Harry Potter and the Dark Mark

Chapter Sixteen

"Dead, they said! DEAD!" went the whispers from the first and second years in the common room afterwards.

"Poisoned! By Voldemort!" muttered the third years.

"The shock of Harry nearly hitting him," the fourth years gossiped.

"Old age," nodded the sixth and seventh years wisely.

The fifth years remained quiet, on the whole. Harry knew for a fact Dumbledore had been quite all right after the almost-collision, as did most of the other Quidditch players, and his friends believed him anyway. Harry shook his head. He could still remember the way Dumbledore had just crumpled, like a rag doll. Someone he had always seen as so strong and permanent had literally just fallen before his very eyes. He couldn't keep the chilling thoughts from his mind. Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort feared. He was the only one who kept the school safe. Harry shivered.

"It's just stress. With all this spying business and pressure to close the school, and... stuff..." Ron said sympathetically. Harry shrugged. He felt flat.

"What did he say? And I mean exactly," Hermione demanded.

"Something about..." Harry began.

"No, exactly!" Hermione insisted. Harry rolled his eyes at Ron good-humouredly.

"Something like... come see me tonight, if you can. I need to talk to you about Snuffles' latest discoveries. He is on a field mission, and-" Harry recalled with difficulty.

"And what?" Ron demanded.

"That's it!" Harry cried in frustration.

"Hmmmn," Hermione finished. She looked as if she had discovered something important.

"And you couldn't see anyone hexing him or anything?"

"No. He was standing up. Only McGonagall and Snape were near him." Harry confirmed.

"Snape!" Ron muttered warningly.

"Far too obvious, even if he is a Death Eater, which Dumbledore didn't believe," Hermione discounted.

"I still think..." Ron began. He directed a dubious glance at Lavender and Parvati, who were trying to overhear their conversation. Hermione nodded briefly, and they began discussing Pogrebins very loudly. Lavender sniffed and moved over to Seamus. When they were sure she had gone, they started conferring again, in hushed voices.

"Snuffles is on a field mission. I'll bet he was in danger, and Dumbledore was going to tell you that," Hermione suggested. The boys nodded at her. She was always right anyway.

"He's been poisoned!" a second year suddenly yelled, climbing hurriedly through the portrait hole. "He's really ill, no one knows how to heal him, and McGonagall's in charge. She wants a meeting in the Great Hall in ten minutes!" the boy continued, looking visibly swelled with the importance of his message. Hermione looked a bit miffed at not being informed first, but shrugged it off and started chivvying everyone around, making them prepare.

Ten minutes later, the Houses were assembled at their tables again. Harry began to have strong feelings of déjà vu. All the teachers were present. Even Professor Trelawy had deigned to descend from her perfumed classroom. Harry felt that this, more than anything, was a sign of the

gravity of the situation.

"School, I have news of a serious nature. Professor Dumbledore has been poisoned. We do not know what with or who by. All I can tell you is that he is in grave danger, and we are doing everything we can to help him."

Shocked gasps and stifled exclamations echoed through the hall, and Harry felt his stomach lurch. What had Ron said, about Voldemort not daring to attack while Dumbledore was in charge? What would happen now? Harry was also worried about the Ministry of Magic, and Sirius, on his spying missions. He was such a key figure to those, and now both were vulnerable, without his counsel.

"I will now be taking charge of Hogwarts. Lessons will continue as normal, and you are expected to behave no differently for the Staff now than you would have when Dumbledore was Head. You may see strange people coming and going. There is no need to be alarmed at these appearances, they are merely Physicians and Herbologists we may send for to help our own esteemed body of experts," McGonagall continued. Her voice was strangely emotionless, almost as if she were watching the whole scenario be played out from afar.

Snape leaned towards her and muttered something. She nodded curtly and then spoke to the school once more.

"Before you go, I would also like to add that a new Professor will be coming to Hogwarts to give all years from third year up extra coaching in the Dark Arts. These classes will tie in with those taught by Professor Figg. There is no use educating you all to protect yourselves against things you cannot comprehend. Now! Away with you all to your common rooms!" She stepped back, terminating the meeting, and then with a buzz of conversation, people began to leave the Great Hall, heading back to their common rooms.

"What if they can't cure him?" Ron whispered urgently to Harry. Harry shrugged, trying to ignore the obvious stares he was receiving from some of the other pupils. Sometimes he wondered why he bothered coming back, because everyone always thought the same way about him at the soonest opportunity. He sighed.

