the siphon | h. potter

~thirteen~

harry

When Harry got back to the common room he found it empty besides the Gryffindor DA members. They began bombarding him with questions, but Harry ignored them and sat down next to Cass on the couch. She was wrapped in a blanket and staring silently at the floor. He placed a hand on her knee, "Cass... are you okay?" Harry whispered.

Cass looked up at Harry and smiled, "Yeah I'm okay."

He then turned back to everyone else. "Dumbledore is gone, he took the fall for us... Umbridge is going to become headmaster..."

"My god..." Ron muttered.

After that no one seemed inclined to start a conversation. Everyone started walking to their dormitories after muttering goodnight. Cass stood to follow Hermione, but Harry grabbed her hand, "can you wait a moment?"

Cass nodded and stat back down next to Harry, but this time she crossed her legs so she could face him. "Before he left... he told me to tell you to be careful. He said Umbridge wouldn't hesitate to detain you if you stepped the slightest bit out of line."

"Yeah I guess that makes sense," Cass nodded, "did he say anything else?"

"Yeah but it didn't make much sense..."

"What was it?"

"He said something about an island still being drained. I don't know what he means by drained but it sounded serious. And he said you can't use your powers until he can find out more."

Harry watched as many emotions swept across Cass's face. "Um, thanks for letting me know." Harry watched as her surprise turned to fear. Cass tried to hide it but he could see past her mask.

"What does he mean by powers?"

"I uh- I don't know," Cass mumbled but Harry could tell she was lying. He didn't want to risk upsetting her further so he decided not to press further.

"Well, we should probably go to bed then... I have a feeling it's going to be a long day tomorrow."

"Yeah you're right," Harry nodded, but he wasn't tired. He watched Cass walk up to the girl's dormitories before sitting back down. He stared into the fire and wondered what the hell he was supposed to do now.

*****

Cass was right, but not only was the next day crazy, but the next few weeks too. It seemed as if the whole school was coming together to weak havoc on Umbridge. With the help of Fred and George launching Weasley Wizard's Wheezes, there were pranks and chaos happening all over the school. Harry had never been so happy as when he watched Umbridge run across the school to deal with various disruptions the teachers were 'unable' to handle.

But nothing was crazier than the news Hagrid shared with him and Hermione. He had a half brother... a giant half brother... a literal giant. With each passing day, Harry grew more and more regretful that he agreed to look over Grawp if Hagrid got sacked. He didn't have the first clue about how to take care of a semi-violent giant.

As Harry entered Snape's office he pushed the thought of Grawp from his mind. He couldn't risk Snape seeing him in his memories, so Harry began filling his mind with much more boring thoughts. Snape was waiting for him behind his desk, looking miserable like usual.

"You're late," Snape said while standing up.

Harry wanted to point out he was actually three minutes early, but he decided Snape would not appreciate that little fact. Instead he sat down in the usual chair while Snape drew his wand.