A Change of Heart

Chapter 17

When Professor McGonagall came into Gryffindor Tower, it was 7 am. It seemed she had assumed that everyone had been asleep already. James, Sirius, and Lily had all fallen asleep in the common room in front of the fire. She had woken them up and called the prefects along with Lily and James to talk with her in her office in half an hour. They still didn’t know what was going on. So Lily had gone upstairs to wash up and get ready for the day. James and Sirius had walked over to the dormitory talking about the one thing they couldn’t decipher. Why hadn’t the map worked last night?

“I’m telling you, I couldn’t find any of the teachers on it. It was as though they had disappeared,” James said looking troubled.

“Maybe it was a glitch on the map. We just have to work on it,” Sirius said serenely. He looked in a side glance at James before speaking again. “Hey, are we okay?”

His serious tone spoke volumes to his friend. He wanted to know if he was forgiven yet about Lily. James looked away for a moment and put his hands in his pockets, at once feeling the cool surface of the two-way mirror. He remembered last night and being worried about his best friend.

“We’re okay,” he said giving Sirius a smile. Sirius’ serious face turned at once into a wide smile. “Just don’t get lost like that again.”

“So you’re going to go down to the meeting right?” Sirius asked getting his things ready to go take a shower.

“Yeah, head boy responsibility. Wake Remus up would ya?” he said walking out towards the bathroom.

***

When they walked downstairs to Professor McGonagall’s office, Lily could feel herself fidgeting about the situation. The whole matter of James ad Sirius’ kisses had been put on hold until she knew what was going on. She walked alongside Remus and James jiggling.

“What do you think she’ll tell us?” she asked them quietly.

“She’ll tell us only what we need to know,” Remus replied calmly. He looked at the nervous Lily and gave her a weak smile. “There’s nothing to worry about. Not yet anyways.”

“I have a bad feeling about this. I think… I don’t know. I talked to Sarah before I came down. Sarah couldn’t sleep well all night—” she stopped herself before revealing her friend’s secret. Sarah had told her she had seen people in danger. People she knew dying. She had been crying in her sleep when Lily had gone upstairs. Lily had woken her up, comforted her, telling her that everything would be alright. She wasn’t sure that it would be. She tried shifting her thoughts towards the spy. “Do you think it will be about the woman?”

“It’s probably about the attack,” James contributed.

They walked into McGonagall’s office to find the other prefects were there already. It seemed, they were the last ones. They sat down as they waited for the professor to tell them the news of what had happened.

“There was a Death Eater attack last night,” she started. At once a few students gasped. “The attack was on the family on one of the students. All night, the staff spent time trying to find as much information about this assault as possible, but we haven’t been able to get any information on who it was. Until further notice, all trips to Hogsmeade will be cancelled. Hopefully we’ll have more information on everything today, though right now, it doesn’t seem likely. You are all to make sure, now more than ever, that all students are in their common rooms before nine. This is a precaution measure the Headmaster has instructed us to take for the safety of everyone else. I trust you will all follow these instructions.”

She gave a look in James direction as she said that. She dismissed them and they walked out of the room dejectedly.

“What if it’s someone we know?” Lily said sadly. She looked down at the floor and stopped for a moment. She looked so concentrated for a moment before finally stopping. “I need to go talk to Sarah.”

With that she walked away from both boys towards the Gryffindor Common Room. James gave Remus a confused look.

“What does Sarah have anything to do with it?” James asked Remus perplexed.

Remus just shrugged as they walked towards the Great Hall.

***

Lily made her way to the Gryffindor common room worriedly. She had to know who it was that Sarah had seen in her visions. Whoever it had been, it was probably them who had been attacked. However, when she had gone up to the dormitory to get her, she was gone and Hannah said she hadn’t seen her. Hannah, as a matter of fact, had been sleeping. ‘Nothing ever wakes her up,’ Lily thought scornfully. She wanted to be angry at Hannah for not having been there for Sarah. But who could blame a person who slept like a log and didn’t know what was going on in their best friend’s mind? After all, Hannah didn’t know Sarah had visions about the future. But where was Sarah now? She must have been extremely worried and confused. She had to find her. She walked downstairs leaving a very confused Hannah behind. It was Sirius’ disappearance all over again. She searched the Great Hall, she looked for her in the library, in the infirmary, and then finally when she was about to give up, she found her in front of the lake. She was under a great tree sitting Indian-style, eyes closed, and taking deep breaths. She appeared as calm as she had ever seen her, as if she were practicing yoga.

“Sarah? Are you okay?” Lily asked approaching her worriedly.

Sarah jumped at the sound of her friend’s voice. While she looked calm, her eyes reflected a great amount of worry. She waved Lily closer as if she were going to whisper.

“I’ve been trying to clear my mind. I thought maybe if my head wasn’t so cluttered with all these thoughts and ideas—that maybe then I’d see—that I’d see who it was that was attacked,” she said in a voice not much louder than a whisper.

“Have you seen anything to help know who they are?” Lily asked sitting right next to her.

“No!” her friend said desperately. “I just can’t get a clear picture in my mind. I’m really scared. It’s—it’s not just that. Someone… someone close to us—there’s something wrong. I can feel it. Feel it with every sense in my being. I don’t know Lily; I just think I’m going insane.”

Lily was heartbroken at the sight of her usually cheerful friend broken down. It was as if that person had somehow vanished into thin air. The only thing left was a girl with much more than she could bear.

