Chapter 78 : The Unseen Threat
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He then sighed and turned his back on the mirror and its false promises; if he ever wanted to make his wish come true, what he really shouldn't do is stand there and waste away wishing; he would have to act. He closed the door behind him and walked away, hating the mirror just a little. And when his brother and Ron disappeared the next night, Harry didn't bother to follow them.
The nightly visits of his brother to the mirror continued for a few days until stopping abruptly before managing to alert Harry too much. Adrian seemed decided to not use the cloak for the rest of Christmas holidays, burying it deep into his trunk and the green eyed wizard couldn't be happier for his decision. The beginning of term brought out Oliver Wood's fanatic side to the surface; the second match of the year for Gryffindor was drawing near and this time it was against Hufflepuff. Harry laughed with mirth as he returned from one of the muddiest trainings he had ever had, remembering how Severus had mentioned he was even willing to referee if that gave him the opportunity to fly.
He had a quick shower and headed for the Common Room, meeting a hopping Neville near the entrance. Harry just looked at him frozen for a second before approaching him and casting the counter-curse; it was quite obvious that someone had tried the leg binding curse on him.
"Are you alright, Neville?" Harry asked helping the round-faced boy stand straight. "What happened?"
"Malfoy." Neville mumbled as they entered the Common Room. "I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on." They had approached Adrian and his friends at that point and Hermione overheard the conversation.
"What are you two talking about?" Neville explained in a few short sentences and Hermione reacted immediately. "Go to professor McGonagall! Report him!" Neville shook his head resigned.
"I don't want more trouble." Ron encouraged the shy Gryffindor to not allow Malfoy step all over him, but Neville got the message wrong.
"There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that."
"What he meant," Harry explained. "Is that you shouldn't allow Malfoy put you down. The Hat chose you for Gryffindor, never forget that; it's been on that job for quite some time to know what it does and obviously thought you brave enough. You're worth twelve of Malfoy." Neville looked at the younger Potter twin surprised.
"Harry's right!" Adrian added, searching in his pocket and pulling out a Chocolate Frog, giving it to Neville. "You're a Gryffindor! And where's Malfoy? In stinking Slytherin!" Harry didn't necessarily agree with the characterization chosen for the House of snakes but let it pass this once seeing the weak smile it put on Neville's face.
"Thanks Adrian…" Neville said taking the frog. "I think I'll go to bed… D'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?" And the boy gave Adrian the card. Harry's heart skipped a beat at the image of the Headmaster on it, recalling Severus's words. A small sing-song voice in his head reminded him that truly no good deed goes unpunished.
"Dumbledore again." Adrian stated sullenly. "I must have him over five times. I'm only missing…" and then he gasped as he turned the card around to read the text. He looked at Ron and Hermione as if he wanted to tell them something and then stopped looking at his brother. Knowing there was nothing he could do at that point, Harry smiled -or tried to without being too sure of his success- and turned to leave.
"I'm going to read a bit on Transfiguration Weekly. I've never managed to look at the latest one what with all of Wood's training." And he left for his room, quickly retrieving said magazine and running back downstairs, catching his brother's exclamation as he went.
"I've found him!" Ruddy hell. Hermione was nowhere to be seen when he returned but she soon made her reappearance, holding a quite familiar tome in her hands; Harry recognized the book as it was the same copy of Dumbledore's work he had seen back at Potter Manor. When Hermione turned the pages and pointed at a page to a shocked Adrian and Ron, Harry wasted no time. He left the Common Room, unnoticed by the encompassed in their finding trio, walking calmly until the Fat Lady covered the opening behind him; after that he ran in a mad rush all the way to the dungeons, scaring a few fellow students on the way and ignoring all chastising to slow down from the portraits -mercifully not running into a professor- to, finally, knock out of breath on Severus office's door. The potions master opened the door confused as Harry rushed in.
"We've got a problem." Harry stated gasping for air.
"Don't we always." Severus muttered as Harry explained the situation at hand. "Yes, it seems we've got a problem." He agreed rubbing his temples. "Of all the rotten luck…"
"My thoughts exactly." Harry stated nodding gravelly. "And now what?"
"Nothing, what could we do?" Severus stated sighing. "We'll just have to be twice as careful to not let your brother ever approach that trapdoor. Not that he could get past Fluffy or any of the other trials that easily but he'd better not even approach it." The boy nodded, having heard about the trials before the chamber where the Stone was kept the same night he told Severus he knew about the Stone.
"It's just so frustrating!" Harry exclaimed after some thought. "I feel like he's going to deliver himself to Voldemort if he keeps going that way."
"We won't let that happen Harry." Severus stated decisively. "But remember, we don't want Voldemort to know of his mistake yet, if he doesn't already. You keep an eye on your brother and I'll do the same with Quirrell. It's all we can do for now." The boy nodded again, not really liking their options.
"Do you think there's anything more you can do on Quirrell's side of the equation?" He asked not liking the idea of the renegade teacher running around the school unobstructed.
"Maybe he and I are a little overdue for some quality time. I might as well threaten him to his face, see how that goes." At least that would be some progress Harry thought.
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