The Silent Siege

Chapter 8

Synchronis Totalis

The Wednesday before the Hogsmeade weekend saw a rather unusual Defense Against the Dark Arts class that, at the time, seemed more comical than serious but in retrospect was very significant. Professor Nevins began by announcing that he would introduce the class to a tricky spell that students normally did not learn until their seventh year, if that, but that he felt confident the sixth years could master. Without first telling the class what the new spell was and what it would do, Nevins lined up the Gryffindors and Slytherins into two rows facing each other. Harry, Hermione, and Ron had been sitting together as usual and Ron and Hermione had ended up standing across from one another while Harry was paired up with Seamus. The odd one out was Dean, whom Professor Nevins moved to the front of the class as a _volunteer._

Once the rows had sorted themselves out, Nevins looked at some of the pairings and allowed himself a toothy smirk. It was clear he was enjoying some kind of private joke at everyone else_s expense. He walked back to the front of the classroom and turned to face Dean. He drew out his wand and became serious.

_Now, if everyone could please join me in taking out their wands. This spell has two parts, both of which must be put into action very rapidly for it to work. One of the pair - it does not matter which one - must first point his wand at his - or her - partner - and enunciate, please - say Synchronis Totalis. A curious effect will then occur._ Nevins smiled again. _The two wizards or witches casting the spell will experience a magic link. During this link, the consciousness of the two partners will be shared. Then - _

_E - Excuse me, Professor._ Neville was shaking like a leaf. _Do you mean that we_ll be able to read each other_s thoughts?_

Nevins smiled, rather cruelly, Harry thought. _Very good, Mr. Longbottom, yes._

A low murmur rose like a ripple around the classroom. Parvati and Lavender started giggling furiously.

_You needn_t worry,_ Nevins added as Neville looked on the point of collapse. _At your present level, I doubt the effect will last more than a few seconds, nor will your partner be able to penetrate much further than your surface thoughts. If your private thoughts embarrass you, then you orce yourself to concentrate on something mundane for a few seconds until the spell wears off._

The class continued to murmur and fidget. Harry looked over at Seamus who was chuckling. He decided he must be very careful to keep any thoughts of the prophecy out of his mind. Suddenly, he felt a sharp tug on his elbow. He looked around to see Ron staring at him anxiously.

_Harry,_ he squeaked. _Couldn_t you switch with me? I mean, you and Hermione could - _

_No. Why? What_s the matter?_

Harry was suddenly aware that he and Ron were the only ones talking. Nevins folded his arms and walked over. _Is there a problem, Mr. Weasley?_

Ron shook his head.

_Good. As interesting as all this might seem to you all, it is the second stage of the spell that makes it useful._ Nevins then spoke loudly and slowly so that the class would be sure to catch the point. _After you have cast the initial spell and while the two partners are linked, the effects of any subsequent spell they cast against each other will enced by both._

Ron frowned for a moment. _What good does that do?_

There were a few gasps but Harry and Hermione did not react. They knew by now that Ron had formed a very strange relationship with Professor Nevins on that first day of class and the professor seemed especially pleased when Ron provided the role of a foil in his lessons. Ron still tried to appear offended but Harry sensed his indignation was not genuine. Both he and Nevins seemed to be enjoying an unusual private game.

_Pardon me, Mr. Weasley?_

_Well, I mean, if you want to curse someone, just curse them. If you get all wound up together, then you_ll curse yourself as well, won_t you?_

Nevins scowled. _I do not want to do all your thinking for you, Mr. Weasley, but please promise me that I_ll be the first person you tell when you discover how useful this spell really is._

_All right._ Ron folded his arms in mock defiance.

_Good._ Nevins turned his attention back to the rest of the class. _Now, I will begin by demonstrating with Mr. Thomas._ HeDean who looked slightly nervous. Nevins took out his wand and pointed it at the boy.

_Synchronis Totalis._

A flash of blue light left Nevins_ wand and hit Dean squarely in the chest. At first it seemed that nothing had happened but then a blue flash bounced back off of Dean like a ball in a squash court and hit Nevins.

Nevins smiled and Dean looked confused.

_It seems Mr. Thomas gives a generous amount of thought to West Ham football._

There were a few giggles in response.

_And now._ Nevins raised his wand again. _Lumos Reformo._

Another flash of wand light quickly left Nevins_ wand and zigzagged back and forth between him and Dean. Both Nevins and Dean then glowed briefly like a negative image before returning to normal.

