva. The only one of us missing from these ranks."

"Snape," Harry answered for her.

There was a collective sigh of release from the members and many sat back in their chairs to ponder this horrifying revelation.

"He is being tortured," Sirius said plainly.

"I believe so. Yes, Sirius," Dumbledore answered.

There were several more moments of silence before anyone spoke again. There was still a dull ache in Harry's temples and his entire body felt weak and drained.

"I cannot imagine that they would have left him with the pendant," Dumbledore mused. "He must have been able to get to it and he must have had to do it quick, for fear of being discovered. Or perhaps he made a mad grab for it."

"If he could have gotten to it without being seen, he would have brought himself back here," one of the Ministry members added.

"My thoughts as well. He must have made a desperate grab for it, or something of the like," Dumbledore answered.

"And what we felt - that was what he was feeling?" Hermione asked timidly.

"I believe so, Ms. Granger. The bond these pendents give us is strong, especially in times of great need, or danger, and those two often go hand-in-hand."

The air in the room was thick and heavy with a feeling of undeniable uneasiness. It was horrible, to torture a person to that extent. The only time Harry had ever felt pain like that was when Voldemort himself put him under the Cruciatus Curse. And even that was nothing compared to the prolonged sensation of numbing pain and ache. No matter how hard he tried, he could not rid himself of it. It was is if he, Harry, had been hanging by his arms in a cold dungeon for weeks, with no nourishment other than what was necessary to keep him alive. It was a despicable thought, to be used for a petty motive such as information. But then again, in the right hands, knowledge is power. And in the wrong hands it is equally as useful, and all the more dangerous.

"What do we do now?" Lupin asked, thankfully bringing Harry back to reality and away from his thoughts.

Dumbledore did not speak right away and when he did, it wasn't hard to see the thoughts running through his already jumbled mind. Harry imagined that right now would have been an opportune time for the Pensieve.

"I think the most important task at hand, is that we proceed with our plans to raid Malfoy Manor. From what information we received from Severus before he was apprehended, it is clear that Lucius is Voldemort's right-hand-man."

He paused again to answer any questions that might need answering. None came.

"Our main objective will be to gain any and all knowledge of dark activity in the near past, present and future. We need to find out where this mansion of Voldemort's is. If we're to have any chance of saving our potion's master, we need more information."

"The place is bound to be unplottable," Moody added.

"I agree, Alastor, but if we are to have any measure of success at all, we need to at least try. Severus was our only window of direct knowledge close to the Dark Lord and we need to try and do anything possible to get him back."

There was a collective murmur of agreement from the group around the table.

"What are we going to do about the book?" Harry asked.

Again, Dumbledore did not answer right away.

"I think it's best that we leave it be for the time being. As he is indisposed at the moment, I believe he doesn't pose any direct threat, or chance of obtaining the Grimoire. It will be much more safe where it is now anyway. When the time seems right, we shall continue this where we started and go in to retrieve it. I don't think it wise to go about it any other way."

"So we wait then. We wait and we plan the raid," Sirius stated more than asked.

"Yes."

There was another pause, in which the rest of the group took time to let this new information and plans sink in.

"Alastor, we're going to need those plans for the Malfoy Manor quick and you and the rest of the Aurors should begin devising the most logical and safe way into and out-of the house. Any and all details that you can gather about the manor and its interior would prove useful."

Mad-Eye grunted in understanding and Dumbledore stood, signaling the end of their spur-of-the-moment meeting.

Harry stood with the rest of them, noting that his knees were still a bit shakier than normal. He helped Hermione up as well and went to talk to Sirius and Remus a bit before they left. Undoubtedly they would want to know more details about the events of the night before and Harry had no problem telling them, as it gave him something to get his mind off of the recent events. And if he could do something to try and force out the pain and feeling of utter loss and despair, he would do it.

~*~*~

By the evening feast, the rest of the students of Hogwarts had returned, coming home on the train around midday. It seemed Ron was especially eager to find Harry and Hermione, and when he did so, the look on his face told them that he was not in the best of spirits. And then suddenly it dawned on them.

