“Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.”
-Dinah Mulock Craik

Harry and Ron left the Room of Buried Secrets covered by the Invisibility Cloak, and shuffled their way to the foot of the staircase. “Where should we go?” whispered Harry, as he looked down the stairs. No one was in view.

“Err… lets just go downstairs for now,” said Ron. “I guess we can decide the rest later.” They began walking down, trying not to make a lot of sound as their feet hit the marble.

“We’re going to the third floor,” said Harry as he realized where he was going.

Ron turned to look at him under the cloak. “Yeah, I know. What about it?”

“That’s the floor with the Forbidden Corridor…and Fluffy,” said Harry, as he turned to Ron.

“Oh. Lets avoid that corridor then.”

“Yeah, I agree.” When they finally reached the bottom, they decided to go to the left, and walked on for a couple minutes while whispering to each other. As they walked they heard a meow from behind.

Harry and Ron turned at the same time to see that it was Mrs. Norris. “Do you think she knows we’re here?” whispered Ron.

“I’m not sure. Maybe she can smell us. Lets walk faster,” said Harry. Ron nodded beside him, and they quickened their pace. Mrs. Norris soon turned into another corridor. As they kept walking, they came upon the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and adjacent to it: the Defense Against the Dark Arts Office.

Harry saw that Professor Quirrel’s office was slightly ajar. They shuffled to the door, and were going to open it when they heard Quirrel talking, completely forgetting they were under the Invisibility Cloak. Quirrel seemed to be at the other end of the room because his voice was almost inaudible.

“Yes, I know…I sent it out earlier today…No…No, there were no more school owls left…I used Potter’s…” said Quirrel.

“Oh, yeah. Today, Quirrel needed to send a letter out and there were no more school owls, so he used mine,” said Harry.

“…I’m sorry…I didn’t know…But he’ll get it in a few days…I told him the date…Yes, in a few months…I’ll get the letter back soon…” said Quirrel. Harry and Ron had their ears close to the slightly open door, so they heard when Quirrel began walking toward them. They moved out of the way, and pressed their bodies against the wall, watching as he walked out and turned a corner.

Harry heard Ron exhale. “You know he can’t see us, right?” asked Harry, slightly making fun of him, but in a joking manner.

“Yeah. Of course I knew that…well, you went against the wall, too!” said Ron, a little embarrassed.

“Shh. I know. I was only joking,” said Harry, looking down the corridor.

“Harry, who was Quirrel talking to?”

“Good question. Let’s see who’s in the room still.” Harry pushed open the door, so that it swung inward. The light was dim because there were only a few candles lit, but they could clearly see that no one else was in the room.

“Odd,” whispered Harry.

“Yeah.”

The holidays ended, and Draco and Hermione came back from Europe, both with a story to tell. Draco told Harry all he had seen in Europe, and later that night he got a letter from Hermione explaining all the family she had seen. Harry also told Draco about the wonderful cloak he had received.

It was more than a week since Harry had sent Hedwig for Professor Quirrel. She’s taking a really long time to send a letter. But then again I don’t know where Quirrel sent her. I just hope she comes back soon.

But she didn’t. Harry had already started classes again, and Hedwig still hadn’t come back. Harry was beginning to get worried.

It was about two weeks later on a Friday, when Hedwig finally came back. Harry was sitting eating breakfast with Draco, who was still going on about how he had gone to Europe, when Hedwig finally arrived. Harry saw her fly to Quirrel, and then make her way to the Slytherin table.

When she got to the table she collapsed, and Harry saw that she was bloody and clawed up. “Harry, what happened to your owl?” asked Draco in shock. Harry, too worried to reply, stood up and picked up Hedwig carefully in his arms. Other students in the Great Hall had seen Hedwig, and now watched as he quickly walked out to the Hospital Wing.

Madam Pomfrey told Harry that she would be fine in a few days and that he should go to class to take his mind off Hedwig. But Harry remembered that the class he had was Double Potions, and suddenly didn’t think going to class would help.

Luckily, the class went fairly quickly, and the other students began to exit for their next class. “Harry, we’ll see you at dinner,” said Draco, before leaving with Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle. Harry nodded and gave them a quick glance before turning to his still full cauldron.

“Still here, Potter?” asked Snape nastily. Snape came over from his desk, and with a quick flick of his wand, the contents of the cauldron were gone. Harry watched as he turned quickly, his cloak flying behind him and sat behind his desk.

Snape hates Quirrel, and its obvious Quirrel fears Snape. Was it Snape that made Quirrel send a letter away? I know he could persuade Quirrel to do something bad for him. And now Hedwig is…

Harry was brought out of his thoughts by Snape speaking to him. “You may leave now, Potter. I have a class coming before long.” Snape said in a unemotional tone.

