Harry Potter and the Secrets from the Past

Chapter 24. INCOMPREHENSIONS

...

Which is the year? Which is the day?

This is the time for me to live with you

As you can see, my hands don't tremble any more

And in my soul

In the deep of my soul

Immense skyes and immense love

And then again love, just love for you...

...

"Gardens in March" by Lucio Battisti

Harry thought that an earthquake had just begun; in horror, he saw Hermione losing her balance and inevitably falling backwards right into the ravine.

"NOOO! HARRY!" she shouted desperately, stretching out her arms.

"HERMIONE!"

By instinct he rushed to her; with a great effort, he managed to grab her arms and pull her to the ground, when a second deafening burst resounded in the valley and the earth shook again.

Without hesitation, Harry protected Hermione with his body. They were both lying on the ground when several large rocks and debris started to fall down from the top of the mountain.

The young wizard acted quickly: he took out his wand and pointed it to the rocks.

"REDUCTO!"

At his command, the bigger rocks shattered into pieces, even if the smaller ones hit him heavily on the back.

Hermione trembled in Harry's arms; they were so close to each other, that he could feel her breathing. In that moment, he was determined to protect her with his own life.

When the silence returned, he raised his head and looked around, coughing because of the great quantity of dust he had just inhaled.

"What was it all about?" Hermione askedd, deeply shocked.

"It seemed like..." Harry didn't have time to finish his sentence because a third burst resounded and the valley trembled a third time.

Again, Harry protected her with his body and more rocks and debris fell on them from the mountain.

After a few minutes, both raised their heads, trying to figure out what had just happened. As soon as Harry moved, he grimaced, feeling a sharp pain in his back.

"Harry, are you all right?" Hermione asked, staring at him concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine," he lied, trying hard to stand up.

"Maybe those explosions were coming from Hogwarts!" she exclaimed, horrified.

"I'll have a look! Don't move from here, right?" Harry ordered and Hermione nodded.

With his heart beating faster, he ran to the edge of the hill, where it would be possible to overlook the area. Luckily, the castle seemed untouched, but when he turned to Hogsmeade, he stepped backwards astonished: three huge columns of black smoke were rising from the houses.

"Oh no! They've attacked the village!"

Harry faced Hermione, who in the meantime had followed him, disobeying to his request.

"I've just told you to..."

"Look at that!"

Hermione's face paled abruptly and she raised a hand to her mouth. When Harry turned again to the view, his eyes widened in surprise.

In the sky above Hogsmeade, Voldemort's huge Dark Mark was shining: a horrible green skull with a snake coming out from its mouth.

Harry felt the panic rising and remained dumbstruck.

"What do we do now?" Hermione whispered, terrified; Harry came closer to her and spoke with a determined voice.

"We must go back to the castle!"

They both mounted the broomstick again and shortly were flying in the sky, strongly hoping that the attack hadn't caused any deaths.

"D-do you think that Ron and Luna are fine?"

"I'm sure they are." Harry tried to reassure her, even if his heart feared the worst.

After a few minutes, they landed on the grounds near the lake; Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and together ran to the main entrance of the castle.

They were already climbing the stairs, when Professor McGonagall came to them, clearly worried.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger! Thank God I've found you! You should immediately go up to your common room and stay there, no matter what!"

"P-professor, have you seen Ron?" Hermione asked with trembling voice.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't see Mr. Weasley. He's probably waiting for you in the Gryffindor tower. Anyway, a group of teacher are going to the village to check what has just happened. Now go, there is no time to lose!"

Harry and Hermione stared at each other for a moment deeply worried, and then they climbed to the entrance and headed to their House Tower.

In the whole school a general panic had just spread everywhere: the corridors were full of students frantically running, trying to reach their common rooms as soon as possible.

A few times, Harry and Hermione stopped and raised their heads looking for Ron in the crowd.

"I don't see him!" Hermione seemed beside herself and was trembling like a leaf.

"Maybe he's waiting for us in the common room. Let's go!"

Even if Harry was deeply worried, he tried his best to hide his feelings.

The Gryffindor Tower was overflowing with frightened students, but Ron wasn't there.

"Harry, Hermione! Is Ron with you?"

Ginny came out from a group of fifth years girls, red in the face and with wet eyes.

"We... we thought that he would have been here with you!" Hermione replied with concern.

