Persistence of Memory

Persistence of Memory

Chapter 5

Harry Potter awoke to a bloodcurdling scream of ultimate horror. He sat up in bed, and yanked the crimson curtains aside, expecting some un-named foe to be viciously stabbing one of his friends. The scream sounded again and more curtains were heard being pulled open. Harry swallowed his fear and grabbed his wand.

"Voldemort," Harry shouted in what he hoped was a threatening voice, "it's me you want. Leave them alone!"

Ron and Dean had also pulled out their wands and were aiming them in the direction of the scream.

"You won't have to fight him alone, Harry," Ron stated sleepily, scowling into the darkness.

"Lumos," Dean added, waving his wand with a flourish.

Bright light flooded the Gryffindor boys' dormitory revealing absolutely nothing evil, unless Neville's hideous monkey-print nightshirt counted. Harry, Ron, and Dean exchanged confused glances. Neville snored, oblivious to the commotion.

"You did hear that, didn't you?" Ron questioned, yawning.

Dean and Harry opened their mouths to answer, but were cut off as Seamus howled again in his sleep. Ron growled, more than slightly miffed. He hadn't slept through an entire night for ages, what with Dean and Seamus's late night whispering, Neville's rumbling snores that never ceased for even a minute, and Harry's unconscious whimpering. If Ron didn't get some desperately needed decent hours of sleep, he wouldn't be responsible for his subsequent actions.

"Nooo! Help! ARRGH!" Seamus shrieked, curling into a ball in the middle of his tangled sheets.

"Alright," Ron said decidedly, "I vote we kill the ruddy mick. Who's with me?"

Harry and Dean ignored Ron's perfectly logical solution and poked Seamus with their wands. Ron rolled his eyes at their pathetic attempt and stomped over to them.

"WAKE UP!" Ron shouted, punching Seamus in the arm. Seamus only yelped again and clutched his pillow tightly. Ron wrestled the pillow out of Seamus's hands and repeatedly clobbered him over the head with it. "I. NEED. SLEEP!"

"Ron, maybe you should stop now," Harry suggested. A distraught Ron was not a pretty sight. His face was as red as his hair and his eyes were wild with gleeful madness.

"Die! DIE!" Ron screeched, having completely tuned Harry out. Ron giggled delightedly and continued his Seamus-bashing.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Dean shouted, flicking his wand at the crazed Weasley.

Ron stiffened and fell to the floor with a loud thud. Seamus yowled, still very much asleep, and kicked Harry in the stomach. Harry groaned loudly and shot a fierce look at Seamus. Dean pulled Harry away before he could finish what Ron started. Dean cast a silencing spell on Seamus and stepped over Ron's inert body on his way back to bed. Harry trudged back across the room, rubbing his stomach. Neville let out another huge shuddering snore, smiling contentedly in his peaceful slumber.

----

"Dean," Ginny shouted, somewhat out of breath, "I can't walk that fast!"

She trotted along in her ratty trainers, trying in vain to catch up with the long-legged Dean. Dean stopped his brisk walking and looked back at her.

"Sorry, Gin," he said hurriedly.

Dean rushed over to Ginny. In one fluid motion, he picked her up and draped her across his shoulder. Ginny pounded his back with her fists in embarrassment. Honestly, didn't Dean realize there was a pack of Slytherins behind them?

"DEAN! Put me down, you oaf!"

Dean completely ignored Ginny, as well as the sniggering group of Slytherins. He had only one thing on his mind; food. Dean made a beeline for the Three Broomsticks. Ginny held on for dear life as Dean scampered through the cobblestone streets of Hogsmeade. Ginny giggled to herself as they passed a congregation of gawking third year Hufflepuffs. She waved at them, releasing her death grip on Dean's shoulder. Suddenly, Dean veered sharply to the right and Ginny felt herself slipping. She landed hard on the ground. Dean proceeded to trip over her and ended up face down in a very large puddle of mud. Ginny sat up and cackled, pointing at him.

