Never Many

Never Many

Chapter 2

Conflicting Issues

In the end, it is not the words of our enemies that we will remember, but the silence of our friends.

-Martin Luther King Jr

Harry, Ron and Hermione jumped to their feet. Hermione was almost knocked flying by Ginny, who ran into her screaming. Harry grabbed Hermione as Ron grabbed Ginny.

"Ginny, what the Hell is going on?" demanded Ron over the noise.

"It's... it's a huge snake. At first I thought it was the Dark Mark but it's a huge snake eating its tail. Outside. Hanging over the lake. It just appeared and...." At this point Ginny burst into tears.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" Came a roar from the portrait hole. People turned to see Susan standing there. When there was quiet she continued. "If that thing is outside, it makes sense that we stay inside, does it not?

"Well, that is a good idea, Miss Pott," came a voice from behind the hole. Professor McGongall stepped in front of Susan. "Could you all please sit down and be silent until we are able to find out what is going on." And with that she swept out of the common room. People started turning around and sinking into chairs and on the floor. Everyone looked scared and some were still crying, including Ginny. She was sobbing into Ron's shirt, Ron looking very worried indeed. Susan sat down on the floor with a sigh. Harry and Hermione sat on either side of her. Ron had a little more trouble sitting, as Ginny was still clutching him. Eventually they were all sitting in a circle on the floor, and everyone had calmed down. Ron had one arm around Ginny and the other around Hermione. Harry asked the question all of them wanted to know with a quiet smirk.

"What were you doing with Malfoy behind the Broom Shed?"

"Oh, you know, lots of obscene and disgusting things that shouldn't be spoken about in polite company." Susan grinned.

"We aren't exactly polite," Hermione giggled, in a way neither of her best friends had seen before. "Tell!"

"You wouldn't, I mean you, and Malfoy, wouldn't, you know? That is DISGUSTING. I mean Malfoy is, well he. You wouldn't. Would you?" Ron was flabbergasted

"Calm down, we were just talking. And anyway, shouldn't we talk about the pressing issue at hand? Who conjured the snake?"

"And what you and Malfoy are doing is not," Harry muttered to himself.

"Yes, Susan is right," Hermione said giving Harry a very dirty look.

"It's easy. An old supporter of You-Know-Who Apparated into Hogwarts, conjured the Snake and then Dispparated. Everyone knows HE loved snakes, " concluded Ron. Hermione opened her mouth to give a reply but Susan got in first.

"As Hermione is about to point out, you can't Apparate inside Hogwarts' grounds. And why not summon the Dark Mark if they were a supporter of Voldemort? Anyway, Voldemort has been dead for almost a year now." Harry shuddered. The memory of his last meeting with Voldemort was still fresh in his mind. It had ended with a crazed Voldemort being hit with blast from Hermione, Ron and Harry's wands. Some very complex and delicate curses had also helped but Harry did not quite understand how.

"Too obvious. Someone on the inside of the school summoned it. And I know whom. Malfoy," muttered Harry darkly. They five sat in silence for a few moments until...

"It wasn't Draco. He was with me. But, you know, there's no way to stop someone from just walking in and out," pointed out Susan.

"You mean someone could just have walked in, conjured the Snake and walked out whistling?" convicted Ginny.

"Well, maybe not whistling. Too much of an attention grabber. I mean if some evil person walks past you whistling, you would be too suspicious," said Ron.

"Oh yes, someone whistling is someone evil. Should I go over to Neville and tell him to stop whistling "It's a Small World" 'cause it means he's evil?" retorted Harry.

"He could be!" snapped Ron.

"And Professor Snape is madly in love with Harry. Grow up Ron. Pretend I never said it. If Susan is right then it could have been anybody. I don't think something like this has happened in all eternity at Hogwarts. Well, maybe when..." Ginny trailed off and stared at Susan. She had gone completely rigid. Her eyes where huge and her whole body quivered.

"Of course- Eternal! Why didn't I remember? Must find Dumbledore. Now." And with that she got up stiffly and walked out of the portrait hole.

"What was that all about?" asked Ron. Nobody knew.

"Well sitting here is not going to do any good. We have homework and other stuff to do," said Hermione. The others reluctantly agreed. All but Harry. He was going to find Susan. He was worried. She had looked scared. In the pretext of getting a book from the library, he set of to Dumbledore's office.

As he approached the gargoyle, he caught his name. Harry stopped, knowing full well he shouldn't be eavesdropping, but listening anyway.

"Harry mustn't find out. He'll try to be heroic and put himself in danger." That was Susan's voice.

"You have already pointed that out and I'm afraid there is little we can do," sighed Dumbledore. "Now, I need to know all you know about the group that captured you. You say you are sure it was one on them that threw the Snake into the sky."

"Yes. I never got their real names and no, before you ask, they never got mine. They called each other things like Fire, Wind, Earth and Water... Oh, I can't remember the rest. I heard them saying that he had discovered the spells that were put on the Hogwarts castle to stop people from Apparating. This, to me, says that they could also find out how to remove them." Susan's statement was followed by a prolonged silence.

