Harry suddenly felt really nervous. If Hermione was caught it would be his fault. He desperately wished that he had the map so he could watch. He waited in the common room for her to come back.
The crack of dawn soon came and Hermione wasn’t back. Harry now felt really anxious, but if Hermione stayed out there so long, it must have worked; she finally had time to think. He looked up at the large clock in the common room. Now the people who had classes early in the morning would start to wake up and head down to the great hall. Harry’s classes wouldn’t star for three hours. He was free to go out side.
Harry quickly dressed, pulling some warm robes over him and skimped down the stairs towards the entrance hall. The enormous door was stilled closed. As soon as Harry opened it he was blown backwards by a large gust of wind. He shielded his eyes from the cold and looked at a small pair of foot prints leading to the lake.
He ran against the wind until he got to a small indention in the snow against the willow tree. Harry felt around and pulled the cloak off Hermione. She was very cold and pale. Harry shook her slightly. She gave a small groan and shivered. She was asleep. This annoyed Harry. He thought that she was caught or possibly in danger, but she was merely sleeping.
Harry put her arm around his shoulder and stood up, Hermione hanging limply on him. She shook her head and looked around. “I-I must have fallen asleep.” she said weekly. Harry started to walk and Hermione’s legs started moving slightly but most of her weight was still on Harry. He couldn’t have imagined what would make her so tired.
Hermione shook her head and looked around. “What time is it?” she asked softly.
“About six now.” Harry said. Hermione looked shocked and shifted her weight back to her legs.
“Ohhhhhhh… I still have two pages of Arithmancy!” she groaned and fastened her pace. Harry found it hard to believe that Hermione was more worried about Arithmancy than the fact that she fell asleep while sneaking outside. Besides that, however, she seemed perfectly normal, as though nothing had happened over the holidays. Harry was glad about this. Her trip had served its purpose.
They entered the entrance hall and were automatically greeted by Ginny. “Harry,” she called walking down the steps. Hermione went on into the grand staircase. “Our first Quidditch match is this Saturday so you really need to be at practice today. I’m going to try to get an extra hour in before the match.” she said. Harry nodded and headed towards the great hall but Ginny grabbed the back of his robes.
“How she doing?” she asked nodding her head towards Hermione who was walking up the stairs. Harry shrugged.
“Better I think. She just needed a little time to herself.” said Harry. Ginny eyed him suspiciously.
“Quidditch pitch, seven P.M.” she reminded him and left.
Quidditch practice was the only thing that brought Harry to attend all his classes. Otherwise he would have skipped potions and Herboligy. About an hour before practice Harry grabbed his broom and wandered into the Quidditch pitch.
Ever since he stood on his broom to reach the girls’ dormitory, he longed to try without the wall. He flew about five feet into the air and pulled his feet and balanced them onto the top of his broom. Very slowly, he let go of the broom and hovered over the ground. It was much like balancing a stick on ones palm, his body being the stick and the broom a hand. “What are you doing up there Harry?” a voice called from the opposite end of the field. Harry was so startled he fell backwards off his broom into the wet snow. He looked back to see Ginny laughing loudly at him.
“Is it really that funny?” said Harry. Ginny, who was still laughing, nodded. She hopped on her own broom and flew over to help him up.
“Well practice doesn’t start for another half hour…. What are you doing out here anyway?” said Ginny. Harry shrugged. Ginny topped laughing and started to shiver. Harry was quite hot because of the charm warming his Quidditch robes. He saw sweat on one of his arms. The cool air would feel quite nice, and he had some warm clothes on under them.
“Here,” he said throwing Ginny his robes. She caught them and examined them closely.
“Are these the ones Lupin gave you for your birthday?” she asked. Harry nodded. Ginny didn’t hesitate to put them on. She thanked him and opened the crate of balls.
Darrel and Sarah hurried into the pitch as though they were late. The rest of the team came only five minuets after them. They split up the team so that each smaller team had three players, Ginny flying around watching. Harry flew around the top of the pitch. He was starting to wish he hadn’t given Ginny his Quidditch robes.
A flash of gold glimmered inches from the ground. Harry dove towards it. His fingers closed around the small ball. In the distance he could here Ginny blow her whistle and shouting. “Okay, back to the common room people!” Harry grinned in spite of himself.
