Sacrifice

Hi everyone :)

As always, countless thanks yous for all the lovely reviews. I have replies of course ^_^

BloodLust777
Yes, we all want to kill the basilisk now, I know. We have to leave it for Harry though, he wants his revenge.

qwerty
If Draco does make a move (which I'm neither confirming nor denying at this moment XD) I can't imagine Harry being very forgiving considering everything, can you?

kati-chan
I don't think Fenrir will ever admit that magic is all bad; he's too stubborn for one thing, and for another I think it's what he truly believes.

Spiros
Gotta have some of canon-Harry's angsty personality sprinkled in, don't I? XD

Kuromei
I basically had Fenrir take Justin Finch-Fletchly's place so yeah, assume the ghost was Nearly-Headless Nick (though who the ghost was really isn't going to matter none ^_^;). *hugs Kuromei-chan*

darkpyroangel06
I shall tell you nothing! Torture me as you will, you cannot make words spill past my lips! *goes all Joan of Ark*
The Ginny issue I imagine will be made obvious in this chapter and that's all I'm saying. No other hints, no other words of knowledge...Though I do really wanna kinda tell you so I can discuss it with you XD I can't wait to post the chapter where "it" (and I'm not saying what "it" is) happens just so I can get your reaction to it...I'm kinda sad, I know XD
*hands you a glass of water* For your post-evil-laugh cough ^_^

I have nothing more to say O.o So, uh, I'll just start.

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Harry's life was crumbling around him. Everything was getting steadily worse. At that point, he was of the opinion that it couldn't, in fact, really get any worse.

Hermione had suffered the same fate as Fenrir. She had been found in the library, petrified, holding a mirror in one hand and holding the other out as though to take a book. It was painful for Harry, knowing that it had happened to her so suddenly. At first he had simply cried, despairing that first Fenrir had been taken from him and now Hermione had as well. But upon being visited by Dumbldore and Severus later on, his sorrow and turned to anger and now he was giving both of them a piece of his mind.

"Are you even doing anything?" The teenager demanded heatedly.

"Of course we are, Harry," Dumbledore tried to reassure. "But we are extremely limited..."

"I don't care!" Harry yelled. "Five people and one animal have been petrified and what have to done about it? Have you sent students home? Have to actively tried to search out whatever it is doing this? Have you even tried to find the Chamber of Secrets? Where are the Aurors? Why are you all just letting this happen!"

"You have to understand that there's very little we can do." Severus said calmly.

"Can't you see that isn't good enough!" Harry cried in frustration. "If you can't do anything then at least send the students home! If there's nothing to be done then the school should be abandoned!"

Dumbledore shook his head a little sadly. "That just isn't possible, Harry."

The teenager shook his head numbly as he sat down on the edge of the sofa behind him. The conversation was only going around in circles. He'd protest and point out the obvious, the adults would shake their heads and tell them that there wasn't anything anyone could do. It was maddening! Was the situation really so hopeless? And if it was, why were all the students and teachers still in the building? Surely they should have all been fleeing for their lives!

Harry rubbed his forehead as he closed his eyes in despair. It hurt, it physically hurt, and it was all so exhausting. He wished desperately that Fenrir was there with him. He needed someone to weigh him down, to agree with him that Dumbledore was being an idiot, to gruffly tell him that everything was going to be fine because they would always be together. Tears began to fill emerald eyes at that thought, because they weren't together anymore. They were separated by a spell and perhaps even more. That terrible argument the day of the petrification was a lead weight in Harry's mind and he couldn't help but feel terrible and guilty about it.

Taking in a deep breath in an attempt to control the tears that wanted to fall, Harry bowed his head and scrubbed at his eyes as he murmured a hopeless, "get out."

"Harry..." Dumbledore tried gently in reply.

"Out!" The teenager yelled suddenly, standing very abruptly and stalking towards the two men, hurrying them both out of the room roughly.

