Harry Potter and the Power of Emotion

Harry awoke to the sounds of movement in the dormitory. Faint shuffling, a mutter, than a loud crash that set his teeth on edge. A string of curses filled the room, some of which Harry had never even heard before. It sounded like one of the Weasley twins, but why would they be in his dorm? Harry's head was pounding, although it had nothing to do with his scar. He tried to open his bleary eyes but was forced to shut them tightly against the blinding light seeping in from the window. He felt awful; he couldn't remember being involved in a fight, but surely he must have. This couldn't just be the flu? Whatever it was, there was no way he was going running this morning.

He rolled his tongue around and stuck it in and out; someone must have jinxed his mouth full of cotton. Still unable to open his eyes, he tried pushing himself to a sitting position. Immediately he knew that was a bad idea as his stomach lurched and he feared he'd be sick. Forcing himself to concentrate despite the pounding of his head, he tried to remember what had happened. Quidditch match...he hurt his arm...there was a party...punch. The punch. That was it! Ginny was at the party and he had a vague recollection of talking with her but couldn't put all the pieces together. Groaning, he pulled the covers up over his head, what had he done?

His wrist was throbbing dully and he remembered tossing the sling aside. He was supposed to go easy on it for the night but he vaguely remembered some dice...

The hangings around his bed were pulled mercilessly back as George Weasley's happy voice sang out, "Morning, Harry! How are you feeling?"

Harry kept the covers over his head and groaned again, "Go away."

"What's this? The Boy-Who-Lived being done in by a little Firewhiskey? Come on, Harry, I thought you were made of stronger stuff than that!"

Harry could hear the amusement in George's voice as he poked his finger over and over into Harry's ribs. Harry clamped his teeth together in irritation, trying to pull away. "Sod off!"

"Well, I can see you're in a fine mood this glorious day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, makes one glad to be alive. How about you, Ronniekins?" he trilled as he pulled the hangings back on his younger brother's bed.

Ron was lying on his stomach, head to the side with his eyes wide open, staring at nothing; he was positively green. George laughed at the sight of him. "You look even worse than Harry does! And that's saying a lot!"

Ron continued to stare without speaking and George lost interest in the two of them. He moved on to try and wake Dean, who didn't seem to be willing to give up on his slumber.

Harry still had the covers over his head, but he adjusted them so he could peer at Ron. "What did I do last night?" he croaked quietly, not really sure he wanted an answer.

"You're asking me?" queried Ron. "I couldn't even tell you where I was last night."

Harry really felt awful; getting up didn't seem to be an option and the idea of breakfast made him want to heave. Maybe he could get away with just spending the day in bed?

"Come on, get up all of you and head down to the common room," said a sharp voice that took Harry a minute to recognize as female.

Pulling the covers down slightly so they just reached the top of his nose, Harry realized both Hermione and Ginny had entered the boys' dormitory. Ginny was wearing jeans and a yellow jumper that looked soft and fluffy. He had an overwhelming desire to reach out and touch it and he blushed at where his thoughts were straying. He quickly rolled over onto his stomach to hide the evidence. Not now, he groaned inwardly.

"I'm up, I'm up!" George was saying. "Fred, Lee, and Neville are in the showers. It's the rest of them who seem incapable of getting out of bed."

Hermione marched right over to Ron and pulled the pillow from beneath his head, showing him no mercy.

"Hermione!" Ron shouted for the first time this morning, than shut his eyes quickly putting his hands to his head. "I'm sick."

"You're not sick, you're hung over and Professor McGonagall's not going to accept that as an excuse for the entire Gryffindor table being empty at breakfast."

"How are you so cheerful this morning? As I remember you had your fair share of that punch last night," Ron grumbled crossly.

"Simple," Hermione answered primly. "I used a sobering charm before I went to sleep. Why didn't you?"

Neither Ron nor Harry answered, the truth being that it had never occurred to either of them. Sometimes Hermione could be very annoying.

Ginny moved next to Harry and cautiously sat on the edge of his bed. "How are you feeling," she whispered gently.

"My head hurts," he said, still not raising his eyes to look at her. He felt like there was something important right on the edge of his consciousness, but try as he may, he couldn't quite grasp what it was.

She giggled. "You're skin is green, Harry!"

Hermione had turned sharply at their conversation and demanded, "Does your head hurt from the Firewhiskey or from your scar?"

Harry wasn't sure how to answer that question without getting himself into trouble so he remained silent.

"You did remember to practice your Occlumency last night didn't you? Even if your forgot the sobering charm, you must have remembered that."