"I've decided we'll walk the rest of the way," Dean said superciliously, his face dripping with dirty water.

Ginny snorted and reached out her hand to help him up. Dean tugged on Ginny's arm and yanked her down into the puddle.

"DEAN!"

----

Hermione scowled at Ron over the rim of her butterbeer mug. Ron was practically falling asleep at the table. He alternately yawned and muttered curses directed at Dean Thomas under his breath. They would never get any work done now.

"Ron, I don't care if they left you on the floor all night," Hermione said exasperatedly. "We have research to do. If Harry's visions are correct, then You-Kn, I mean, VOLDEMORT-"

Ron flinched. "Hermione!"

"Got your attention, didn't it?" Hermione snapped. "Now, as I was saying, if Harry's right, the Dark Lord carried out some shady business in Hogsmeade just two nights ago. I gather we should still be able to dig up some kind of clues if we can discern which shop he had gone into."

"How are we going to find it?" Ron whinged annoyingly. "Harry wasn't very descriptive, you know. 'I-it was somewhere with a... erm... oh, it had a... uh... window!' He's plainly lying about it all, he is."

"Harry wouldn't do that, Ron!"

"You think not, eh? Where is the bloody plonker, then?" Ron spread out his arms to emphasize the suspicious absence of their mate. "Shouldn't he be helping? He'd recognize the shop again, don't you think?"

"Well," Hermione reasoned, trying to make excuses for Harry, "he has had these sorts of dreams before, Ron. Maybe he's forgotten we were meeting. He's been under a lot of stress. Still upset about Snuffles and all..."

"He's nutters, I'm tellin' you," Ron insisted. "A right loony. He's gone and had a mental breakdown is what he's done."

"I HAVE NOT, RON!" Harry yelled, stomping up from behind them. "IT'S NOT MY FAULT I RAN INTO COLIN BLOODY CREEVEY AND HIS STUPID CAMERA!"

"Harry, please calm down," Hermione said shakily. "We knew you had a perfectly good excuse to be late."

"IT'S NOT AN EXCUSE! I'M NOT CRAZY!" Harry shouted. "I FOUGHT VOLDEMORT!"

Hermione stood up and placed a hand on Harry's quivering shoulder.

"Yes, you did fight him, Harry," Hermione said softly. "It's alright, poor thing."

"I d-did good," Harry sniffled.

"Of course you did," Hermione placated. "Now, what did that shop look like again?"

"I-it had a window!"

Harry and Hermione left the pub to find the 'shop-with-a-window'. Ron made no move to follow them. He reached across the table and finished off Hermione's butterbeer.

"Mental, the lot of them."

----

Dean and Ginny walked hand-in-hand into the Three Broomsticks. Their clothes were covered with brown splashes. Ginny's hair was so saturated with the grimy mud that it appeared greyish brown. Dean let go of Ginny's hand and jogged to the counter.

"I want two medium-rare steaks and some mashed potatoes and, um, some of those delicious flaky rolls," Dean ordered, counting the items off on his fingers. "You know, the ones with the buttery centres? Oh, and a really big bowl of that thick grey stuff... er, chowder? Or is it soup? And, and do you have that spicy, but only a bit spicy, pinkish sauce? Good. Smother the steaks in that, would you?"

"Dean," Ginny protested, tugging on Dean's jacket, "I don't like that sauce. Or steak even, for that matter."

"Oh, this is all for me," said Dean, digging in his pockets for galleons. "Did you want something, love?"

"Erm, no. Maybe I'll have some of your rolls."

"Oh, no, you won't! Get your own."

"I'll just have a butterbeer, then," Ginny decided. Dean was slightly scary when hungry.

"'Kay."

After acquiring two large bottles of butterbeer, Ginny and Dean made their way through the throng of occupied tables, trying to find seats. They passed a corner table where Colin, Neville, Seamus, and a boy with cornrows were playing some sort of drinking game. Seamus narrowed his eyes at Ginny. She raised her eyebrows in confusion and moved closer to Dean.