"Ron... did you feel it too?" Hermione asked slowly as he drew nearer.

He nodded, his features ashen and pallid. "What was it?"

They did their best to answer him and filed him in on everything that had happened since they left. By the time they were mid-story, Madeline had joined them and leaned in on her boyfriend to comfort him, apparently sensing his mood.

When they were finished, Ron's mood had neither improved, nor worsened. It was clear that he was unnerved by the meaning behind the scream he had heard, but apparently he was also feeling a bit left out, having not participated in the recent events, which admittedly, were rather exciting, if not disturbing.

Harry, Hermione and Maddie all did their best to try and cheer him up and by the end of dinner, Harry had gotten him to talk about their chances at winning the Quidditch Cup this year for their team. And anytime Ron had the chance to talk about quidditch, it was always a definite mood brightener.

It was hard to see that he was still feeling more down than usual, so Harry felt the need to propose something different.

"Why don't we all go do something we haven't done in awhile?" he suggested.

"What's that?" Ron asked.

"Let's go visit Hagrid."

At first Ron just insisted on going back up to the Common Room, but eventually the group had persuaded him and they were off to his hut just as the last rays of the day were swallowed up by the darkening horizon.

Hermione knocked on his wooden front door and the loud bark of Fang could be heard from inside. The door was opened momentarily and Hagrid stuck his large, hairy face out.

"Why what a surprise this is!" he said jovially and he ushered them inside.

"Would any o' yeh like some rock cakes? Just baked 'em meself," he asked, forever a gracious host.

They all refused politely on the grounds that they had just eaten dinner and were quite full. Hagrid accepted and went about making a giant pot of tea for the small group and him. Meanwhile, Fang was getting reacquainted with the Trio and was just meeting Madeline for the first time. When the tea was done, they all sat around Hagrid's wooden table and he poured them some. After a few sips, he appraised them thoughtfully and spoke.

"Heard what happened today. Must o' been awful. I can' say I envy yeh. It's not nice bein' tortured. Not nice at all."

"Have you been tortured before?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"I was captured, yeh see, during the firs' war. Caught me by surprise they did, and shot be full o' stunners before I could escape, or fight back. Bloody Death Eaters."

They were all shocked that something like that could have happened to Hagrid, seeing as they had never heard anything like it before now.

"Tortured me for days on end before I was able to escape."

"That's horrible, Hagrid!" Hermione assessed. "We never knew anything like that happened to you before."

"It's not sumpin I'm proud of, o' course. I don't usually tell anyone. Rather forget it. But when I heard about what happened to yeh lot, it brought it all back."

They didn't say anything in reply. They were all still too stunned and sorry for him to say anything.

"But don' yeh all worry 'bout nothin'," he added brightly. "If I can escape, Snape surely can. And with Dumbledore tryin' his best to get him back, there ain't nothing gonna stop him."

"Well we sure hope you're right, Hagrid. Knowing what Professor Snape is going through definitely makes me wish for his safety a bit more than normal."

"Yeah," Ron added. "Kind of makes you feel better about the old git, knowing that he's taking that amount of pain and still hanging in there."

Harry said nothing, but he was in fact thinking the very same thing.

"Enough o' this talk about You-Know-Who and Snape, Harry, Ron, what're you reckon are your chances at winnin' in quidditch again this year?"

And with that Hagrid and the boys plunged into a detailed account of just what their chances would be when they played again in the finals.

When Hermione and Madeline were thoroughly bored and the night outside had fallen to an inky black, Hagrid told them that they should be getting back up to the castle. He walked them back to the front doors and waited for them to enter safely before leaving.

"Hagrid," Ron started, "thanks for letting us visit tonight. It made me feel a lot better."

The other three nodded in agreement and gave him warm smiles around.

"It's nothin'," he replied. "What I'm here for!"

"And we're glad you are at that, Hagrid!" Hermione added.

With a return smile and wave, they entered the Entrance Hall and Hagrid turned and walked amidst the night back to the warmth of his hut in the distance.