Illusory § Order of the Phoenix

XXVI. FALSE CONFESSION

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      Usually, when people are awoken in the middle of the night, it's rarely for a good reason. Therefore, when Antares was abruptly ripped from his dreamless sleep by Egbert the Egregious shouting his name, he (very reasonably) assumed the worst.

He was right.

He barely finished putting on a shirt before he threw open his chamber doors and sprinted down the castle corridors. The torches flickered as he passed, casting eerie shadows on the stone walls. His bare footsteps echoed, creating a cacophony that only heightened his urgency.

As he reached the familiar spiral staircase leading to Dumbledore's office, Antares spat out the password to the stone gargoyle, rushing up the multiple flights and skipping as many steps as possible. When he barged through the doors to the Headmaster's office, his eyes immediately found Harry, who was pale and panicked. Without wasting a second, Antares marched over and ran through a mental check of his ward's state.

"What happened?" he demanded, glaring at Dumbledore.

"I am still waiting to find out myself," Dumbledore said, pacing by his desk.

When Antares looked around the room, he noticed he wasn't the only one Dumbledore called. The Weasley children stood huddled together in the corner of the room. Fred and George tried to calm Ron and Ginny despite being just as scared as their younger siblings. McGonagall was also present, looking equally dishevelled and frightened.

"Dumbledore!" called a portrait on the wall. "I yelled until someone came running. They've got him, Albus."

Upon hearing the mention of blood, Antares grabbed Harry's shoulders. "Harry, who are they talking about?"

Harry swallowed hard, a nervous energy radiating from him. "It's Mr. Weasley," he began, his voice shaky. "I saw... I saw him being attacked by a giant snake."

Antares narrowed his eyes, searching Harry's own as he struggled with his answer. He could feel himself sicken as the memory of his past vision resurfaced. "You saw this?"

"In a dream," Harry choked out, looking to Dumbledore, "But you don't understand—"

"I thought Tonks was placed on guard duty tonight?" the Slytherin asked, turning to face the Headmaster. Antares' thoughts raced. This wasn't supposed to have happened. Mad-Eye had placed Tonks on extra shifts after they found doors within the Department of Mysteries had been tampered with.

Arthur Weasley should not have been on patrol.

And Antares foolishly assumed that Arthur had averted his earlier vision by a natural cause.

"As did I," Dumbledore said grimly, looking equally troubled.

"Tell me they haven't found it," Antares pleaded to the Headmaster.