The very second they were through the portrait hole and out in the corridor, Harry slammed shut the entrance sending out a resounding bang. He then leaned back heavily against the back of the portrait, a shuddered sigh rushing past his lips and his head bowing as his shoulders slumped dejectedly. It was all such a mess. Everything, his entire life, was falling apart and there was nothing he could do but watch as it happened. And perhaps it wasn't the fault of the adults; how could they fight an enemy they couldn't catch or even see? But still, who else was there to blame, because Harry refused to believe that such a terrible thing wasn't the fault of someone.

After a minute or so, Harry moved over to sit on the sofa to return to what he had been doing before the two wizards had come and interrupted him; inspecting the empty notebook. His gut was telling him that what was happening was somehow connected to the book, but that was all. He had no idea how it was connected, it was just a feeling that it was. Frustration had been getting the better of him when Severus and Dumbledore had arrived, now that he had done a bit of yelling and thrown a small tantrum, he was just feeling tired more than anything. He had set an ink-well and a quill pen down beside the book before he had started his contemplation but he had lost the inspiration to use it. Suddenly, it all seemed so very useless.

He wished more than anything that Fenrir was there to tell him to pull himself together, to stop sulking and to just get on with things. But it was because Fenrir wasn't there that Harry was feeling so terribly low and alone. Even if the people around him kept insisting that Fenrir could be revived, it certainly didn't feel that way at that time. It just felt like the man was gone forever and that was a thought that made Harry's heart ache terribly.

Another surge of anger ran through Harry then and he glared down at his knees as he screwed his hands into tight fists. On the spur of the moment, he grabbed the quill from the ink-well and just scribbled an ugly blotch onto one of the pages of the journal. He scribbled and scribbled until he heard a crack come from the quill. Only then did he stop, throwing the quill onto the table before burying his face in his hands. However, when he looked up a moment later, he was shocked out of his anger by the fact the ink was seeping into the page, leaving not even a mark behind.

Harry took the book up in an instant and flipped through the pages desperately; there was no sign of the ink at all. He looked down at the book in his hands warily for a moment before his naturally curious nature got the better of him. Slowly, he took the quill up again (which may have been damaged but wasn't completely broken), inked it and then wrote the first thing that came to mind: Hello.

The ink seeped into the page once again and then there was a moment of nothing. Eventually, ink began to rise into sight and Harry almost did a double-take at the appearance of the word "hello" written in a more fluid and ornate style than his own sharp and untidy handwriting. Knowing what he did about the book, that it was full of dark magic, he really should have been more wary of the strange occurance. As it was, he was simply intrigued and immediately re-inked his quill to write: My name is Harry Potter.

The writing sank into the page again and a mere moment passed before it rose again in the form of different words and different handwriting.

Hello, Harry Potter. My name is Tom Riddle.

His heart beating faster all of a sudden, Harry asked the question he wanted answered the most: Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?

Of course.

Can you tell me?

No.

Harry's heart slowed and sank. He wasn't sure why he had allowed himself to get his hopes up like that. Logical thought wasn't really part of that current process however. Desperation and a simple need to know was over-riding common sense and logic at that point. He was about to give up and close the book, when more writing appeared on the open page.

But I can show you.

The teenager's eyes widened at that and, to his shock and slight fear, the pages of the book began to glow. Then, before he knew it, he was emmerced in the past.

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Finally, after so long, Harry had a lead. He wasn't sure how good of a lead it was (and neither was he sure that he was still completely sane) but it was better than nothing. It was a chance, a hope, a possibility; it was the best thing that had happened since Fenrir had been petrified.

The empty journal, however it worked, had shown him something. Call it a vision, or a hallucination or whatever, but Harry had seen what he truly believed was the past and it was exactly what he needed to know. The one behind the petrifications could apparently very possibly be a spider, a really big one, that had once belonged to Hagrid. Naturally, Harry felt as though he couldn't just ask the half-giant so he was going to do the next best thing; follow the book's guidance and search the Forbidden Forest. The book seemed to be of the opinion that the forest was where the spider had escaped to after a student was killed the last time the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. If he saw spiders, he was supposed to follow them. He wasn't sure why he was so readily trusting what he had been shown and told, perhaps it was simply desperation.

