Harry Potter and the Serpent's Eye

Harry Potter and the Serpent's Eye

Chapter 7 -

Harry turned to his right and opened his eyes. He remembered being hit with a curse. He thought it might have been Malfoy's originally. Whatever it was, it had been a pain of such a high concentration that he could only guess that he was knocked out by it.

He sat up, feeling queasy and more than a little disorientated.

He could see that it was dark. He wondered how late it was. What if he had missed the sorting?

He got gingerly to his feet and left the infirmary leaving Madame Pomfrey speechless with a handful of potions, which he was very glad he was skipping.

He realised how much Hogwarts was like his home as he passed through the familiar corridors and passages again.

When he reached the Entrance hall, he couldn't hear any noise in the Great hall so he had to assume he had managed to miss yet another Sorting ceremony, let alone the mouth watering feast.

He had been starting to look forward to the feast an awful lot after waking up after that horrific dream.

He sighed as he took to the steps and made his way to Gryffindor tower again.

He groaned when he reached the Fat lady's portrait. He didn't have a clue what the new password was.

"Password, dear?" the Fat Lady said with a brief yawn.

"Um, I don't know it," he shifted uncomfortably.

"Oh, sorry, Harry, dear, you must have a password to get in," she looked sadly at him.

Harry bit his lip. Then got an idea.

"Oh, look over there!" he said pointing to the corridor to his right.

"What? Where?" the Fat Lady asked, standing up and trying to see out of her frame.

"Swing forwards and you should be able to see it," Harry said.

And so, the Fat Lady's portrait swung wide and Harry caught sight of the Gryffindor common room beyond. He slipped through while the portrait's occupant was still looking about confused.

As he walked out of the portrait hole, he felt like he was at home. He really hadn't been looking forward to coming back as much as he had done in the years before, but he had forgotten just how used to the place he was.

He looked around the familiar cosy room. He saw someone sitting immersed in a book on the other side of the room.

His first impression was to assume it was Hermione, reading a book and all, but it was Ginny Weasley.

"Hello, there," he said with a smile, glad to talk to someone so he could get his mind off things.

Ginny dropped her book in surprise as she jumped.

"Oh! Harry! Ron and Hermione told us what happened! Are you okay?" she stood up.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," Harry said quickly and almost irritated sounding.

Ginny seemed to have noticed how on edge he was, she squinted at him for a moment.

"Hmm, well, whatever you say," was all she said, doubtfully.

Harry felt uncomfortable under her scrutiny.

"So, how was the feast?" he said to change the conversation.

"Fine. You would never guess who the new Dark Arts teacher is," she smiled sunnily at him.

Harry waited for her to go on, but before she could reply there was a noise from one of the staircases and Hermione ran out, her eyes wide.

Harry turned and was then almost bowled over as she hugged him.

"Harry! You're alright! Did Madame Pomfrey let you leave already?"

"Erm, well she didn't let me go, I just sort of went." She gave him a stern look as she stepped back.

He shrugged guiltily. Ginny seemed to be in a fit of silent giggles.

"What'sa noise all for?" a sleepy voice asked from the entrance to the boys dormitories.

Ron came out tousle haired and yawning in his paisley-pajamas.

He blinked once or twice as he saw Harry. "Harry?" he muttered. "You okay?"

Harry nodded, wondering if there was an echo in the room. 'Are you okay' seemed to be the current echoed sentence.

"Good, go- " Ron had to stop for a yawn.

"Well, you go to sleep now, Harry. Whatever hex hit you can't have been pleasant, you should get some rest," Hermione said, stifling a yawn herself.

Harry was just walking towards the staircase when Ron said something, sounding more awake.

"Hey, wait a minute," Harry turned to him, "how did you know, Harry?"

"Ron," Hermione hissed, "not now, later. Tomorrow. Forget it for now."

"Hermione, I want to know," Ron hissed back at her, then he turned to Harry again. "How did you know Malfoy and the other two had planned an ambush on us?"

Harry sighed. "Saw a shadow," he suggested lamely.

Ron raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "You are a Diviner, or a Seer or something aren't you, Harry?"

"No, Ron I'm not!" Harry said, throwing his hands up.

Ron gave Harry a look of disbelief, and then he led the way up to their dormitory without another word.

Harry fell asleep wondering how hard this year was going to be. He knew he couldn't explain the Serpent's Eye to Ron or Hermione. If he did, Hermione would probably look it up and find out it was Voldemort's. Then he would have to tell them what he had heard from that dream. He couldn't bear to have his friends think he was dangerous or going Dark.

Harry woke up earlier than anyone else the next morning.