_And there you have it._ Nevins put down his wand. _Now, I will give everyone else a chance. Please use the same two spells._

The first pair was Millicent Bulstrode and Crabbe. On establishing the link, they both broke into hoarsey Slytherin laughter. Harry wondered that there was anything in Crabbe_s head at all. The next few pairs were fairly uneventful until Draco Malfoy was matched up with Pansy Parkinson. Pansy looked a little nervous while Malfoy had a snide calculating curl to his lips. They completed the link and the curse. After their appearances had returned to normal, Pansy looked at Malfoy in astonishment and suddenly broke into a sobbing fit. Malfoy merely continued to stare back at her, unperturbed.

The Gryffindors, who mostly segregated themselves in their classes with the Slytherins, ended up being the last to go. Harry was constantly aware of Ron shifting back and forth next to him and was tempted to tell him to keep still. The first pairing was Neville and Luna. From the look on N_s face, Harry had the impression he had partnered with Luna because he had been unable to find anyone else. Luna, who was wearing a lime green pointed hat above her Ravenclaw robes, which she had enchanted to make faces, had an odd-looking smile on her face, however, but then Harry supposed that this was how she often looked.

Harry suddenly became aware that Neville was even whiter than usual and beads of sweat were forming on his forehead. Luna continued to smile and then started to stare at him vacantly. This seemed to make things even worse: Neville started moving back and forth on his feet like Ron and seemed to visibly tremble.

When Neville kept his wand at his side rigidly, Luna calmly took hers out from its customary position behind her ear and said:

_Synchronis Totalis._

Neville lifted up his hands to protect himself but the beam quickly bounced off his chest and reverberated back to Luna.

Neville_s wand dropped to the floor with a clatter. He put his hands over his mouth and stared back at Luna in shock.

Luna continued to smile vacantly back at Neville while the hat on her head settled into a reproving grimace.

_Why, Neville,_ she finally said. _I_m not sure that anyone has ever pictured me in an orange and yellow striped bikini before, at least not quite that shade._

_Miss Lovegood,_ Nevins interrupted. _We are not interested in what Mr. Longbottom is thinking. We are waiting patiently for one of you to complete the spell._

But Neville had heard enough. His hands moved from his face to his stomach and he quickly ran out of the room amidst the hysterical laughter of the remaining students.

Luna and Neville_s ill-fated experiment in thought sharing, while earning the amusement of the other students in the class, had seriod those who had yet to take part. Nevins declined to comment on Neville_s departure and Lavender and Parvati were next followed by Harry and Seamus. With a devilish smile on his face, Seamus decided to cast a _Riddiculo Tikkilo_ spell instead of the _Lumos Reformo._ Both Harry and Seamus burst into giggles and Seamus earned a mild reprisal from Nevins but Harry was secretly pleased at him for breaking the tension.

A quick sideways glance to Ron, however, told Harry that it had not been enough. While everyone else was giggling at Seamus_ prank, Ron continued to stand rigid, his brows furrowed in nervous concentration as he pointed an unsteady wand at Hermione. Harry could see that his other best friend did not look much better. Hermione was biting her lip and twirling her wand nervously in her hand which Harry could see from the light of the window behind her was glistening with sweat. What was going on?

Harry finally became aware that it was now Hermione and Ron_s turn but his two friends continued to stand facing each other, neither moving to begin the spell.

_Well, will one of you please start?_ said Nevins impatiently. _I would hate to have to keep anyone into lunch time._

Without wavering in the slightest, Hermione and Ron straightened their wands and before the other realized what was happening, had charmed each other in unison. Harry gasped as light flew out of both Hermione and Ron_s wands and zigzagged back and forth four times. He could sense every muscle in their bodies contracted in tension before Hermione quickly cried out _Lumos Reformo._ Both Ron and Hermione glowed negative for a moment, then put their wands down.

As they had been the last to go, Nevins launched into some further explanations about the properties of the Synchronis Totalis spell. Harry could see Ron and Hermione still standing there staring at each other, rigincentration, but ignoring whatever it was that Nevins was saying.

The class packed up relatively quickly and moved out into the corridor. There were murmurs and giggles which soon blended into a noisy rush of humanity as students from other lessons filed out of their classrooms and made their way toward lunch. Neville had emerged from the bathroom, still looking pale, and was deep in animated conversation with Dean and Seamus when Harry, Ron, and Hermione passed them.

_It was awful,_ Neville was saying, deadly serious. _The more I tried to get it out of my head, the more I couldn_t._

Harry noticed that Dean and Seamus were laughing so hard tears were rolling down their cheeks.

He turned back to look at Ron and Hermione who were paying no attention to Neville_s conversation. They were both still staring straight ahead, appearing to concentrate hard lest some remnants of their link remain. Harry was now sure that, as strange as it seemed, both of his best friends had something to hide from each other - and from him, but he did not know for the life of him what it was.