"Harry!" The familiar voice behind him suddenly called from somewhere near by.

Harry cringed a little and didn't even stop or slow down. "Sorry, Ron." He said quickly, not really intending to say more than that. Unfortunately, the other boy didn't appear to want him to go just at that moment as his wrist was suddenly grabbed and he was stopped dead. Glancing over his shoulder, he found his tall friend standing right behind him; how had he got so close without Harry even noticing?

"Woah, Harry, what's the matter, mate?" Ron asked with a light frown.

"It's nothing really, just something I have to check real quickly."

"What?" The Weasley enquired, still stubbornly insistant on not being left out of whatever it was that was happening.

Harry hesitated; he really was in a great hurry. However, Ron was as worried about Hermione as Harry was, perhaps he had a right to know what was going on. As that thought struck him, the dark haired teenager knew he wasn't going to leave without telling his friend what he had just found out.

"I've got a lead on what happened to Hermione." He revealed quickly.

"Really!" Ron gasped.

"I'm just going to check it out now."

"I'm coming with you." The Gryffindor immediately volunteered.

"No, Ron," Harry disagreed firmly. "This is possibly going to turn into something really dangerous, I don't want to be the one responsible for you getting hurt."

"I don't care!" Ron insisted. "I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not!" The smaller teenager insisted and then turned to leave and pull his arm free. However, he was stopped when the grip around his wrist tightened to an almost painful degree. "Ron, c'mon, stop it! I don't have time for this!"

"I suggest to do as he wants, Weasley," Draco's voice suddenly came from behind them, and the two boys turned to see the Slytherin approaching, his wand drawn and pointing straight at the Gryffindor.

"Shove off Malfoy, this doesn't have anything to do with you." Ron practically spat.

"It does if you're harrassing Harry," the blond replied, finally reaching them, the tip of his wand mere millimetres away from Ron's head. "Let him go."

"Draco, it's all right, there's no need for the wand." Harry reassured quickly, not wanting a huge fight to start off because of him. "Ron's a friend, he's not harrassing me or anything."

"Doesn't look that way to me." Draco said simply and his stern gaze didn't flicker away from Ron for even a second.

"Who do you think you are, Malfoy? Some sort of knight in shining armor?" Ron sneered mockingly.

"Okay, if you guys are gonna do this, I'm leaving." Harry said quickly, hoping that he would have the time to get away. Unfortunately, it didn't work like that and almost as soon as he had spoken his arm had been snagged by Ron again.

"I'm not letting you go on your own!" Ron insisted heatedly.

"And I'm not letting you go with just Weasley." Draco added with the same insistant determination as his rival despite the fact he didn't even know what the other two boys were talking about.

Harry had quickly begun to realise that he wasn't going to be able to persuade the other two teenagers otherwise (even if Draco didn't even know where they were going) and he had to admit that having the company of two wizards with wands in hand might prove to be invaluable. So, it was with a sigh that the dark haired boy finally nodded his head in consent.

"All right, fine, you can both come, but you end up getting eaten by a giant spider then you can't blame me."

"Giant spider?" Ron echoed, sounding a lot less confident suddenly.

"What's the matter, Weasel? Scared of spiders?" Draco asked sneeringly.

"No!" The hot-tempered red-head immediately denied feverently.

"Sure? Because, you know, it's not too late for you to back out and scuttle off back to your precious tower."

"Draco, be nice." Harry chided lightly as he started forwards again.

Ron offered a slight smirk then, like Draco was his sibling who had just received a telling off from their mother. It did not go unnoticed by Harry.

"Ron, don't gloat."

Although Draco threw a smiliar smirk to the Gryffindor, Harry chose to ignore it, not because he was playing favourites but because he couldn't be bothered to act like a nagging mother. If they wanted to dislike each other and pull faces then that was their business; as long as they didn't start arguing or getting physical then Harry decided to just let them get on with it.

