When the Light Goes Out

When the Light Goes Out

'And you're sure this is going to work, Hermione?' Harry glared at the potion-filled cauldron suspiciously.

'Yes, yes, of course I'm sure. When have I ever been wrong about something like this?'

'Fair point.' Harry sighed, than added under his breath, 'But there's a first time for everything.'

Hermione checked the restricted potion book again. 'OK, all we need is...dragonfly wings.'

She grabbed the necessary jar and carefully measured it out. 'Ready?' Hermione dangled her handful of ingredients over the cauldron.

'Always,' Harry said determinedly. Hermione opened her hand, and the delicate wings dropped in. For a moment, nothing happened.

Harry and Hermione bent curiously over the quietly simmering potion.

All of a sudden, it started to bubble rapidly, so rapidly that Hermione had to put out the small fire from beneath it.

Harry pulled out his wand, and poked the liquid, hoping to stop it erupting. But exactly the opposite happened.

The whole cauldron exploded, sending metal and potion everywhere, and Harry got a face full. He stumbled backwards, and fell over.

Harry slowly sat up, and wiped his glasses on his robes. He was no longer in the girls' abandoned bathroom.

Well, it was the same bathroom, but it definitely wasn't abandoned.

A couple of first-year (they looked like first-years) girls opened the doors of their cubicles, and walked over to the sinks. Or they would have done, had they not seen Harry.

They both shrieked and ran from the bathroom, shouting incoherently.

Harry looked around him in confusion. The bathroom he was sitting in was very different from the one he had just...left...

It was the same, in appearance, but it wasn't its normal dingy, grey and murky atmosphere. Nor was it sopping wet from one of Moaning Myrtle's tantrums.

It was incredibly white, and sunlight was streaming in through the (clean) windows. Also, Hermione and the potion-kit were nowhere to be seen.

Harry couldn't understand it. Hermione wouldn't have just left him here, after getting a face full of potion. And besides, that didn't explain about the bathroom.

Harry decided to leave, before he freaked out any more girls. But first-year girls were the least of his problems.

He wandered down the hallways, considering going to Gryffindor Tower.

He approached the Fat Lady's portrait, inadvertently scaring more students along the way, and spoke the password, 'Elm tree.'

The Fat Lady just screamed loudly, clutching her chest. After a few minutes, she said shakily, 'No.'

Harry blinked. 'Excuse me?'

'No,' she said a little stronger, but still staring at him as if she couldn't believe her eyes.

'What do you mean "no"?' Harry started. 'And since when have you changed the colour of your dress?'

The Fat Lady looked down at her blue silk dress in confusion. 'I haven't changed my dress. And I'm saying "no" because that isn't the password. I don't know how you would dare show your face around here, but no password, no entrance,' she huffed, glaring at him suspiciously.

Harry was about to ask what she meant, when he heard voices coming around the corner. It sounded like Ron and Hermione arguing.

'Oh, honestly, Ron, you--' Hermione stopped abruptly as she saw Harry, and went into a dead faint. Harry rushed forward, and Ron just caught her in time.

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Hermione screamed and ducked the flying potion and metal. She coughed as smoke engulfed the room. 'I don't think you should have prodded it with your wand, Harry. Harry?'

She cleared the smoke with a quick spell, and looked around. Harry was nowhere to be seen. Hermione stood up, and gingerly stepped over the shattered pieces of cauldron. 'Harry?' her voice shook a little. She crossed the room to the mirrors, and inspected her face. She had various cuts and grazes where the sharp shards of metal had struck her. Oh, Merlin, she thought, Harry's gone.

Tears started to spill from her eyes as she wondered where one of her best friends in the whole world was.

She was just blowing her nose, when the door burst open. Hermione wheeled around, expecting to see Harry, and found herself face-to-face with Professor McGonagall.

'Miss Granger?! What...what on earth happened here?' her eyes took in the broken cauldron, then the potion that was slowly seeping all over the floor.

McGonagall gaped. 'I-you...just...just stay here. I think...I have to...' with that, McGonagall left the bathroom, all of a fluster.

When she returned, a few minutes later, Hermione was still standing in the same spot, looking suddenly at the floor. But this time, when the door was pushed open by McGonagall, she was not alone. Albus Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey and Severus Snape came in after her.

McGonagall gestured around the room. 'I heard Miss Granger scream, and I thought I should check in here, just to see if she was alright.'

'As a matter of interest,' Dumbledore's eyes swept the partly-demolished bathroom, then fixed their light-blue stare on Hermione, 'what were you mixing in here?'

Hermione went bright red, and looked back to the floor, avoiding his gaze. There was a moment of silence, and she mumbled, practically inaudibly, 'Veritaserum.'

There was another silence, and Madam Pomfrey said hurriedly, 'Well, if no one's hurt, I really must be getting back to my patients.'

'Of course, Poppy, of course.' Dumbledore said quietly. Madam Pomfrey left the bathroom, and Snape's lip curled as he examined the spilt potion. Even though it had been brewed almost exactly right, he did not comment on it. 'I, for one, would like to know why you were making Veritaserum. And secondly, were you entirely unaccompanied in your making of this? Were there not others? For example, Mr Weasley, or Mr Potter?'

Hermione burst into tears.

'Come now, Severus, do not be so abrupt. Please would you fetch Mr Weasley and Harry?' Dumbledore produced a tissue and gave it to Hermione, who was crying too loudly to hear what Dumbledore had said. McGonagall sat her down, and soon, Snape returned, accompanied by Ron.

'I regret to inform you, Headmaster, that I could not find Potter anywhere, and Mr Weasley will not tell me where he is.'

Snape shot a venomous look at Ron, who was looking bewildered at the sight of the wrecked bathroom. He spotted Hermione, and ran over to her. He put an arm around her shoulders, and tried to comfort her.

When Hermione had calmed down a bit, she spoke. 'I d-don't think y-you'll f-find H-Harry, sir.'

Dumbledore looked at her enquiringly, so she went on. 'H-he's...h-he...oh, sir, he g-got c-caught up, in the e-explosion! I c-can't f-find him anywhere...'

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