A Stolen Past

Practice Makes Perfect

For the first three days after the Christmas holiday, St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys was a flurry of activity. Just as had happened when classes began in September, the professors began the new term with large assignments, and the guard staff took extra care when patrolling the corridors at night.

Because of the staff's renewed vigilance, Harry was unable to risk sneaking out at night, for fear of being caught out of bounds. The confinement, coupled with the already depressing atmosphere of St. Brutus's, began weighing heavily on him after only a few days, and it seemed that the only thing keeping him sane was the calming presence of an unknown girl's face in his dreams. He had been dreaming about this same girl for months now and, even though he was no closer to learning her identity than he had ever been, she had become a symbol of hope in this dreary place.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for the students' apathy to rub off on the St. Brutus's staff. By the end of the second week back, the professors were once again content as long as no fights broke out during class. Around the same time, nighttime patrols diminished until they effectively disappeared altogether, the guards apparently trusting the alarms to awaken them if something really serious happened.

On a more personal level, after the first two weeks of term, Harry was once again free to roam the grounds after the other students had retired to bed. On the second Saturday night after returning from the Dursleys', he decided that it was finally safe to sneak out onto the grounds. After donning his hat and coat to shelter him from the cold, he moved silently through the darkened corridors and out the large front doors of the ancient building.

Once outside, Harry headed directly for the large tree that he had come to think of as belonging to Snowy, the large snowy owl that had befriended him back in September. He whistled softly, and the owl responded with a low hoot as she circled the tree and finally came to rest on his outstretched arm. Harry's daily exercises seemed to be paying off, for he found that his muscles had recovered to the point that he was now able to support the large owl without much difficulty.

"Hey there, girl," he said softly. "Did you miss me?"

Snowy gave him a look that clearly meant, "Do you really need to ask?"

Harry laughed. "I've got some new spells to practice. Want to watch?" The owl responded by flying up to a low branch of the tree, where she would have a clear view of Harry's attempts.

Stimulated by the excitement of trying out new spells, Harry gathered an armful of large stones not unlike those that Big Tom and his gang had pelted him with back in October, and arranged them in a row near the outer wall. Nodding his approval, he took out the parchment with his scribbled list of spells and read the first one aloud: "Petrificus Totalus."

Satisfied that he was pronouncing the magic words correctly, he pointed at the first rock and said, in a firm voice, "Petrificus Totalus." Nothing happened.

Hoping that this wasn't all a waste of time, he moved on to the next spell and, still pointing at the rock, said, "Incendio!" Immediately, flames engulfed the rock, melting the snow around it. Harry jumped back in shock and watched, fascinated, as the flames died.

"That was a good one," he whispered aloud as his mouth widened into a grin. Checking his list, he moved on to the next spell. As the fire did not appear to have damaged the rock, he pointed at it again and said, "Diffindo."

For a moment, Harry thought it hadn't worked, and he prodded the rock with the toe of his tattered shoe. Half of the rock fell away; it had been cut neatly in two. Harry stared in disbelief at the finger he had used to cast the spell, then tried it again on the next rock. Once again, the rock was sliced in half. Harry let out a low whistle and made a mental note not to mess around with that particular spell.