He made his way down to the Great Hall in a slow and leisurely fashion and ignored all his nagging thoughts and also the nightmares, which had kept him awake half the night.

In spite of having a lot less sleep, he was rather upbeat.

He sat at the Gryffindor table humming to himself. He couldn't see anyone else in the Hall at all. He was first.

He had started on some toast when he saw Albus Dumbledore come in to the Great Hall from behind the teacher's table.

He stopped when he saw Harry, then he motioned for Harry to come with him.

Harry frowned, but got up and followed the headmaster, taking a piece of toast with him.

He was taken to the headmaster's office, which he had been to on various other occasions.

It looked the same. The same circular room, the same sleeping people in the portraits and there was the same beautiful phoenix, Fawkes.

Harry sat in front of Dumbledore's desk looking inquiringly at the headmaster.

Dumbledore looked rather, well, edgy or perhaps concerned with something. To see Dumbledore like this gave Harry an uneasy feeling, he brushed it aside to hear what the wizard had to say.

"You remember your encounter in the hidden caves, Harry?" Dumbledore said after a moment.

"Yes," Harry replied, thinking it was not so easy to forget.

"You broke Voldemort's wand," Dumbledore went on, Harry nodded, wondering where this was going.

"I am afraid that although it seemed the best thing at the time, it has made him more powerful than he was before," Dumbledore sighed and Harry realised he was holding his breath.

He had thought it was a big set back for Voldemort not to have his wand. It wasn't as though he could go to Diagon Alley and buy one. But had he made things worse?

"Voldemort always had a great ambition to conquer death, as you, I think, know, Harry, and there are old magics of a very Dark nature that do bring one close to immortality. Unfortunately, wands and these Dark magics have never mixed well. Voldemort, I believe, was trying to find a way around this problem, but then, he didn't have to, because you destroyed it in the caves."

Harry's mouth was open in horror. He couldn't believe it. He had actually helped Voldemort.

"Now, it isn't good news," Dumbledore stated the obvious to a dumb- struck Harry, "but his goal is still a very hard thing to achieve. I have Remus Lupin helping me out with this line of research, I believe he should find something that will suggest to us that he cannot complete his ambitious goal."

Harry stared at the Pensieve on Dumbledore's desk without really seeing it at all.

"I didn't tell you this to make you feel guilty, Harry," Dumbledore said kindly. "Please don't think this is your fault. I am just letting you know what things are happening, that's all."

The Pensieve's swirling contents paused and Harry saw his own face looking out of it.

Dumbledore sighed gently. "Hmm, well, it is time for lessons to begin very soon. You shouldn't be late Harry. I believe the Sixth year Gryffindor's have Potions first thing today."

That made Harry stand, and practically run to the door, waving a goodbye to Dumbledore as he left.

Harry was out of breath by the time he got down to the potions classroom. He had a sinking feeling that in spite of his run, he was still late.

He hurried in, expecting to hear Snape's snide comments on tardiness, but it seemed he wasn't there yet so he sighed with relief and made his way to Ron and Hermione at the back of the class.

"Why weren't you at breakfast, Mr Future?" Ron asked, about as innocently as the twins.

"Dumbledore," Harry panted, getting his things out of his bag.

"What about him?" Hermione asked.

"No, I mean I was with Dumbledore," Harry said. He told them what Dumbledore had told him with a grimace.

"Oh no," Hermione sighed.

"Bummer," Ron agreed.

When Snape did make it to the class, he was in as foul a mood as ever and took ten points from Gryffindor at every opportunity.

Harry found it hard to look directly at him. His mind kept remembering what he had told Voldemort.

Then, with a jolt, he remembered that Snape had said that was what Dumbledore had told him. Dumbledore thought that?

Harry forced himself to chop up beetles and refused to let his mind slip in to thinking.

Ron and Hermione noticed there was something bothering Harry, it was hard not to notice, but they had to put it down to what Dumbledore had told him that morning.

The Gryffindors left the potions dungeon, almost at a run in their hurry to leave, an hour later.

According to his lesson plan, which Hermione had picked up for him at breakfast, Harry saw that they had Defense Against the Dark Arts next.

Ginny had been excited about the new teacher. Who had she said it was? Oh, of course, Harry realised; she had been interrupted.

He walked in to the class and gaped in shock.

"Professor Lupin!" he exclaimed. Lupin looked up from his desk and smiled.

"Ah, hello again, Harry," then he chuckled. "You look like a cod fish when you stand with your mouth open like that."

Harry closed his mouth and reddened. He made his way to a seat near the front, Ron and Hermione followed with grins on their faces.