By now Harry was nearly frozen to his broom. He hurried into the castle to get out of the cold. By the time he was on the 7th stair case, he could see the rest of the team entering the Grand Staircase.
Harry still had some Herboligy homework left to do. He grabbed his bag and headed down to the library. The only person in the library was Hermione, who was sitting at a table doing charms homework. Oddly enough, Harry had already done his. He offered his copy to Hermione who looked at it with caution. Her eyes had a dark, saggy looked to them. She sighed heavily and, to Harry’s surprise, took it and began to copy.
Harry sat in a cozy chair next to the table. He didn’t realize how tired he was. He could do Herboligy another time. He was slowly drifting to sleep, though he knew he shouldn’t; he would still be in the library after dark if he stayed asleep to long. He needed to get in his own bed and practice Occlumency. His body wouldn’t allow it. His arms suddenly were too heavy to lift; his eyelids to dense to stay open. He fell asleep within his own chair….
He was gliding along the floor towards a tattered veil. A small abnormally powerful voice told him to go back; to let go of the serpent. Harry listened to his voice. He was aware of what was going on, and started to clear his mind.
“Why not in here?” groaned an angry voice from behind the veil. “It would be the perfect place to meet! Not even Dumbledore can enter, and it’s in the very heart of the Ministry of Magic!”
Harry quickly stopped clearing his mind. He was having a glimpse of the enemy’s plan. Surely it would not be a bad thing to eavesdrop on this. The serpent slipped under the veil. Two people were standing in the room: Sirius and Lucius Malfoy….
“You know Sirius, I don’t believe that the Dark Lord really trusts you enough.” Lucius said with a twisted smile. Sirius gave a revolted face.
“What does ‘trust’ have to do with anything? I can hardly walk out and tell Dumbledore what you’re up to!” said Sirius. Malfoy raised his eyebrows.
“The Dark Lord believes that you, or rather Dumbledore, will find away past that.” said Malfoy
“And what does the Dark Lord wish for me to do?” Sirius asked. Malfoy’s smile twisted even more.
“You must endure the Dark Mark.” he said simply. Harry felt his muscles flex with anger and fear. Sirius wouldn’t…. But that wasn’t Sirius; he was nothing more than a Death Eater to whom he used to love. Malfoy nodded.
“Of course you will have to wait. The Dark Lord has more… important matters to attend to.” he said. Sirius nodded in an annoyed sort of manner.
Harry longed to bite Malfoy. He concentrated on it with all the power he could register. The serpent gave an odd sort of jolt, as though not sure as to where it should be. Harry’s scar prickled slightly as pain started to build within it. Ever so slowly the snake inched towards Malfoy. Harry had somehow gained a small bit of control of it. He moved the serpent closer to Lucius, who looked oddly at it.
“Nagini? What-” he said moving away from the large serpent. With one last jolt of thought, Harry forced the snake to strike. Then it happened. His scar burst open. The same pain had been felt last year when Voldemort took possession of him. The serpent recoiled itself before it could strike. A horrifying voice roared throughout the room in parsletounge. It came from the serpent’s mouth; through Harry's mouth....
“Harry Potter… It was foolish to stay….” it said. More pain than Harry could imagine packed into his scar. His eyes felt as though they were burning. Harry was sure they were red. Meanwhile the serpent writhed around on the floor. There was an odd feeling pulsed on his face; as though someone was slapping it.
He tried to clear his mind, but the pain was too much. He was sure to die if it lasted any longer. In the very back of his head he could hear his own body yelling in pain. Someone, it sounded like a girl, screamed horribly. He was being torn between the area behind the veil, and that of the library. He tried clearing his mind again. The screaming and yelling grew louder, but the pain did not cease. The screaming stopped as something clicked in the distance. He distinctly heard someone shout “Leglilmens!”
Someone else had entered the serpent’s mind. It did not hurt like Voldemort’s presents which seemed to have left. The pain stopped. Harry was sure Voldemort would come back and cleared his mind as quickly as he could…
He fell to the cold floor of the library; his body to heavy to do anything. “Harry!” he heard someone say. He felt two small cold hands try to turn him over. He wanted to turn over but was too weak. He could barley stay awake. It became harder and harder to stay awake. Just before he could see who was in the room; who had saved him, he fainted.