"Why is it that you remember this only now?" Professor Snape was in there as well.

"If you had been gagged and tied up and repeatedly tortured, some small things would escape your memory too. Or am I to believe that you would even remember the colour of their robes?" Susan growled. "Because I do. They were black."

"Shush now Susan. I'm sure Professor Snape believed the question was important." Harry jumped in shock. That was Sirius in there.

"Don't you dare tell me to shush. You never did anything to help me. And you knew I existed!"

"I was in Azkaban! What could I have done?"

"You've been out for almost three years! You had enough time to go and save Harry's life but you couldn't even see me!"

"That was different!" muttered Sirius.

"Oh was it? I..." Susan was interrupted by Dumbledore.

"None of that matters now. What matters is that we have a group of incredibly powerful and dangerous wizards who are able to get in to the castle."

Harry slipped away, feeling sick. As he walked, he began to think about Susan. Was there more to his new friend than he knew? Could he help her? What had happened in her past? Harry wandered back to the common room, brushed of Hermione and Ron's questions ('Where's the book you went to get?' and 'What the hell happened to you?') and opened his books to start work. He couldn't concentrate. All he could think about was what Susan said. Eventually he started on an essay for Snape. He knew it wasn't very good, but heck, Snape always wanted a good reason to yell at him. Here was one. He looked up as the portrait swung open and Susan stepped in. She had dark circles under her eyes and she looked worn out. She waved tiredly to Hermione, Harry and Ron, and then proceeded up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. Harry jumped up and followed her. Halfway up the stairs she realised she had a shadow and turned around.

"Harry! Why are you following me?" she exclaimed.

"I need to talk to you, come here," he said puling her in to a corner.

"What do you want?" asked Susan.

"I heard your conversation with Dumbledore and I want to know what's going on." Susan's eyes flashed dangerously and she looked angry enough to hit Harry right there.

"You should never, ever, listen to another person's private conversation, Harry."

"I know, I know. It's bad manners."

"No, worse! They may have to kill you."

"Just tell me!"

"You know in those old Star Wars movies when the Jedi says 'You're not ready, Luke'? Well, that's what I'm going to say now. You're not ready Harry."

"Oh, okay."

" No! That's not right. You really want to know, you have to know, for your own survival and that of the rest of the galaxy, so you should say something like. 'I need to know the Truth."

"Ah. I need to know the truth."

"Say it with feeling."

"I need to know the Truth!"

"Much better. And I say, Harry, you can't handle the truth."

"Yes I can!"

"Ah, now you're getting the hang of it. I'll say, 'It's not the right time, but I will give you a clue.' That means I will give you some obscure puzzle that won't make sense until you know the answer." With that Susan pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Harry. She put her hand on his shoulder and said, "May the force be with you, Harry." Then she paused. "Nah, that's been done to death, you be the force, Ah. I've got it- Bring on the force!" And with that, she left Harry looked down at the paper. It read:

Two from one, one from two

Never many, rather few.

Search the world, you'll never find

This half from two, one be mine.

Broke in half, split in two

Soon whole is made, betwixed with you.

"Damn, she was right about not understanding," Harry muttered to himself. "I didn't learn anything except that if I'm captured by a Jedi who's forgotten his lines, I'll know what to tell him." With that he stomped down stairs and slumped into his chair again. He finished what work he had to do badly and didn't even bother to attend dinner. He sat in the common room, thinking. After people started returning things got noisy. After someone blew up one of the chairs in an attempt to turn it into a fan, Harry got up and walked out into the corridor. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Draco Malfoy come up and start walking next to him.

"Earth to Potter, come in please. Don't tell me. You have some heroic deed to perform that will involve nearly killing yourself and those you call friends."

"Shut up, Malfoy."

"Ohh. Does that mean I'm right. What do I win?"

"How does a nice face full of knuckles sound to you? Valued at three insults, you can get this prize for only one 'cause I'm in a bad mood."

"Someone is grouchy."

"Merlin, damn it, yes I am. And if you don't leave me alone I may even take it out on you."

"Well, I only came to see you squirm because you know how much I love to make you suffer."

"If you'll excuse me, I seem to have missed something. I don't appear to be squirming."

"You will be in a minute. You, Mr Harry Potter, are about to get the nastiest shock of your life."

"Aside from seeing your face?" Harry grumbled. Malfoy sneered.

"Well, if you're going to be like that, I wont tell you what that little poem Susan Pott gave you meant."

"You don't know."

"I do indeed. I know because it fell out of her pocket when we were, ah, talking earlier today. I happened to see what was on it and know what it meant. Ooh, look at the time, I had better be going. Bye now. " And with that Malfoy left, leaving a very annoyed Harry standing outside. Harry grumbled and mumbled his way back to the castle, into the common room and up to bed. He lay thinking long into the night and when he finally drifted of it was into an uneasy sleep.