"I think Seamus just glared at me," Ginny whispered.

"Yeah, he does that," Dean replied, uninterested. "Let's go sit with Ron."

Ginny slid into the chair opposite her brother. He didn't seam to notice them at all until Dean pulled one of the heavy chairs closer to Ginny. It squeaked loudly on the stone floor.

"Wha?" Ron mumbled, rubbing his eyes. He caught sight of Ginny's muddy face. "Oh, hi, Ginny."

"Hey," Ginny smiled in greeting. "You don't mind if we sit here, do you? Or are you waiting for Harry?"

"He went off with Hermione somewhere. They're probably knee-deep in some sort of trouble by now."

"I've noticed that happens a lot," Dean said, watching the counter for any signs of his meal.

"You!" Ron accused, finally awake enough to see what Ginny meant by 'we'. "You left me lyin' there for hours, you great prat! I couldn't sleep in that position and I wanted sleep!"

"It was for your own good, Ron," Dean dismissed, keeping one eye on the counter. "You might have smothered poor Seamus if I'd let you up. Ooh, food!"

Dean jumped up from the table and raced off to collect his gigantic meal. Ron barely resisted the urge to throw his empty mug at Dean.

"I'll smother you," Ron mumbled under his breath.

Ginny nodded her head awkwardly. She had nothing to say to her brother. Why did we have to sit here? Ron's boring.

----

Colin's boring, Neville thought, listlessly swirling his last dregs of butterbeer around in the mug. Colin and Malcolm Baddock blathered away, downing pints of watered down butterbeer and daring Seamus to order firewhiskey.

Neville and Colin had headed straight for the pub once they arrived in Hogsmeade. Seamus had tagged along, renouncing Dean and proclaiming Neville and Colin his new best mates, even though he'd been deathly afraid of Neville up until the day before. The trio had found Malcolm waiting at a shadowy corner table. Malcolm refused to be seen consorting with Gryffindors, even if it were the unsuspicious types like Colin and Neville. Luckily, no other Slytherins had seen fit to enter the Three Broomsticks.

Neville was expecting Malcolm to be ready to raid the Dark Arts shop with typical Slytherin flair. Unfortunately, it became very apparent early on why Colin enjoyed Malcolm's company. They were both quite content to sit and gossip about nothing remotely interesting. Neville checked his watch again. He'd been hanging out with the useless blokes for nearly two hours, watching them slowly get plastered.

"Look, can't we check out the shop now? I wanted to stop at Honeydukes on the way back," Neville insisted quietly.

"Yeah, let's go," Seamus agreed, glaring malevolently at Ginny Weasley, as he'd been doing for the past twenty minutes.

"It's 'round the corner from Honeydukes actually," Malcolm slurred. "They've got some really wicked bookends with li'l gargoyles on 'em. I'm gonna get 'em for me mum."

"Gargoyle bookends?" Neville asked, disheartened. He wanted spellbooks and ready-made potions and rare curse instructions and the like.

The boys abandoned their table and left the pub. Malcolm led the way down past Honeydukes and around the corner into a dank alleyway. A small stone shop was located at the far end. Neville perked up a bit, looking at the old yellowed books in the window.

"S'closed," Seamus pointed out unnecessarily, indicating the large 'WE ARE CLOSED, NOW GO AWAY' sign hanging above the door.

"We can see that, Flanagan." Malcolm marched up to the door, appearing a bit more Slytherinish now that he was in his element. He tossed one side of his cloak over his bony shoulder and held out his dark-coloured wand. "Alohamora!"

The large door swung open with a soft creak. Malcolm stalked in, Neville following closely. Colin and Seamus hung back. The air had mysteriously gotten colder.

"I-I don't think we should be doing this," Colin squeaked.

"I thought it was your idea," Seamus raised an eyebrow at Colin.