***

Snape_s eyebrows contracted in concentration as he moved stealthily behind the Granger girl and the Weasley girl who were having some kind of conversation. He was still trying to think of some way to insert himself into their plans for the weekend without arousing suspicion and could not imagine how he was going to do so. But first he would listen. They had not heard him approach, of cose; no one ever did.

_You still haven_t told him, have you?_ Granger was saying.

The Weasley girl shook her head. _It seems easier to think about now than before but when I think about going up to him and saying something - _ She threw up her arms in frustration. _And there always seem to be other people around,_ she added.

_Why don_t you come with us to Hogsmeade?_ Granger was saying. _You can help me pick out some things from Zonko_s and then Ron and I will slip off together and you can spend some time alone with Harry._

The Weasley girl seemed to hesitate for a moment and then nodded.

Snape quickly moved away before either of them noticed he was in earshot and allowed himself a relieved smile. It had all been too easy.

***

That same night, a restless Ginny Weasley was having another nightmare. This nightmare seemed somehow normal compared to her strangely intense dreams of the summer. In this dream, she had been sitting next to Harry at The Three Broomsticks and had asked him to go to the Guy Fawkes ball. Instead of responding, however, he had backed away from her, his lips curling up grotesquely.

_So, that was your game, Weasley?_ he had accused her. _Pretend to be over me so you can get closer and then take advantage of my grief to ask me to the dance! You disgust me!_

Harry had then moved away from her quickly and gone to whisper to Ron and Hermione, who were sitting at a nearby table. On hearing the news, they both got up and recoiled as if they had just eaten something rancid. Amanda and Catherine had then burst in and walked over to her, shaking their heads in disbelief. Soon everyone in the Three Broomsticks had moved away from Ginny like she carried a plague. Finally, she just sat all alone in the empty pub.

It was at that point, whendream had reached its disturbing conclusion, that Ginny woke up and decided to pour herself a glass of water and move to the common room. Whispering to herself over and over again like a mantra that she was not some pathetically shy little girl anymore, she picked up her worn copy of Not Just Mail Machines: Caring for Magical Owls and moved down into the Gryffindor common room. She sat on a high backed chair, moved it close to the fire, and began reading. She shuddered slightly from the chill of the dream and the cold of the autumn evening. She moved her chair so that it was facing the fire and sank down lower, letting its warmth slowly caress her body. She imagined that the flames could make the cold stares of the haunting phantoms in her dream slowly melt away.

***

That same night, after a particularly tiring day, Harry quickly sunk into an exhausted sleep. He hoped as he had hoped for as long as he could remember now that he would not dream for his dreams were rarely pleasant. But on this night, he would not get his wish.

In this dream, he was strangely not himself. It was as if he was watching a film or seeing events through another person_s eyes. The central character in the dream seemed to be Sirius. He was much younger and healthier than Harry had remembered him but he still seemed extremely disturbed. Harry suddenly had the impression he was seeing the first of many expressions of shock and bewilderment that by the time Harry had known Sirius, had already etched lines in his face.

Sirius was running. It was dark but a soft ghostly orange light seemed to shine brightly on his face where Harry could read his expression. Sirius ran faster and faster and it suddenly seemed to Harry as though he was holding a camera and Sirius had rushed right past it for now he could see his back as he ran toward the source of the light.

Andthen Harry could also see that Sirius was running toward a house on fire, a house which had already fallen over onto the remains of its foundations. Someone nearby yelled at Sirius to stay back from the flames and Harry became aware that there were about a half a dozen witches and wizards gathered in black robes in front of the house trying to cast charms to put out the flames. But Sirius ignored them and continued to rush on into the burning house.

Harry found Sirius moving away from him so he rushed on to follow. He seemed to glide rather than walk over the falling debris in front of the house, just like he was a camera on wheels rather than a person. No one seemed to show him any reaction and he past through several layers of flames without feeling them scorch his body.

Sirius was obviously feeling the heat and smoke, however. His face grew blackened and he began to cough. Sweat poured down his brow and he shook off a few tongues of flame that had started to catch at the bottom of his cloak. Yet he continued to push on further into the house, running even faster.

Then Harry heard something cry out, something inside the house. Sirius must have heard it, too, because he stopped running and his head started to dart back and forth to locate its source. Finally, Harry followed Sirius as he reached to the ground and picked up a small bundle of something wrapped in blankets. The cries grew louder and Harry realized that this bundle was the source of the noise.

_Harry!_ cried Sirius.

_I_m right here!_ Harry tried to say, although he found that, in the dream, he had no mouth through which to speak.