"Right. Welcome back to Hogwarts. You may remember me?" The Gryffindors all nodded and grinned. "We shall be starting this year with some practical lessons. These lessons will be rather unpleasant, I believe."

Neville cowered in his chair and Seamus, along with Dean and some of the girls, exchanged nervous glances.

"There are uncertain times coming. Of that, I am fairly sure. They have already started even," Lupin paused before continuing. "There are surely going to be unfriendly wizards around. I understand you saw the Unforgivable curses in your 4th year?"

Everyone nodded, hanging on his every word.

"Well, there are plenty of other curses, less severe with less severe consequences, that Dark wizards can use." Lupin started pacing around the class as he talked. "For the beginning of this year, you are going to use some small curses and such like on each other."

A great number of the class gasped.

"Just a few little pain curses and befuddlement charms, nothing really awful, don't worry. You are a very capable class, you will not have any problems I am sure."

The class still looked uneasy. Harry, however, didn't think it either good or bad, he was listening, but he wasn't having any opinions at all. Ron looked like he was going to be fed a spider, and Hermione looked eager to prove she could do well.

"Right, everyone stand up," Lupin said clapping his hands.

Everyone did, and with a wave of Lupin's wand, the tables and chairs were standing by the walls to one side.

"Right now we shall start with the Trissilis Charm. Very simple to cast. Get in to pairs and point your wand while you say 'Trissilis Maximus'. This charm will make the person affected believe they are upside down."

Something about that sounded awfully familiar to Harry.

Harry paired up with Ron, and Hermione, being rather brave really, teamed up with Neville.

"Okay, start now," Lupin called, and watched as a mass of orange sparks scattered around the room.

Harry cast the spell on Ron first. He was staring open-mouthed above him, then when he looked at his feet he looked as though he really had been forced to eat a spider.

Hermione screamed for a moment when she looked to her feet. This, however, was not because she thought she was upside down but because Neville's spell had gone wrong and her feet looked like lizards.

No one else in the room moved at all once they were affected with the spell, and only moved again when the spell had been taken off them.

Ron looked awfully tense and he told Harry never to ever do that again.

Harry had to calm him down with the thought of him being able to do the same thing to him in a moment.

Ron then relaxed and lifted his wand to the ready.

"Trissilis Maximus!" Ron cried along with half of the rest of the class.

Harry at once found himself upside down as he had in the Third Task's maze. He knew what to do, he took a step forward and he felt the world right itself.

He grinned at Ron, who shook his wand to check if it was working.

"Very good, very good. You all did fine, except no one worked out how to overcome it, did they?" Lupin's voice rose over the class.

"Harry did! I saw it," Lavender said pointing to Harry.

"Really, Harry?" Lupin sounded amused. Ron helped Hermione fix her feet as Lupin carried on.

"Splendid, at least someone managed it. How did you know what to do, Harry?"

"I came across it in the Tri-wizard Tournament's Third Task, Professor," Harry said quietly.

Lupin bit his lip, and looked rather strained for a moment. He changed the subject by telling everyone to write a brief essay for homework.

When Harry was on his way out of the class, Lupin gave him a reassuring wink and a smile.

The Herbology lesson that afternoon passed peacefully, unless you count a number of screams coming from Lavender and Parvati after almost being bitten by Tarantula plants as an unusual thing.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were on the way to dinner when they had to pause to scowl at Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who were entering the Entrance Hall from the Dungeons.

"How did that hex feel, Potter?" Malfoy sneered.

"Lovely, thank you," Harry replied, his eyes blazing in an almost alarming way.

"Enjoyed it did you? Well, you're in for much worse, I can assure you," Malfoy smirked with a look of triumph plastered over his smug face.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron raged, having to be held back by both Harry and Hermione.

"Sorry, Weasley, but you won't have a famous best friend for much longer, have to find another way to gain attention," Malfoy's snide reply came.

Hermione snorted and stepped forward to slap Malfoy hard across the face. She had done this once before in their third year, but Harry and Ron found no objections to the encore performance.

Ron muttered, "That's my girl," under his breath.

Malfoy threw another glare at Harry around Hermione's outstanding hair.

"Enjoy the time you have while you can, Potter. You won't be with us long," and he turned and sauntered in to the Great Hall, rubbing his cheek.

Harry sat at the Gryffindor table feeling uneasy. He didn't eat anything when the food appeared on the table.

"Don't you take any notice of what Malfoy said, Harry," Hermione scowled across at the Slytherin table while putting salt on her plate.

"Yeah, what does he know? Not much," Ron put in, speaking through a mouthful of mashed potato.