Harry picked up his bag, and walked over to Snape’s desk. Snape had been writing, and looked up only when Harry said, “Professor, did you ask Professor Quirrel to send a letter for you to somewhere… dangerous?”

“Why would I ask Quirrel to send a letter for myself? Especially to a place of a dangerous nature?” asked Snape, as his cold eyes looked piercingly at Harry.

“Err… I’m not sure, Professor,” said Harry, slowly. “But Professor Quirrel asked me to send a letter with my owl, and today Hedwig came back bloody and with scratches on her.”

“No, I never told Quirrel to send a letter,” said Snape, not bothering to look up. Harry nodded more to himself than to Snape, and then began to walk away when Snape spoke again. “What did the scratches look like?”

“Err… well, they were deep… and it kind of looked like Hedwig had been clawed at,” said Harry, turning to look at Snape.

“One more thing, Potter. How long was your owl away?” asked Snape. The door to the Potion’s classroom creaked open, allowing fourth years to enter.

“About two weeks,” said Harry, before turning to finally leave. It didn’t matter if he was late for the next class because, luckily, he didn’t have a next class. Might as well do some work.

Harry passed the rest of the day by doing work that he hadn’t finished the day before, and by thinking of Hedwig. After dinner, he had gotten a letter from Ron and Hermione saying that they had seen Hedwig come in during breakfast, and that they hoped she was okay. Harry sent a reply back saying that he had hurried to the Hospital Wing and that Madam Pomfrey said that Hedwig would be fine in a couple days.

As the night neared and the day came to an end, Draco and Blaise decided they would go to sleep earlier since the day had been long, and Harry agreed, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep with so much on his mind.

So he decided to get his Invisibility Cloak and just go for a walk around. Not that it would help take his mind off Hedwig and what had happened to her, but he needed to walk to calm down a little before sleeping.

It was after hours when he walked around, so he knew he wouldn’t have to make sure he didn’t walk into any other students, but he would have to look for teachers. He walked around aimlessly for about a half hour before he got to the second floor, and heard voices. Loud voices that sounded familiar.

Harry turned a corner to see Quirrel on the ground and Snape standing over him, his wand pointing at Quirrel’s chest.

“Where did you send Potter’s owl?” asked Snape, menacingly. Snape paused, waiting for Quirrel to say something, but he didn’t say a word. “ANSWER ME!”

“I d-didn’t send his l-letter anywhere,” said Quirrel.

“You sent it somewhere! Potter told me his owl came back clawed and bloody. I know you know where you sent that owl. Where did you send it?” asked Snape, his voice just above a whisper, but it was as if he was yelling. Harry saw that he was getting irritated, and fast.

Snape continued, “I don’t trust you. I’ve been watching everything you do. I told you to watch your step, and now your starting to fall. I know it was you at the Quidditch game. Why, I don’t know. But you can be sure that I’ll be keeping a closer eye on you. I know all kinds of spells, Quirrel. Remember that.”

Snape quickly pocketed his wand, gave Quirrel a sudden threatening look, and walked away. Once Snape was out of sight, Quirrel got up slowly, dusting off his robes when he finally stood. Harry saw him stand there for a second before he finally walked away in the opposite direction Snape had gone.

“I have to tell Draco, Ron, and Hermione about this!” Harry whispered to himself under the cloak. He checked his watch; it was just after ten thirty. “I can tell Draco anytime, but Ron and Hermione might not still be awake! Where is the Gryffindor Common Room, anyway?”

Harry knew that they were on the higher levels from seeing them come down to breakfast and dinner, so he guessed the sixth or seventh floor. He decided he’d try top to bottom, so he made his way to the seventh floor.

When he got there he decided to try knocking on all the blank walls, seeing that he didn’t know the password, hoping that someone would hear him. Seeing that it was difficult doing this under a cloak, Harry decided to risk being caught, and took off the cloak. He made the cloak invisible and put it on the floor behind a suit of armor.

As he kept knocking on the wall, he accidentally knocked on a painting of a fat lady, and woke her up. “What do you...? Oh. Password?”

“I don’t know the password, but I need to speak to Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Can I go in?”

“Not unless you have the password,” said the Fat Lady.

“But I…” Harry began knocking on the wall next to the painting of the Fat Lady, so that someone could open it for him. “…Just need to get in.”

Luckily enough for Harry, someone did push open the painting. He took two steps back and looked around the frame. Though he knew it wouldn’t be Ron or Hermione, Harry wasn’t expecting it to be…