But Sirius was studying the small figure wrapped in blankets. And then Harry realized it was he that Sirius was holding as a baby. The burning house was his house - his parents_ house. And Sirius had come to rescue him.

Sirius turned around and started to run out of the house, the blanket-covered bundle in his arms, but then suddenly stopped to look at the baby and frowned.

Harry moved closer and saw the blankets start to shift by themselves. Sirius continued to stop and stare at the bundle curiously. He showed no reaction as the charred remains of a wooden beam came crashing down beside him.

_Go, Sirius, go!_ Harry tried to cry. _Go now or we_ll both be killed!_

But Sirius still did not move. The blankets began to shift more vigorously as the baby inside squirmed. A strange faraway look in his eyes, Sirius tried to adjust the blankets to make the baby more comfortable even as tongues of flame started to tickle the bottom of his robes. But then the blankets fell to the ground completely and the baby that had been laying inside sat up to face Sirius.

Harry tried to scream but no sound came out.

For it was not Harry who emerged from the blan It was not a baby at all. The thing which now sat in Sirius_ arms looked exactly like the emaciated creature that had been Lord Voldemort before he was restored to full size by his servant Wormtail.

Harry watched, horrified, as Sirius began to smile and tickle the creature under its scaly chin.

_No!_ Harry cried. _Sirius! Don_t! It_s not me. It_s him. Leave him. Run. Get out, now!_

But Sirius continued to stare at the baby lovingly, oddly oblivious as it raised a slender wand which looked much too large for its tiny hand and pointed it at Sirius_ face, gurgling grotesquely to itself, nearly choking on its own spittle. The green light from its wand struck Sirius between thei>

Sirius_ face contorted in an expression of shock and surprise as he fell to the ground dead. But in the moment that he started to fall over, the scene around Harry changed and suddenly he was no longer inside the burning house. He was back in the Department of Mysteries and Sirius was falling not onto the burning floor but through the tattered black veil. Harry tried to reach out and stop him from falling through but he had no hands. All he could do was watch as Sirius disappeared again and the veil slowly fluttered and fell back into place.

And yet still somewhere behind him, Harry heard the thing that had been in the blankets silently chuckling to itself.

Harry woke up in a cold sweat. He grabbe his glasses and moved over to the window to pour himself a glass of water. Harry didn_t always remember his dreams but when he did, it was usually a bad sign and this dream still boiled in his waking thoughts in vivid detail. The baby was him, Harry decided. And Sirius had picked up out of that burning house the very child that would bring about his death.

On this revelation, Harry decided it was not yet time for him to return to sleep. Walking gingerly on his still aching body, he took out the now tattered Quidditch Through the Ages book that he kept under his four-poster bed and took it and the glass of water and left the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

He moved down into the common room. He could see that someone had left the high-backed chair pushed up against the fireplace. It was certainly a cool evening and Harry thought of taking the seat for himself. But the heat of the fire seemed harsh to Harry as he moved closer. It reminded him too much of the raw red scaly skin that had covered the thing which had once been Lord Voldemort and the malevolent fury that had shined in its snake-like eyes as it had shot down Sirius. Harry settled for a familiar seat next to the small table where he and Ron often played wizard chess.

Harry tried to read but it wasn_t long before he realized he had looked at the same paragraph several times over. He put the book down with a sigh. Harry felt as if the relative calm he had built up over the past six weeks was beginning to crumble, having proved only as strong the precarious foundations onto which it had been placed.

Just then, the door to Gryffindor sixth-year boys_ dormitory opened again and Ron stepped out. He gave a lazy yawn and walked down the stairs to join Harry at the table.

_All right, Harry?_ he asked, rubbing his eyes.

Harry didn_t answer right away.

_Harry?_ asked Ron tentatively.

_I had a nightmare,_ said Harry flatly, not quite looking back at Ron.

_About You-Know-Who?_

_Sort of._ Harry hesitated. _It was about Sirius,_ he mumbled. He looked up at Ron suddenly, as if seeing him properly for the first time. _Did I wake you up?_

_No, I - I_ve been awake for hours. I made it to sleep quite quickly this time but then I woke up again and I haven_t been back to sleep since._ Ron rubbed his eyes again. Harry noticed they were shot with lines as bright red as a fire engine. _It_s the same nearly every night._ He sighed.

_Maybe you should go to see Madam Pomfrey? I_m sure she can give you a sleeping draught._

Ron shook his head. _I don_t think she has anything that can cure my problems._ He frowned woefully.

Harry suddenly felt grateful to be talking about someone else_s dilemmas. _Ron, what_s wrong?_ he asked insistently.