All three were silent as they sneaked out of the school and dashed across the grounds towards the forest, safely hidden in the darkness. Not that they thought there would be anyone around to see them, though Harry kept a sharp eye just to be certain. As they approached Hagrid's hut which was but a few metres away from them, the dark haired teenager was suddenly glad he chose to keep two eyes open when he noticed something outside the small house.

"Wait," Harry said quickly, holding his two friends back who had been walking either side of him. "Look," he urged, nodding ahead of them to Hagrid's hut where two men, one the familiar figure of Professor Dumbledore and the other unknown to Harry, were waiting to be allowed entrance. "Why is the headmaster visiting Hagrid so late? And who's that with him?"

"Looks to me like the Minister of Magic." Ron whispered.

"Who's that?" Harry asked curiously.

"He'd be our society's equvilant of your Alpha." Draco answered for the Gryffindor who glared at being prevented from speaking. "Only he's elected by the public rather than just declaring himself to be in charge."

Harry's eyes widened a little at that. "Why is someone so important here so late at night?"

"Let's try getting closer." Ron suggested.

Harry nodded in agreement and silently the three teenagers began to creep through the darkness, closer to the form of the hut that was visible only because of the fire light coming from inside. When they reached the small house, they all crowded around one of the windows, ducked down much lower than was really necessary but not wanting to take any chances.

"...Afraid your record is working again you." An unknown voice (Harry assumed it was the Minister's) was saying rather sympathetically. "We have to take you."

"Take me where?" Hagrid demanded. "Not Azkaban prison!"

Harry immediately recognised that name; the horrid place where Sirius had been for so long. But why was Hagrid being sent there? Was it because of the creature? Had the vision the book shown him the truth?

"Harry," Draco whispered then, tugging on the smaller boy's sleeve.

Harry glanced to his friend and saw him looking down and to the side. Following his gaze, green eyes widened when they saw a neat little line of spiders was walking just past their feet. Draco and Harry shared a look; neither had ever seen spiders doing that before. Of course, the dark haired teenager remembered the advice the book had given him; if he saw spiders, he was supposed to follow them.

"Follow the spiders." He advised his two friends quietly even as he began to creep forward, following his own instructions.

Neither Draco nor Ron gave any verbal confirmation, but the mere fact they followed on after him was more than enough proof that they had understood and were obeying. Idly, as they followed the line of spiders, Harry wondered if their current situation was what being an Alpha was like. Having others doing as you say without question or hesitation. Of course, it meant that because it was Harry leading them into possible danger, it was his responsibility to keep them safe. He decided that it was very much like being an Alpha and it was a rather refreshing change, to be leading instead of led, though he didn't think he wanted to be a real Alpha; leading humans was one thing, leading werewolves was entirely different.

Having followed the spiders deep into the forest, the three boys eventually found themselves standing in the mouth of what they could only describe as a cave made out of trees. Trunks and branches seemed to have twined together over the years to form a strange sort of enclosure. Beams of moon light were the only sources of light in which to see what was through the mouth and it did seem to be very big inside. It was also where the spiders were heading and so Harry knew that was where they too had to go. He continued to lead the way silently, though Ron did give a slight squeak of fear as they entered.

They were only a few paces into the cave of wood when a voice coming through the darkness had them all freezing in place. "Hagrid? Is that you?"

Ron's hand suddenly shot out to grip onto one of Harry's very tightly at the sound and the dark haired boy winced a little. A quick glance to Draco proved that the blond looked only slightly less intimidated and nervous, but most likely he was just as scared on the inside.

Determined to keep his courage, Harry took in a deep breath and spoke: "No, uh, we're friends of Hagrid."

"Friends of Hagrid?" The heavy, raspy voice asked with sceptical confusion as the large form of something could be seen lurking in the darkness ahead of them. "Hagrid has never sent others here before."

"That's because...Hagrid's in trouble." Harry said slowly, thinking as he spoke. "He's been sent to Azkaban, people think he's freed a creature from the Chamber of Secrets that's been attacking students."