The next morning Harry rose late and dragged himself downstairs to find a nearly empty common room.

"Where is everyone?" asked Harry

"First day of the holidays, Harry. They've all gone home," answered Ron, who was pretending to be interested in a game of chess he was thrashing Hermione at. Harry pretended not to notice that they were holding hands under the table.

"Oh! What about Susan, has she gone?"

"No. Harry, don't you think there is something strange about her?" asked Ron slowly. "Like, I don't know... She gets on well with people like Malfoy, she's really smart and we don't know anything much about her or her past."

"Ah. Have you asked her about her past? No, I didn't think so. And who said being smart is a crime? I suppose we should probably lock Hermione up right now before she starts killing innocent people. Maybe Susan is just a nice person with really bad taste."

"I think Ron has a point, Harry. I mean, she arrives and that Snake appears. There is a chance she could be a vicious, cold-blooded..."

"Cute," whispered Ginny, much too softly for anyone to think she was talking to them.

"Lying, back-stabbing, wicked ..." Hermione broke of as Susan walked into the room.

"Talking about someone I know?" asked Susan. She looked at the two guilty faces and the one angry face of her friends. "Yes, I'm sure you were talking about someone I know. I have to go to the library. Care to come, Harry?"

"Yes, I have an essay to rewrite. Hermione, Ron, are you coming?"

"Ah yeah, we will. Give us a minute to grab our stuff," said Hermione as she and Ron ran off to their separate dormitories. Harry and Susan walked in silence for a moment until Susan broke the silence.

"Thank you, Harry." Her comment startled him.

"Thank you for what?"

"For standing up for me. But you know, your friends may be right. None of you know anything about me. How could you possibly know that Draco and I didn't conjure the Snake?"

"Because.... because Dumbledore trusts you. And because I trust Dumbledore."

"Ahhh." Something told Harry that this wasn't the right answer. There was no time to say any more as Hermione and Ron caught up with them. The four spent the morning working quietly through piles of essays until Dumbledore appeared. He beckoned to Susan who, with a strange look at him and an equally hesitant look at Hermione and Ron, she got up and walked out.

"See, why would Dumbledore want to talk to her if she hasn't done anything wrong?" questioned Ron

"Maybe she has information about who ever threw that thing in the sky." Both Hermione and Ron flinched.

"Maybe she did it," exclaimed Ron. "That would explain why she knows so much."

"That obvious stupidity deems no answer," snapped Harry.

"That was a little silly Ron," put in Hermione. "But Harry, think about it, there is something strange about her."

"Maybe that strangeness has something to do with her trying to fit in. She heard every word you said before and, you know what? She is a more than decent person for not yelling at you. I would have. I would have instantly lost it and ignored you for all time. It takes a good person to do what she did," fumed Harry.

"Or a person not wanting to come to the notice of too many people," muttered Ron. Harry lost it.

"You wouldn't know a good person if it tied one arm behind it's back, died it's hair purple and hopped around singing Kung Fu Fighting." With that Harry stormed from the library. Once he calmed down he regretted stomping out. Now he would have to apologise. It was getting hot in the castle again so Harry decided to go outside. He went for a walk by the lake, then down to Hagrid's old cottage. He wasn't there, but Fang was. The old boarhound was making so much noise you'd think someone had locked him in there for a week or more. Harry went into the cottage. He noticed that Fang hadn't been fed. He set about the task dutifully. Something seemed strange. There was no food in the cottage except for a can of dog food in the back of a cupboard and the bed had not been made. Hagrid was not one to make his bed, but there was always something to eat. Harry began poking around and became more and more sure that Hagrid had not been here in at least two days. Maybe due to the fact he cared about Hagrid or that there was no one there to advise caution, Harry took Fang and set of to the Forbidden Forest. If Hagrid had been anywhere else in the castle Harry would have seen him. The Forest was the only place he could think of to look.

As Harry walked into the Forest he felt something change. The air was heavy and thick. He shivered. He knew he should have waited for morning and come with someone or gone to tell Dumbledore but he had come to far now. Harry suddenly noticed that Fang made no sound. Harry stopped and listened. The woods were silent but there was something out there. What ever it was it was not Hagrid. There it was, a sound like someone walking. Harry had watched enough muggle movies to know that that was NOT a mouse and there was no use pretending it was one.

"Alright." Harry whispered to himself. "It's an armadillo. If it's not a mouse it's an armadillo." Even Harry's gullible self didn't believe it. 'Okay,' he thought. 'I'll just get close to the sound and find out what exactly it is. That's a sensible thing to do." Harry rolled his eyes at himself but his curiosity won out. Harry crept towards the sound. He stopped behind a bush and peeked through. It would have taken a stronger person than Harry not to shake at what he saw.

------To be continued------

A/N What did Harry see? Read the next chapter to find out. Thanks to Shar for help with the riddle. Next chapter should be up soon.

Thanks to my betas, again.