Harry knew there was something he forgot to do last night! He groaned again and tried to turn away from the shrill sound of her voice. It was going right through his aching head.

"Come on, Hermione." Ron bailed him out. "Give him a break. Even if You-Know-Who did try and get into Harry's head last night, the fumes alone would have had him pissed as well."

Although she tried desperately, Ginny couldn't stop the hiss of laughter that escaped her lips at this comment. She could feel Harry's body shaking beside her in suppressed mirth and saw even the corner of Hermione's mouth twitch.

"Still," Hermione continued after she got her features under control. "It's very important, Harry, you can't afford to be skipping it."

Harry didn't seem to even have the energy to be irritated by her interference. He sighed and rolled over, looking up at Ginny. "Did I make a complete prat of myself last night?"

Ginny seemed to be studying him intently and Harry grew very nervous about why she was looking at him that way. She finally seemed to come to a decision about something as she said, "Well, you were very giggly."

Harry groaned. "Great," he mumbled.

"Come on, it was a party and everyone was in a good mood. We did slaughter Ravenclaw after all," Ginny said, lifting everyone's mood.

At the mention of the Quidditch win, Ron perked right up and sat up in his bed, "That was a great way to start the season! We've got to work on the Chasers. The Keepers for Slytherin and Hufflepuff aren't as good as Ravenclaw's so we can work on boosting the score."

Several of the other boys entered the dorm from the showers and threw their things on the beds. "Your turn," Neville said to Ron and Harry as he made his way downstairs.

Harry looked over at the girls. "If you want to head down, we'll meet you in the Common Room."

"We don't mind waiting here," Hermione said, oblivious to Harry's discomfort. Harry was sitting up in bed, the sheet clutched tightly to his bare chest. A chest that was looking more defined and muscular than she remembered, Ginny noted. His shoulders had broadened but it had been disguised by how thin Harry had been. With some weight back on him, he was looking rather dishy, she thought. He'd always be on the slim side, but these days he was looking slender rather than skinny.

As if aware of where her thoughts had drifted, she noticed Harry color brightly. It wasn't until Ron spoke that she realized the true reason. "Come on, Hermione, give Harry a break. He was too pissed last night to get into his pajamas and he doesn't want to give you a show when he runs to the shower." Ron was laughing at Harry's discomfort and Harry shot a vicious glare at him.

Ginny and Hermione took pity on him. "Okay," Hermione smiled. "We'll see you downstairs. Ten minutes!"

A shower perked both boys up a little, but neither was feeling particularly boisterous. They all made their way to the Great Hall where the noise from the breakfast crowd nearly sent both Ron and Harry fleeing back upstairs.

Looking up and down the length of the Gryffindor table, Harry noted that the majority of upper classmen looked to be in rough shape. The twins had left already, along with Lee and the older girls. From the looks of his classmates, Harry suspected the twins weren't high on anyone's popularity list this morning.

Dean Thomas was missing, Harry assumed he was still in bed. Seamus was sitting across and further down the bench from him, using his hands to hold up his head. Neville, although eating, had a decidedly green tinge to him. Both Parvati and Lavender looked all right, but their quietness alone was enough to let on something wasn't quite right. Hermione seemed herself, but Harry could see bags beneath Ginny's eyes. Ron looked rather gray and Harry couldn't remember ever seeing a time when Ron didn't want to eat! He imagined he probably looked even worse than Ron did. Several people had smiled at him oddly as he sat there avoiding his breakfast, but no one laughed outright so he guessed he hadn't done anything to really embarrass himself.

Completely lost in his own thoughts, Harry wasn't aware that Dumbledore had walked up behind him until the elderly wizard cleared his throat. Harry turned with a start.

"Good morning, Harry. The Gryffindors are all looking rather tired today. Overexerted yourselves at the match yesterday, I assume," Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling merrily. "When you have finished, I would like a word. Would you be so kind as to meet me in my office at, shall we say half nine? The password is Pepper Imp."

Harry groaned as the Headmaster walked away, he was sure Dumbledore wanted to talk about what had happened in Hogsmeade on Friday and Harry hoped he'd be able to shake the fog from his brain in order to focus and answer his questions.

"Wonder what he wants?" Ron asked.

"What's the matter, Harry?" Hermione questioned.

Harry cringed. "Not looking forward to meeting him in his office. The last time I was there with him I kind of trashed the place."

Hermione was scandalized. "You what?"

Harry shut his eyes and ran his hand over them beneath his glasses. He was remembering that awful day when he both lost Sirius and gained the knowledge of what his future must hold.

"What do you mean you trashed it?" Ron asked carefully.