Suddenly, Ginny burst into tears, covering the face with her hands and Hermione got closer and hugged her tightly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that Ron is fine. Teachers are looking for those who are still missing. He'll be here with us soon."

Ginny was inconsolable and kept crying on Hermione's shoulder. Harry was feeling so bad, his heart was squeezed by fear; he really wanted to reassure his friends, but he just couldn't find the right words.

Then he noticed a group of students coming in from the portrait's hole and with his great relief, he saw that Ron was among them.

"There he is!"

The three of them reached the door and Ginny threw her arms to his brother's neck, hugging him tightly.

"Are you all right, mate?" Harry asked, feelkng his heart lighter.

"Yes, I'm fine, I'm fine. I made it just on time!"

"What's happened?" Hermione asked, slightly reassured.

"I don't know much. Luna and I were already coming back to the castle when the explosions had started. But I heard a few students talking on the street. It seems that a group of Death Eaters have attacked several shops and a few houses and then in the village started a crazy panic all around, you can imagine."

"How could they have dared so much!" Hermione commented with anger; then she turned to Harry spontaneously, but shiftet her gaze in great embarrassment.

In that very moment, Harry recalled their quarrel of that afternoon and a deep resentment rose in his heart.

Feeling offended, he turned his gaze from her as well.

***O***

After a few hours, Professor McGonagall had come to the common room, saying that all the students were safe, although among the inhabitants of Hogsmeade there were several deaths and a lot more wounded.

Then, the teacher gave the order to go to bed and all boys and girls obeyed immediately, including Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Between the worry of that day and the sharp pain he was feeling on his back, that night Harry couldn't manage to fall asleep; he kept turning over and over again, restlessly. Finally, he lay on his side and stared out of the window, where the rain was falling heavily.

The sky was completely covered by dark clouds and sometimes he could hear the burst of thunder at a distance. This terrible atmosphere was reminding him about the loud bomb attack of that afternoon.

It seemed incredible to him: in the morning, he and Hermione were quietly walking along Hogsmeade's streets, looking at the shops and at the unaware crowd around them.

Nobody could have ever imagined that something like that was going to happen; it was a real provocation, it was Voldemort's warning to Dumbledore, to let him know that the Dark Lord wasn't afraid of him.

How much more horror and suffering would this absurd war bring?

Then, the image of Hermione appeared pressingly in his mind.

"Why did she react that way? Why has she run away and then kissed me? I don't understand..." He thought, confused.

"Tomorrow I'm going to talk to her and this time, I'll get a definitive answer, a yes or a no!"

Harry was really determined and the resentment for Hermione's behavior was still burning inside.

***O***

The following morning, Harry got up with great difficulty; beyond his backache, his head was throbbing painfully, since he hadn't slept at all the previous night.

Harry and Ron were late and when they went down to the common room, Hermione wasn't waiting for them as usual. Harry didn't know if he could tell his friend about what had happened among them, especially because he wanted to talk to her first.

They rushed downstairs and hurried to the great Hall, shortly before breakast time was over. In the main entrance, they saw a large number of students waiting in front of the wooden door, each one with his trunk by the side.

"Where are they all going?" Ron asked astonished.

"After what has happened at Hogsmeade, I'm not surprised!" Harry replied with a sulky face.

When they entered the great Hall, they found most of the remaining students still sitting at their tables, chatting to each other worriedly.

Tension was also pouring from the teacher's table: Dumbledore was seriously talking with Professor McGonagall and Lupin was frowing at the students in front of him.

Harry had just got seated at his table, when unexpectedly Dumbledore stood up and started to speak. Suddenly, the buzz in the Hall stopped and the students turned to hear what the Headmaster had to say.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your breakfast, but I have a very important annoucement to make. As you already know, yesterday evening Voldemort's Death Eaters attacked the village of Hogsmeade."

At hearing the Dark Lord's name, most boys and girls started to whisper in alarm, but after a few seconds, silence came back and Dumbledore spoke again.

"Luckily, all our students are safe. Nevertheless, most of their families have decided to call them back home. If you want to know my opinion, I can't blame them!"

At hearing those words, Harry shuddered all over, fearing that the Headmaster wanted to close the school. In that moment, Dumbledore turned to face him, staring directly in his eyes.

"It's my duty to officially inform you, that our school won't close. The other teachers and I will remain here, together with all those students who are willing to stay. Despite this decision, we are going to increase our usual security measures in order to guarantee your safety at all times. Each teacher is going to inform their students about these measures and I'm sure you are going to give us your full cooperation. Now, you can quietly finish your breakfast and then start with your classes."