Harry didn't reply. He glanced up at the teacher's table and saw Dumbledore talking to Lupin in low voices.

Snape looked as sour as ever, Professor McGonagall looked tired and was eating her dinner with the occasional yawn as a pause.

Harry looked back to his friends and was about to say something, but he stopped short.

Hermione had her hands firmly around the back of Ron's neck and they seemed to be in a kiss that, were he to say anything, would not get through to their heads.

"Hey, do you know when Quidditch practices are starting by any chance?" he asked Ron's back, no reply.

Harry sat lost in thought for a moment. It was then he realised that Ron and Hermione had broken apart and were eating their, now cold, dinner once more. He heard Ron mutter about Quidditch practice (well more like the tryouts for the new members) was set for that Saturday.

"Ron, where is your bag?" Harry asked, noticing he didn't have it with him.

Ron looked around his seat and looked back at Harry with a pale face. "Harry! Why didn't you tell me I left it before?" he said, annoyed as he realised he had left it in the Herbology lab.

"I couldn't," Harry said amused, "you had Hermione on your face."

Ron's ears turned pink and he left to collect his bag.

About an hour later, Ron came in to common room and when Harry smiled at him from his chair by the fire, Ron bit his lip and wouldn't meet his gaze as he hurried up the boy's staircase out of the room.

Hermione seemed to have noticed this too, because she looked after him curiously and turned to see Harry looking concerned and rather confused.

"Um, what was that about?" he said uncertainly. Hermione shrugged and left after him.

Harry, who wasn't keen on being in the room while they kissed, stayed where he was in case they did at some point.

He picked up 'Quidditch Through The Ages' and read through it for about the hundredth time.

"What'cha reading?" came a voice from behind him. He turned to see Ginny sit down in Hermione's vacated seat.

She caught a glimpse of the title and shrugged. "Oh, I could have guessed," she chuckled.

It seemed she was about to say something else, but was interrupted when Harry saw Hedwig fluttering at the window.

He got up and hastily let her in.

He picked up the parchment and unrolled it.

Harry,

How are you? I do hope you are well. I hope you had a good summer. I meant to write to you over the holidays, but I went to Spain for most of the time, and my owl really disagrees with being made to go on long trips.

I looked for you at the feast on the first night, but I didn't see you anywhere. I was wondering if we could meet up some time. I would really like to see you again.

Sincerely,

Cho

Harry felt himself going red. He saw Ginny looking curious from the corner of his eye.

He smiled as he found a piece of spare parchment and sat down to write a quick reply.

Cho,

I'd love to see you some time. Just tell me when and where?

I am fine and had a great summer, btw.

Hope you did too, though it sounds like going to Spain must have been good.

Let me know when you are free, then.

Harry

Harry smiled faintly as he sent the reply off with Hedwig. Ginny looked like she was going to try again to say something as Harry turned back around, but Harry cut her off by telling her he was going to get an early night and he left.

Harry found Ron already fast asleep when he entered the dormitory. He wondered if he had explained himself to Hermione as he changed and lay in bed.

He didn't like the idea of going to sleep much. He didn't want to dream. But after a full day, he was found himself having to work hard not to shut his eyes and let sleep take over.

He eventually lost the silent battle, and slipped in to sleep for less than an hour before waking up with a jolt and shivering as he tried to forget the nightmare.

He was up and out of the dormitory before it was actually light the next day. He couldn't stand falling asleep and falling victim to those awful dreams anymore.

He found a note left by Hedwig on the little table in the common room, however, and it was his reply from Cho.

She suggested they meet that weekend by the lake at about four o'clock on Saturday afternoon.

The weekend seemed years away to Harry. He sincerely hoped that he would have managed at least one good night's sleep between now and then.

That week passed without anything of interest happening. Parvati and Lavender got the first detentions, Neville melted another cauldron, Ron, Harry, Dean and Seamus all slept through Divination on Wednesday, and Hermione over studied.

By the time Friday came, Harry's lack of sleep was definitely showing on him.

Friday evening was when Harry made a decision. While Ron and Hermione were reading a book of gushy poems in one of the armchairs, Harry slipped out of the common room and made his way to the hospital wing.

Madame Pomfrey was most cold when she asked him what he wanted. He had to apologise for leaving on the first day in such a hurry before she would listen to what he wanted from the infirmary.

"Um, well, I, um, need some Dreamless Sleep potion if you have any, please?" Harry said hopefully.

She nodded and fetched a bottled concoction. She took out a smaller blue bottle and poured some of the potion inside for him to take away.