Colin shook his head. "No, it was Neville. H-he said he wanted some new ideas an-and I didn't know they were going to," Colin lowered his voice, "steal things."

"New ideas for what, exac'ly?"

"I wasn't listening, really," Colin confessed. "Something about ultimate revenge and some Devon fellow."

"Trevor?" Seamus asked, shaking slightly with dread.

"Yes, Trevor! That was it."

"Shite."

----

Ginny and Dean exited Zonko's with a bag full of exploding quills. Ginny wanted to make things more interesting at school now that Fred and George had left.

"I'm going to hand them out to the first years," Ginny plotted aloud. "Perhaps only the Slytherins. Do you think exploding quills are enough? I mean, I know I can't be as great at George and Fred, but-"

"Maybe we should have bought the tentacle powder," Dean mused.

"Why are you so obsessed with tentacles?"

"I'm not! I just think they're neat is all."

"You are obsessed," Ginny argued. "There are pictures of the Giant Squid all through your sketchbook."

"I told you not to look at that!" Dean sputtered, hoping Ginny had put it down after the squid section. She certainly wouldn't appreciate the perfect contrast and lighting in his sketches of the half-dressed Patil twins.

"It's not my fault you left it on the sofa," Ginny stated, crossing her arms. "I promise not to tell anyone you drew the squid. Honestly, Dean, no one would care. It's not as if there's a picture of naked Harry in there... There isn't, is there?"

"No!" Dean protested. "Why would I draw naked Harry?"

"Oh, I don't know. He's got those dreamy Seeker's muscles..."

Dean flexed his nonexistent bicep with dismay. Ginny still has a thing for Potter after all. Dean frowned a bit, dwelling on that horrible thought.

"Argh!" Ginny shrieked as someone ploughed into her, knocking her bag of quills all over the street. Dean grabbed her arm to steady her before she followed the contents of her sack.

"Dean! Dean!" Seamus squeaked in a high-pitched voice. He shoved Ginny aside and clutched the hem of Dean's jacket, stammering rapidly. "I-I was wrong! I was wrong! I'm not hallucinatin'! Neville's broken into a Dark Arts shop an', an', an' 'e's lookin' for things t' kill me wit'!"

"What?" Dean asked in confusion. "I can't understand you. Calm down."

"N-Neville," Seamus stuttered. "H-he's... an' he... w-with the, the shop... rev-revenge... an', an' I didn't mean to kill Trevor!"

Seamus sunk to his knees and wrapped his arms around Dean's legs. He let out a soft wail and started crying. Dean stared blankly down at Seamus, having no idea what to say. He shot a desperate look at Ginny. She knelt beside Seamus and patted his horns awkwardly.

"Um, it's alright, Seamus," Ginny said softly. "Neville won't come near you. I promise."

Seamus let go of Dean and clung to Ginny instead. Ginny, to say the least, was quite surprised, and also a bit disgusted. Seamus was rather sweaty and smelled vaguely of stale butterbeer.

"Ginny," Dean said, poking her gently, "look."

Ginny's eyes followed Dean's pointing finger. Across the street and two shops down, Neville Longbottom was sitting on a bench and watching them. He appeared to be talking to a Chocolate Frog that was perched on his shoulder. Neville plucked the frog off with one hand and fished around in a paper bag with the other.

"Is, is he trying to feed it?" Ginny asked incredulously as Neville held the frog in his palm and attempted to make it eat a jelly slug.

"Uh-huh," Dean replied, casting a wary look at Neville. "Seamus wasn't making it up after all. We should go tell somebody before Neville comes over here."

Ginny nodded and struggled to pry Seamus's hands from her waist. Dean knitted his eyebrows together, puzzled when Neville nodded sharply, still sitting calmly on his bench. Dean felt a tap on his shoulder and whipped around to see a skinny boy staring evilly at him. The boy held out his wand and smiled.

"Obliviate!"