"What?" The voice cried in surprise as the large, shadowed form began to shift a little closer. "But that was so long ago, the reason Hagrid was expelled."

The part-werewolf sucked in a deep breath then as he hoped what he was about to say didn't get them all killed. "Are you...The creature from the Chamber of Secrets?"

"I?" The creature they were talking to gasped, obviously scandalised, as it finally came into view; the biggest spider any of them had ever seen.

Ron gave a slightly choked sound to Harry's right while even Draco couldn't stop himself from making a small noise. Harry remained silent only because he felt he had to; one of them had to keep up the bravery.

"I didn't come from the chamber," the spider told them defensively. "I was born in a far away land and came here by way of a traveller's pocket. When Hagrid found me, he was kind enough to give me shelter and food."

"The students?"

"Of course not! Although the students of Hogwarts would have made for a plentiful food supply, I promised Hagrid that I would touch none of them."

"Harry..." Ron murmured urgently then only to be completely ignored.

"So you're not the one petrifying the students? Then what is doing it?" Harry asked slightly desperately; he could feel the conclusion to this awful attack spree slipping away more and more by the second.

"We do not speak its name, for it is a terrible creature that we Acromantulas fear above all others. The last time it was active, I begged Hagrid to allow me freedom from the school as I could feel its movements constantly."

"Harry, the spiders..." Draco said then, joining Ron in looking around themselves warily.

The dark haired teenager finally paid attention to what his two friends were trying to get him to notice and he saw that the number of spiders around them had definitely increased. He cursed silently and immediately began to inch backwards. "All right then," he said nervously, looking around himself constantly as he and the two other boys began shuffling backward; all around them the number of spiders visible had already doubled from when he had first looked up. "We'll just, leave you to yourselves then."

"I don't think so. I can protect Hagrid, but I can't be expected to deprive my children of such fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our home." The giant spider explained as even more smaller spiders began to gather around them. "Goodbye, friends of Hagrid."

Harry started to back up a little faster, Ron and Draco having to do the same to avoid a collision. He knew he shouldn't have allowed the two other boys to come! Harry was pretty confident that, if he had been on his own, he would've been able to out-run the spiders, at least until he could get somewhere safe. However, neither Draco nor Ron were going to be as fast as he was and he couldn't just leave them...

"What are we going to do?" Ron hissed urgently.

Before Harry got a chance to answer it was Draco, surprisingly, who spoke in reply. "Use your head for once, Weasel." The blond sneered as he pulled out his wand and pointed it to an approaching spider. "Expelliarmus!" He cast and the spider was forced backwards with a shot of light.

Ron quickly fumbled for his wand and began to cast the same spell as the Slytherin, repelling the spiders that got too close to them. All the while, the three teenagers slowly inched backwards, back the way they came, out of the cave mouth. Harry knew once they were outside, the method they were currently using wouldn't work; without the walls of the cave protecting them, they would be more easily surrounded.

"Guys, when we're outside, just run." He instructed them quietly, just in case the spiders over-heard and understood the plan.

"Got it." Ron confirmed seriously.

Draco gave no such verbal reply but Harry was confident that the blond knew what to do.

The moment the three boys no longer felt that they were enclosed, they turned around and sprinted away and immediately the spiders pursued them. Having eight legs gave them an advantage, but having wands gave the three teenagers a greater advantage. Whenever a spider got too close, either Ron or Draco would fire a spell at them, effectively shoving them back or stalling them in their tracks.

However, despite this success they were having, Harry was worried. He was finding it very hard to believe that his two friends had the stamina to make it to the edge of the forest, let alone to the school. Also, even if they did reach the edge of the forest, the spiders were still going to hunt them down. They needed somewhere to rest or hide, but where? Trees could be climbed by spiders even more easily than humans, the massive arachnids would see if they simply jumped into a bush or ran into a cave or whatever. Would there even be anyone at Hagrid's hut now that they knew the half-giant was being taken to Azkaban?

