LIKE LIGHTNING | Harry Potter x Reader Fanfiction

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Harry's POV

I walked into Dumbledore's office embarrassed.  I had been inside Dumbledore's office before; it was beautiful with its previous headmasters portraits adorning the circular room's walls. All the headmasters and headmistresses were asleep, their chests rising and falling gently in rhythm. Cornelius Fudge was standing beside Dumbledore, wearing his usual pinstripe clock and lime green bowler that spun as he held it on his pointer finger. 

"Harry!" he said jovially, moving towards me, "How are you?" he asked.

"Fine." I lied. 

"We were just talking about the night when Mr. Crouch turned up on the school grounds. It was you who found him, wasn't it?" he said. 

"Yes..." I said, finding it pointless to act like I hadn't just heard almost their entire conversation just a few seconds ago. Dumbledore just smiled behind Fudge's back, his eyes twinkling with amusement. 

"Yes, well we're about to go for a short walk on the grounds, Harry, if you'll excuse us... perhaps if you just want to go back to class?" he started. 

"I wanted to talk to you Professor." I said quickly, nodding at Dumbledore. ad he gave me a swift searching look in response. 

"Wait here for me, Harry. Our examinations will not take that long." He said to me, leading Moody and Fudge out of his office. After a minute or so I heard the clunks of Moody's wooden leg growing fainter in the corridor below. I looked around, taking in the room. 

"Hello, Fawkes." I said to the phoenix perched beside the door. The size of a swam with magnificent scarlet and golden plumage, I watched as he swished his long tail and blinked at me with his knowing eyes. I took a seat in the chair in front of Dumbledore's desk and for several minutes, sat and watched the portraits snooze in their gold frames. I ran my fingers along my scar, it had stopped hurting now. I felt calmer, somehow, now that I was in Dumbledore's office, and the thought that soon enough I would be telling him about the dream soothed me. 

I scanned the walls behind his desk and saw the ragged-looking Sorting Hat standing on a shelf. A glass case next to it held the magnificent silver Sword of Gryffindor. The large rubies the size of eggs were embedded into the hilt reminded me of my second year when I had saved Ginny from Tom Riddle in the Chamber of Secrets. I was gazing at the tiny patches of light it had reflected on the wall when another patch of light caught my eye. I looked around for the source of the glimmering silver light and noticed a silver-white shining brightly from within a black cabinet behind me. The door had not been closed properly and for a moment I wondered if I was invading Dumbledore's privacy. Curiosity took over and I got up and walked across the office, pulling open the cabinet door. 

The shallow stone basin lay there, with odd rune carvings that I had never seen in my life. The silvery light was coming from the contents inside the basin. They were nothing like I had ever seen before and I could not tell if the substance inside was liquid or gas. The surface of it became ruffled like water beneath a gust of wind and I felt the urge to touch it. Nearly four years of experience in the magical world told me that touching an unknown substance was a recipe for disaster and I took out my wand, opting to prod it with that, instead of my hand. The surface of the silvery stuff began to swirl very fast and I bent closer, my head right inside the cabinet. 

I looked down into the basin, fully expecting to see the stone bottom, but instead saw an enormous room below the surface. The room was dimly lit and I scrunched my eyes to try and get a better look. Lowering my face so that my nose almost touched the liquid I saw rows and rows of witches and wizards seated around every wall. An empty chair stood in the very center of the room. Chains encircled the arms of it, giving an ominous feeling.