Harry winced. "It was that night," he said quietly.

Recognition seemed to dawn on all three faces and they nodded solemnly. Harry still hadn't told them anything of what had happened after Dumbledore sent him back from the Department of Mysteries. He'd been back there since that day with Remus and knew Dumbledore had replaced most of his things, still, he needed to apologize.

"I- I wasn't in a good place," he offered as a lame explanation. Opening his mouth to continue, he was at a loss for words and just looked at all of them, pleading with them to understand.

"It's okay, Harry," Ginny spoke up, remembering what Harry had told her about also being possessed that night. "I'm sure Dumbledore understands. Maybe you can talk to him about it when you're there?"

Harry nodded and stood up, grateful for the release, "I'm going to head up now, I'm really not very hungry."

His friends all watched him with concern as he wound his way out of the Great Hall.

Harry arrived at the stone gargoyle a few minutes early so he leaned against the statue and tried gathering his thoughts for a few minutes. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk as Harry entered the office. Taking a deep breath as he looked around, Harry plunged ahead, "I owe you an apology, sir."

Dumbledore seemed to understand where Harry's thoughts were centered. "There is no need for an apology, Harry--I quite understand."

Harry shook his head. "I shouldn't have-"

"Harry, the past is the past. We agreed to move on, remember? You are working on forgiving my mistakes, I can do the same for you."

Harry nodded and gave Dumbledore a weak smile. "I assume you want to talk about what happened with Remus in Hogsmeade?"

Dumbledore folded his hands beneath his chin and leaned forward. "I do."

"My scar had been bothering me more and more all day; I kept getting brief flashes--I could tell that he was happy. I don't know what he was so happy about; I didn't get a vision on anything. Suddenly, it was like I could sense him there; I don't know how to explain it. I used Occlumency and was able to block him out."

Dumbledore nodded gravely. "I feared that the wards surrounding Hogwarts might have been aiding your Occlumency skills. I had voiced my concern to Remus that I suspected Voldemort would try something once you were outside Hogwarts boundaries."

"I am still not sure as to whether or not this was the case. You were able to block him out after he had made his presence known. However, he was able to get through to you once you were outside Hogwarts' protection as well. I fear his happiness might have been in regard to his ability to detect that you were off the school grounds."

Harry was feeling slightly irritated that Dumbledore had suspected this, warned Remus, but hadn't seen fit to inform him of anything, "With all due respect, sir, you want me to trust you again, but you also need to trust me. I need to know these things beforehand, not after the fact."

"You are right, Harry. I did not voice my concern directly to you. However, I had my reasons. I was afraid if I told you my suspicions, your defenses would have been lowered. You can be highly susceptible to suggestion, and you tend to believe the worst about yourself. I was afraid if I let you know of my concerns, your own self confidence might have undermined us."

Harry felt his cheeks flame red. "Do you think we should test it?"

"Yes, we will have to try it with Remus again. First I want to practice more with the Occlumency. Remus tells me he informed you of a practice session with Professor Snape."

Harry kept his features carefully guarded. "Yes, sir."

Dumbledore studied him a moment than nodded. "Very good, I will arrange it. I understand congratulations are in order on your Apparating skills. Well done, Harry."

He couldn't help the flush of pride as Dumbledore beamed at him. "I still need to try a long distance one."

"All in good time. Maybe over the holidays we can arrange something. Perhaps you should head back on up to Gryffindor tower, Harry. I dare say you look like you could use a nap. I always find a good nap quite refreshing, particularly after a long night."

Dumbledore was smiling benignly at him but Harry had the distinct impression he knew far more than he was letting on. If he did, however, he wasn't offering any hangover cures, Harry noted. At least he wasn't docking Gryffindor any points.

He smiled at the Headmaster and left his office.

When he reached the common room, it was fairly empty. Ron was asleep on the couch in front of the fire while Hermione and Ginny were sitting at a table with various books and parchment spread out in front of them. Harry sat down with the girls and they both greeted him warmly.

"How did it go?" Hermione asked.

"Okay," Harry shrugged.

"You survived," Ginny grinned.

"Harry, how much of last night do you remember?" asked Hermione. He heard Ginny's breath catch but wasn't sure what that was about.

"Bits and pieces," he answered. "Not much after we started playing that game. Why?"

Hermione hesitated for a minute, biting her lip. "At one point, you mentioned a Prophecy. I'm assuming you meant the one at the Department of Mysteries?"

Harry felt icy fingertips tightening around his neck and he stiffened instantly, hunching his shoulders as if preparing for battle. "I don't know, I don't remember," he mumbled. Neither can live while the other survives.