She looked less stern when she gave it to him, and he was sure she even looked a little sympathetic.

He thanked her and left, looking forward to a night free of nightmares and awful dreams.

When coming back through the portrait hole, he saw Ron and Hermione still immersed in their own little world and he went straight up to bed.

After taking a swig of the potion, he lay down as he felt the potion start to take effect.

*~*~*

WHACK

Harry jumped and blinked. What on earth was that? he wondered.

Then he realised that Ron was holding a pillow in his hand and had obviously just hit Harry in the face with it.

Harry groaned and turned over, trying to get back to a dreamless sleep where he didn't have to watch his two best friends kiss or watch Voldemort make plans of murder.

"Oy! Wake up sleepy head! It's late!" Ron threw the pillow over Harry's head again, and as Harry tried to hit Ron with his hand in retaliation, he slipped and fell out of bed on to the hard cold floor.

"Ouch!!"

"What did you want to fall out of bed for?" Ron said doubling over with laughter. Harry refrained from answering, "To knock you off your feet with some wandless magic from my hand", and just got up, rubbing his back.

When he looked at the clock, however, Harry couldn't help but start to hurry. It was less than half an hour before Quidditch practice started.

He hurried to get dressed and grabbed his Firebolt. He went as fast as he could to the Quidditch pitch, hoping it didn't last too long. He had to be by the lake at four.

Harry went out on to the pitch to see Ron there already. It was just the two of them. The Keeper and the Seeker.

"Woken up now, Harry?" Ron said grinning.

"Yeah, aren't there supposed to be people trying out for the team about now?" Harry said.

"Yes, well, you see... " Ron fell silent, ears turning pink.

"What is it?"

"Well, and don't get mad, the thing is... I kind of already worked out who would be on the team." Harry raised his eyebrows. "I know we were going to do it together and I planned to, but when I went to get my bag the first day, Seamus, Dean and Colin Creevey and then Pavati and Lavender all came up and told me to watch them play Quidditch. They said they wanted to try out for the team and they played and they were fantastic. And I know you wanted to do the try outs as well, and I am very very sorry, but I sort of told them on the spot that they were in..." Ron bit his lip and looked like he was waiting for Harry to blast him all the way to the Dark forest.

Harry didn't do anything for a moment, and then he took another look at forlorn looking Ron and burst out laughing.

"Oh - oh that - is just - so funny!" he gasped.

Ron's eyebrows shot so high they were hiding under his hair.

"Y- you mean you aren't mad?" he stammered.

"Mad? Why would I be mad? I would be awful at holding tryouts, I wasn't looking forward to it anyway, and you are my best friend which makes it hard to be mad with you!"

Ron blinked. "Wow," he breathed, his eyes wide.

"What?" Harry asked, still laughing.

"I just really can't believe you Harry," he said solemnly, "you convinced me to go and talk to Hermione, even though you must have known you would regret it when we were kissing all the time, you put up with everything that comes your way and then you don't even get mad when I ruined your part of Quidditch."

Harry shrugged eloquently. "So... where is the new wonder team?" he asked.

"Right there," Ron pointed to the Gryffindors coming in carrying brooms. Little Colin Creevey, who wasn't all that little anymore, was looking positively ecstatic.

"Alright everyone," Ron said grinning. "You know Harry's the Seeker and I am the Keeper, but Harry doesn't know what places all of you are playing, and I'm not sure that I remember rightly myself. So who's what?"

"I'm a Beater!" Seamus said, smiling broadly.

"Me too," Dean put in, with a grin.

"And we three are the Chasers," Colin added, indicating himself, Lavender and Parvati.

Harry watched with wide eyes as Colin, Parvati and Lavender handled the Quaffle around the pitch. They were almost as good as Katie, Angelina and Alicia had been together.

Seamus and Dean seemed to be a match for the Bludgers, though they would need a little training before they were as good as Fred and George Weasley had been.

After catching the Snitch a few times and watching the other players, Harry checked his watch and realised it was almost four o'clock.

He landed and the others, seeing he had, did as well.

"I have to go," Harry said looking over to where the lake was hiding behind the changing rooms.

"But we haven't given the team the chance to elect the new Captain, Harry," Ron protested.

"Oh, Ron, for goodness sake, you are the Captain! And you'll do a damn good job," Harry sounded half exasperated, half like he was trying not to grin.

Ron dropped his old broom, as his mouth fell open.

"W-what? Captain! No, no, Harry. I meant for you to -" he stuttered.

"Leave it, Ron. It's you," Harry grinned at his best friend and then turned and left at a half run.

Ron stood speechless on the pitch behind him.