It was just as Harry was starting to get really worried that the scent of water caught his nose. His eyes lit up in realisation as he remembered that there was a small lake in the forest. That was it, that was what would save them! He immediately turned slightly to adjust the direction he was running in and his two friends followed suit. Within the minute, the lake came into sight and Harry didn't hesitate in issuing the order.

"Into the lake!"

"What?" Ron cried, apparently reluctant to comply with such a plan.

"They're spiders, they won't be able to swim," the dark haired boy explained even as they charged towards the near by mass of water. "If we wade out as far as we can, they won't follow."

No further argument was given to that because it was the best idea they were going to come up with. However, when they stepped foot into the water, they were immediately struck by how cold it was. It stole the breath from Harry's lungs who unlike his friends hand bare feet and was completely naked underneath his simple robe. He pursevered without complaint, however, unlike the blond in their company.

"Merlin, it's freezing!" Draco complained loudly.

"Would you rather be cold or eaten by a giant spider?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow as they continued to wade out into the small lake as far as they could. "As long as the spiders can't get to us, you should be willing to endure a little cold."

The blond grumbled a little but made no louder complaint. Only a few more steps were taken by the three before Harry glanced over his shoulder to the edge of the lake. To his satisfaction, he saw that the giant spiders had stopped on dry land and were showing signs of aggitation that they weren't able to follow into the water.

"It's working!" The part-werewolf declared triumphantly.

"So what now?" Ron asked with a frown, ruining the shorter boy's feeling of success. "We just wait here until morning?"

"Uhh..." Harry replied intelligently, having not actually thought that far. His immediate concern was to get them out of immediate danger. Of course, now that the spiders were no longer an immediate issue, they now had the worry of freezing to death.

"Once again, Weasel, your inability to problem solve is pitiful." Draco sighed as he raised his wand to the sky. "Accio Draco Malfoy's Firebolt."

"What did you do?" Harry asked curiously.

"Summoned my racing broom." The Malfoy revealed. "We'll fly out of here."

"A Malfoy with a two year old broom?" Ron snickered before casting his own spell to summon his racing broom.

"No one else in the school has anything better and Quidditch games would be boring if I was too fast." Draco explained snootily. "You're hardly one to critisise though; was your broom even bought for you?"

A nerve must have been touched there as Ron said nothing and simply glared before looking away as he muttered under his breath.

Harry sighed and shook his head a little at the behaviour of his two friends. Obviously, he was going to have to go out of his way in the future to make sure Draco and Ron didn't accidently meet again.

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The sound of pouring water was the only noise in the Infirmary although Harry wasn't the only one in there. Resting on the beds to his left and his right were Hermione and Fenrir respectively, both still petrified in the positions they had been in when whatever had happened to them happened. At that moment, the dark haired boy was replacing the water in the vase beside Hermione's bed. He knew Fenrir wouldn't appreciate flowers but he was confident that his female friend would have liked them if she had been conscious.

No more than a day and a half had passed since Harry had ventured into the Forbidden Forest with Ron and Draco to seek out Hagrid's old pet. It had provided him with little other information than whatever it was that was responsible for the petrifyings, it wasn't the Acromantulas and they were extremely afraid of whatever was doing it. Harry supposed that narrowed it down a bit more but it was such an obscure characteristic that he was still finding it hard to track down a book with the relevant information. It was making him miss Hermione more than ever; she'd probably be able to do something with the information. Plus, there was the issue of what the empty journal had shown him. Apparently, what he had seen hadn't been accurate, but then why had he been shown it?

Finishing with the flowers, Harry glanced at the clock that hung above the doorway at the end of the room; he had been there for an hour at that point, it was probably time he left. He moved over to say goodbye to Fenrir first, kissing the man's cheek and whispering a simple endearment. Then he went to Hermione, running his finger-tips of one of his hands over her hair while the other held her right hand. However, it was as he curled his fingers against hers, he paused in surprise as he felt something that definitely wasn't part of the girl. Frowning, he caught the foreign object in between his fingers and gave it a little pull. When it gave way slightly, he pulled once again, just as gently, and kept doing that until he had freed it from Hermione's grip.