“We have to tell someone about your visions Sarah. You can’t handle this alone. I want to help you, but I—well, I honestly don’t know how. We should go to Professor Iris, maybe she’ll know what to do… or to the infirmary. I just don’t know,” said Lily trying to think of a solution.

“They won’t be able to help. They won’t help---” Sarah muttered angrily. She looked at the lake for a bit and then turned to Lily. “I’m sorry Lils, I know you want to help, but right now, I doubt anyone can.”

“How about Dumbledore? Sarah, we could tell Dumbledore,” she said in a hopeful voice.

“I don’t--- what if it’s just my imagination? What if they’re all just bad dreams?” Sarah said trying to keep from going to the headmaster.

“Why don’t you want to see Dumbledore?” Lily asked concerned. “You know he could help you.”

“What if he thinks I’m crazy? What if he then thinks I’m a Death Eater and he kicks me out of school? No Lily, I can’t tell him and you have to promise me you won’t tell him either!”

“But Sarah he could—” Lily started.

“No. You have to promise me Lily. You can’t tell anyone! I am trusting in you!” Sarah said urgently.

“Okay,” Lily said defeated.

She finally convinced Sarah into going back to the castle with her and talked her into going to the infirmary and telling madam Pomfrey she felt really bad so that she would let have some sleeping draught. Since the young nurse didn’t normally ask too many questions, she gave her some of the potion, letting the young girl fall straight into a dreamless sleep.

***

Sirius kept dozing off while waiting for his friends to come back to Gryffindor tower. He was lying in his four post bed, his eyes closing every once in a while. He kept waking up however, to the annoying itch at the back of his neck. He muttered annoyed around the 15th time he scratched his bite mark about ‘stupid bugs at the North Tower’. He was regretting having gone up there at all. He finally managed to fall asleep for five minutes when a dream began to stir in his mind.

Watching out of the top of the North Tower, Sirius could see the grounds, the lake, and the forbidden forest. He kept playing over his memory of Lily in the middle of the road leading back to Hogwarts in his mind. He was smiling goofily at his thoughts of the whole afternoon they had spent together. He had come where he was now to think about what had happened. He stood there rather tiredly thinking that there was still a long time before he could see her again at the Halloween Feast. He was sure to look for her but with so much time to go; he didn’t really know what to do with himself. He had thought about looking for James, to see if things between them could be solved, but he doubted they would sort anything out. Peter was sure to be hanging around his idol and Remus would be off studying, something which he would prefer not to be doing. He walked down to the second floor and into a corridor when he heard a clatter come from a classroom. His curiosity took the better of him and he walked inside stupidly and saw something he was not meant to have seen. In the middle of the classroom was standing a cloaked man with his sleeve rolled up showing someone he couldn’t quite see, the dark mark, seal of Voldemort’s Death Eaters, glowing and obviously calling them forth to him. To the side were desk he must’ve tipped over angrily, but before Sirius could even make another move, the man raised his wand and cried out, ‘stupefy!’

Sirius began to awaken to the sound of angry hushed voices coming from nearby. He kept his eyes closed, remembering what had happened.

“You shouldn’t have come!” a woman said angrily. “Look what you’ve done! What are we to do now?”

“He’s not important right now. I have a solution for the boy!” a man said angrily. “Kyrie, you know what you must do! You have to be there tonight. We don’t have nearly enough people yet for this mission.”

“I know, I know. But how can I possibly get away from Hogwarts today? This is an ill-time indeed to come up with such a harsh plan. Why does he want this done today? I’ll never come back in time. They’ll notice that I’m missing. I’m a teacher and I have to be at that dratted banquet tonight. It’ll look suspicious if I’m not there!” the woman named Kyrie said annoyed. “There’s no possible way that--- there must be someone who can replace me.”

“Amitt, would I be asking you to so blatantly endanger your position here if there were? The Dark Lord has his reasons and he has requested that you be the one that directs this attack. He says the Bones must perish in your hands,” the man said urgently.

At those words, Sirius almost gasped in surprise. He recognized both names. Professor Amitt and Bones—could they possibly be taking about Sarah’s family? They had to be. He wondered for a minute if there was anyway he could warn anyone of the plan that was underway. If he had heard correctly, the Bones were on death row right now. He knew however that the chances of him escaping his captors were highly unlikely.

“Shut up! Haven’t you gotten into enough trouble! What if he wakes up? What if he hears this? What are you planning to do? You can’t kill him without rising suspicion to anyone in this school!” she said annoyed. “I will not have suspicion rise about our dealings in the school. What do you propose we do?”

“I know of an insect known as the black scorpion scarab. This little creature’s bite will inject a mind controlling liquid into its prey. We can make that work for us. We need a little insight on the going-ons in this school outside of what you report and what better way to have more spies than to have a student as our own. Specially a student like this one,” the man said drawlingly.

“I have to admit that’s a good idea…” Kyrie said sounding impressed. “Have you ever used it before?”

“That would be the only draw back. He would be a--- experiment of sorts,” he said tentatively.

“I’m not sure then… what if something goes wrong? Why not just use the imperius curse?” she said hesitantly.

“Because… Well, he won’t remember Kyrie. He would have no memory of what he has done. He wouldn’t be conscious he’s doing it… almost as though he were sleep walking,” the man said excitedly.

“Fine. Do as you wish, in any case who am I to stop you?” she said carelessly. “You better hope it works though. Otherwise you’ll be responsible for our demise---“

Suddenly Sirius was pulled out of his dream by the sound of a slamming door. For a moment he remembered everything in his dream, but the moment he scratched the bite mark at the back of his neck, all his memories were gone once more.