"Even if they can't find a cure, Hermione will. I'll bet she's in the Library already!"

"Mmm." Ron smiled wanly.

Later that evening, Harry found himself wandering through the deserted corridors to the Library. He knew he was banned for a week, but Ron was having 'words' with Fred, George and Ginny, and waving a piece of parchment about angrily. It looked as if Mrs Weasley had replied. Harry had left to fetch Hermione, and make sure she actually had eaten some food. He slipped past Madam Pince with the use of his invisibility cloak, not that she would have noticed, because apparently she had finished 'Love and Quidditch,' and had moved on to 'Love and Quodpot.' Hermione was sitting at a table, poring over a dusty old book, as Harry could have guessed.

"Hermione, have you eaten?" he whispered.

Hermione jumped in her seat, and stared around wildly. "Harry?" she yelped.

"Oh, sorry," he replied in a more normal voice, and slid out of the cloak.

"Slytherin's serpents, you didn't half scare me!" Hermione gasped, clasping her hands to her heart. She relaxed and then turned back to the book. "Yes, I have eaten."

"Good, because I was going to drag you out kicking and screaming if you hadn't. Have you found anything?"

"No. Something is niggling away at the back of my mind, though I can't remember what."

"Have you checked Streeler Venom?" Harry asked in a hushed voice.

"Yes. It was the first thing I checked, although I'm certain Dumbledore would have been on the look out for it. It isn't toxic to humans, only Horklumps. Here, read." She pushed the book towards Harry, and he skimmed the section on Streelers quickly. It was exactly the same entry as the one in the Fantastic Beasts textbook he used in CoMC.

'STREELER

M.O.M. Classification XXX

The Streeler is a giant snail that changes colour on an hourly basis and deposits behind it a trail so venomous that it shrivels and burns all vegetation over which it passes. The Streeler is native to several African countries, though it has been successfully raised by wizards in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. It is kept as a pet by those who enjoy its kaleidoscopic colour changes, and its venom is one of the few substances known to kill Horklumps.'

"My, you read slowly!" Hermione said out loud. Harry looked at her innocently.

"What does this word say?" he asked. Hermione leaned over and examined the word he was pointing at.

"Vegetation," she replied, instantly clapping her hand to her mouth as she realised she had fallen for his trick. He laughed as she looked upwards and rolled her eyes.

"Ha ha, very witty!" She shut the book with a thump, and leaned on it.

Harry looked at her with concern. "Are you tired? You should come back to the common room. The twins had a letter from Mrs Weasley, and Ron is with them and Ginny, yelling at her again. He'll probably want you to cheer him up afterwards."

"I'm sure you can cheer him up," Hermione yawned.

Harry grinned wickedly. "Oh, I don't think I could cheer him up as well as you could, Hermione. I'm sure he'd find you a much more attractive proposition..."

"Harry Potter!" Hermione cried, batting him on the arm. "You're incorrigible!" She blushed furiously, and Harry laughed even harder.

They slipped through the Library silently, and out into the corridor, Hermione trying not to step on Harry. It was as they were making there way through a corridor with windows that looked out onto the grounds in front of Hogwarts. Hermione stopped suddenly, managing to tread on Harry.

"What?" he asked crossly. She just pointed out of the window. Harry took off the cloak, realising he did not need it any more. He peered over her shoulder into the gloom that was the grounds. Ginny and Malfoy were walking on the grass together, both seeming awkward and out of place. Harry sighed sadly. Hermione glanced at him.

"What did you do?" she asked curiously. Harry looked at her, trying to appear innocent. It didn't work. He sighed again.

"She might have overreacted a little to some things I said and did," he admitted.

"What things?" Hermione asked in a steely tone.

He coughed in embarrassment. "Well... I remember that I said I'd like to wait until she was a little older to... to... and then there was the time I called her Ron's baby sister, and then there's the fight we had before Christmas, about Cho..."

"Is that all?" Hermione asked in a scathing tone.

"Uh... yes," Harry finished. She didn't need to know about the kiss.

"Well... come on, lets go find Ron."

"And cheer him up?" Harry asked teasingly, glad to be back on firm ground. Hermione gave him a look, so he smirked at her and said nothing more. They reached the common room and muttered the password, bouncing over to the twins who were looking mutinous, and waited for the tirade. Mrs Weasley's letter had indeed not been what Harry was hoping for.