_You know, Harry,_ replied Ron, almost thoughtfully. _I - I_m not sure I can really bring myself to tell you. I mean, not because of you - we_re best mates and everything - just because, well, if I told you, I_d be admitting it to myself and then it would just be more real and I_m still hoping it will go away. D - do you understand?_ Ron looked up hopefully into Harry_s eyes.

Harry shook his head. _Not really._

Ron sighed again. _I - If I tell anyone, it_ll be you, all right?_

Harry nodded. _All right, Ron._

There was an awkward moment of silence.

_Tell me about your dream, then,_ Ron suggested, a little nervously.

Harry hesitated then looked away as he saw Ron_s face twist horribly as if he was afraid Harry would lash out at him. He hated that face and he just wished there was some way he could make it go away.

_Harry,_ said Ron again in a small voice. _Look, mate, I don_t understand what happened to you when Sirius died, all right, b - but maybe if you just told me about your dream, it would help you, you know._

Harry opened his mouth and then closed it again.

_Or - _

_I have to kill Voldemort,_ said Harry mechanically, staring at the floor. _That was the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries. Either I kill him or he kills me. There is no other way._

There was a long chilling pause, then Harry slowly looked up at his best friend.

Ron was white as a sheet now, of course. Harry had known that he would be and that was why he hadn_t told him until now. He couldn_t bear the thought of his reaction. He had thought it would make things much, much worse. But now that he had actually told Ron, he wasn_t sure whether he felt worse or better. He felt strangely numb as if he had been anaesthetized from the consequences of his own emotions.

_Bloody hell,_ Ron finally murmured. _I_m sorry, mate, I - _

_Don_t be sorry,_ said Harry automatically.

Ron swallowed.

_A - are you really sure that_s what it meant, though?_

Harry nodded.

_Dumbledore told me - in his office last spring. The prophecy was told to him by Trelawney. That was why he hired her._

_Look, mate,_ said Ron, the color slowly returning to his face. _Who cares what some stupid prophecy said? Just forget about it. I bet it_s just rubbish, anyway. I_m surprised Dumbledore believed anything that old cow said._

Harry shook his head.

_No, Ron. It_s not rubbish. I have to face him. I - _

Harry was abruptly cut off as he heard the portrait outside the Gryffindor common room suddenly swing aside. Harry and Ron waited to see who was coming in at this hour but there was no one there.

_Who is it?_ asked Ron nervously. _Harry,_ he added in a sudden panic. _I think it must be You-Know-Who. Maybe he was the one who gave you your dream! He_s found a way - _

The folds of the invisibility cloak parted and the vision from Ron_s nightmares looked back at them, unable to repress a slight smirk.

_Hermione,_ said Ron. _What are you doing staying out this late? We have classes tomorrow. You can_t keep killing yourself!_

Hermione_s smirk quickly disappeared. _I - I just have to get this done. There_s only just over a week until the ball. It won_t be like this every night._ Hermione rubbed the sleep out of her left eye. _Anyway,_ she said, looking from are you two doing up?_

Ron exchanged an uneasy glance with Harry.

_Tell her,_ said Harry dully. _I don_t think I could say it again._

Looking anxiously between Harry and Hermione, Ron explained about the prophecy and his advice to Harry to run away from Voldemort.

Hermione went just as white as Ronne.

_Oh, Harry, that_s awful!_ she declared. _But that was a terrible thing you told him to do, Ron! Harry won_t be able to forget about it and he shouldn_t try!_

_You_re the one who always says Divination is rubbish!_

_You just want Harry to keep things bottled up inside. Just like he always does. You just want him to avoid dealing with things._

Harry was about to add that he didn_t think this was quite fair when Ron leapt to his own defense.

_So what_s your idea, then? Recruit a bunch of house elves and storm the Death Eaters_ camp on the advice of some loony old bat!_

_Obviously Harry has to prepare. But he can_t just forget about - _

_Of course he should just forget about it!_

_Hello, I_m over here, you know._ Harry waved his arms but neither of his two friends seemed to take any notice.

Ron_s eyes narrowed. _This is all pretty rich coming from you._

Hermione stared back at him defiantly. _I don_t know what you mean._

_Well,_ Ron continued, a dangerous look in his eyes. _You_re accusing Harry of keeping things to himself - _

_I wasn_t accusing Harry of anything. You - _

_ - and here you are sneaking into the library in the middle of the night, planning goddess knows what, rushing away from meals, not telling your friends anything._

_I don_t think Hermione - _ Harry started, but stopped as he saw Ron and Hermione staring at each other with daggers in their eyes, clearly no longer aware of his exv>