Dumbledore came back to his chair, without swaying his gaze from Harry.

"What do you think about that?" Ginny had just taken a seat in front of Harry and Ron, staring at them deeply worried. "Do you think that mum'll call us back home?"

"I don't think so! Mum and Dad trust Dumbledore a lot and as long as he remains here, this school is the safer place to stay in." Ron simply replied.

"Hey, did you hear that? Which are those other safety measures Dumbledore was talking about?" Seamus asked concerned, coming closer to them with Neville.

"Oh, don't worry about that! I'm sure that he meant the usual things like, everybody inside before sunset, no more Hogsmeade weekends and so on," replied Ron, without giving any importantce to the subject.

"Let's go now or we're going to be late!" Harry exhorted them, standing up abruptly and heading to the door. Then, he rushed to the dungeons fearing he would be late to his Potion class, but luckily all his mates were still waiting outsite the door.

At the bottom of the corridor, Hermione was chatting with Lavender; she didn't notice him and Harry didn't want to call her. Then he turned to Malfoy and the other Slytherins, who were laughing amongst themselves; those stupid guys seemed really amused by the recent events and this situation made him suddenly feeling the strong impulse to go there and punch them on their ugly noses.

In that moment, Harry felt a sharp pain at his scar and raised a hand to his forehead; oddly, he sensed an extreme satisfaction inside his heart. Surely, Voldemort was happy for the successful attack.

Harry's thoughts were cut off by Professor Snape, who opened the door abruptly and signalled to them to enter the class.

Harry sat in a single desk at the back of the class, while Hermione took a seat close to Lavender, without even looking at him. The boy felt deeply wounded by her behavior and was more determined to ask an explanation afterwards.

He stubbornly forced himself to concetrate on the lesson and didn't turn in her direction.

That morning, Snape had assigned them a very difficult reducting potion; due to the tension with Hermione and the throbbing of his scar, Harry wasn't able to concentrate. He missed the right order of almost all the ingredients and at the end, Snape glared horrified into his cauldron and gave him no points for the day before disapparating his potion with a light flit of his wand.

When the bell rang, Harry was completely furious with the whole world and rushed out of the classroom before the others. He ran along the corridor and shortly found himself outside in the gardens, longing for fresh air.

When he heard someone calling out his name, he turned around and saw Hermione coming closer to him at great speed.

"HARRY! Harry, please wait!"

Hermione had stopped right in front of him and was panting heavily because of her crazy run.

"What do you want?" the boy asked rudely, feeling a great anger rising inside him.

"I think we should talk," she said with firm voice.

"Yes, that's right! I really need to hear what you have to say!" Harry frowned at her and crossed his arms.

"I can't blame you. My behavior has been really... unforgivable. But I'd like to explain what I'm feeling right now."

Hermione lowered her gaze and started to play nervously with the belt of her school bag, which was hanging heavily on her shoulder.

"It's a bit complicated for me. I-I don't really know where to start from..."

Harry felt all his frustration exploding inside and shouted at her.

"I'm just asking for a simple explanation, Hermione! I just need a yes or a no from you. It doesn't seem to be such a difficult task!"

A few students who were chatting nearby turned to them and then rushed inside the castle, scandalized.

Hermione raised her wet eyes to him and then spoke in a whisper.

"How could our future depend on a yes or a no?"

"Don't you understand? My life is complicated enough without thinking about your silly troubles as well!"

The girl was almost bursting into tears, but Harry didn't care. He was too angry and disappointed; he wanted to let her feel bad, just like he was feeling in that moment.

"I'm asking you a simple answer!"

"I'm not able to give you an answer now, I'm sorry!" Hermione was forcing herself not to cry, even if she had a painful knot in her throat.

"Well, in this case, I'll give you a good solution!" Harry spoke in a hasty way. "Let's pretend that nothing has ever happened between us, all right? Forget every word that I told you yesterday! It'll be easier for both of us."

"But, I could never do that!" Hermione replied, with desperation in her voice.

Harry glared at her with endless anger, then spoke with a resolved tone.

"Do what you want, then. I don't care! But please, don't play games with me ever again! Now I must go, Ron is already waiting for me!"

Harry ended the quarrel and rushed away; Hermione turned to him in silence, without having the strength to react, while a warm tear was already shyly crossing her face.