It was immediately obvious that it was a piece of paper, scrunched up into a ball. Still frowning lightly, Harry smoothed out the paper so that it was once again flat and he could see what, if anything, was on it. A slight gasp left him as his eyes scanned the page and just what it said started to register with him.

It was a page ripped from a text book and it was information on a creature called a basilisk. The more Harry read of it, the more he came to realise that it was such a creature, a basilisk, that was terrorising the school. It was a massive snake which explained how Harry had been hearing it speak, and its gaze would petrify if seen through a reflection. And, when Harry saw the neatly written "pipes" in the margine to one side, he knew that was how the thing had been getting around the school, and why the noises it made always seemed to be coming through the walls.

For a long moment, Harry didn't quite know what to do. To suddenly have the answer he had been searching for uselessly for so long; he wanted to hurry off and hunt down the basilisk but he knew he couldn't. He knew the extent of the danger and he knew it wasn't something he could just charge into. No, things needed to be thought out, plans needed to be created. The first thing he had to do before anything else was sit down and think long and hard over all of his options.

He suddenly felt such relief, however, that he couldn't help but give the largest grin he had smiled since the whole mess had started. Leaning down, he pressed his forehead to his petrified friend's. "Nice one Hermione," he congratulated her with barely suppressed laughter.

After that, Harry all but flew from the Infirmary, running through the corridors of Hogwarts happily, the grin still on his face. He was the happiest he had been for quite a while and he was determined to make the best of it. Admittedly he was still some way from getting everything back to normal, he didn't know where or how to safely find the basilisk after all, but just knowing what was going on made him feel like he was over-all closer to figuring things out. And once everything was sorted, he could just concentrate on Fenrir and Hermione.

As the part-werewolf turned the final corner on the way to his room, he suddenly collided very hard with someone. Harry reached out on instinct to grab whoever it was, partly to keep himself up but also to keep the other person up, and he was rather surprised when he saw that he had grabbed the wrist of a ginger haired girl much smaller than him. It was obvious both from her appearance and her scent that she was somehow related to Ron and Harry imagined she was the younger sister he had been so worried about.

However, before any sort of conversation could be struck, the girl had yanked her wrist free from Harry's grip and shoved past him rudely, not sparing him an apology or anything. Harry scowled after the retreating form and shrugged his shoulders so that his robe shifted back to rest on his frame more naturally; some people could be so rude.

Considering the fact he was now so near his rooms, Harry chose to walk the rest of the way. He approached the portrait entrance at a calm, sedate stride but froze about a foot away from it. The portrait wasn't flat against the wall like it should have been and instead was hanging slightly ajar revealing the rooms behind. Harry approached the entrance carefully, aware that there might be someone dangerous inside. When he poked his head around the edge of the entrance however, any thought of being discreet left him as he gave a horrified gasp, his eyes widened in shock, at the sight of his living room.

It had been completely wrecked! The sofa and armchairs had been over turned and ripped in places with the stuffing yanked out; the coffee table had a huge hole kicked into it; the wireless radio lay broken on the ground, completely torn apart; and every single book from the bookcase had been yanked out and thrown to the ground, some even having a few of their pages torn out and strewn about the place. Wide, emerald eyes surveyed the area in disbelief; what the hell had happened?

A sudden thought struck Harry and he gave a small noise of knowing dread before he shot through the living room, vaulting over one of the armchairs on the way, and into the bedroom. That, too, was completely trashed with the wardrobe doors hanging open and its inner drawers completely removed and left on the floor, as were the drawers of the bedside table. The bed was also a mess, the duvet ripped to shreds and its feathers scattered all over the room while even the mattress had been vandalised, ripped diagonally from corner to corner and quite a bit of its inner stuffing having been pulled out.

Harry took only a second to absorb that, however, before he focussed entirely on the wardrobe. The wardrobe was where he had hidden the journal, underneath a pile of spare bed-sheets. He didn't have to look too closely to know that the journal was no longer there. Somehow, someone had broken into his room and stolen it.