The Dream Trilogy Book One: To Dwell On Dreams (A Harry Potter FanFiction)

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

The three of them left Dumbledore's office side by side, traipsing down the stairs and venturing back out into the corridor. It was already gone seven o'clock, and they passed a few students in gaggles, heading back to their house dormitories after whatever club or activity they'd been engaged in. Harry was blissfully grateful to every single one of them that walked on past, not raising their heads or asking any questions. Who knew already? he thought to himself. He didn't want anyone else to say it out loud, it would make it too real, make it true.  

As usual, the Gryffindor common room was a hub of activity. Its mismatching armchairs and couches were all filled with students from every year chatting, playing games and working on homework. Lee Jordon and Ron's twin brothers Fred and George had a gramophone going in the corner, playing records from wizarding bands whilst they took turns at throwing gobstones. Harry found the din almost welcoming, it drowned out his own painful and muddled thoughts. 

But he mustn't have looked right, because as they moved across the room several people looked over and frowned. "You alright Harry?" asked Neville as he glanced up from the Muggle Studies homework Dean was helping him with.  

"Fine," muttered Harry. 

"Bad fish cakes," said Ron in a loud whisper, rubbing his stomach dramatically. Several other students, who had presumably actually eaten fish cakes for dinner, suddenly looked nervous. 

Ron's little sister Ginny was sat by the fireplace with a few of her friends, and caught their eye as they came further into the common room. She raised her eyebrows, and Ron must have given her some sign as she motioned for them to come over. Harry didn't really want to hang around with a bunch of Forth Years, but he couldn't deny Ginny's familiar face made him feel a little better.  

"Are you okay?" she asked as they approached.  

"Bad news," he said emptily as the group made room for them to sit down. He had to admit the warmth of the fire was wonderful on his skin, but after a beat it just reminded him of his last conversation with Sirius. What if he never saw him again? 

His face must have blanched by the reactions he got from those around him. 

"How about we give you some room?" said Ginny hastily, mercifully not probing any further. "We've been hogging the fire for ages anyway." 

The Fourth Years nodded at each other, and agreed to give the trio some peace, before melting off into the throng of the common room.  

"What now?" asked Harry. 

"Now, we plan," said Hermione, getting out her general notebook and a new quill.  

They must have been giving off an aura, as hardly anybody came over to bother them the whole night. Parvati Patil dragged her friend Lavender Brown over at one point, complaining loudly to Hermione that they needed help with their Ancient Ruins homework, but Hermione managed to convince them they had time to do it tomorrow. 

"Maybe, if Sirius is sentenced by then," Harry muttered darkly as the two girls walked away miffed. 

"No," said Hermione defiantly. "I only said that to get them to go away, and we will keep working until Sirius is freed. I won't here talk about anything else." 

"But we've got nothing," argued Harry, gesticulating at the parchment littered on the table in front of them. "Aside from hoping Sirius gets the chance to transform into his animagus state, which he won't because they'll never take their eyes off him, we're looking at staging a jailbreak. Even if we knew where they were holding him...it's a jailbreak!" 

"Shh," hissed Hermione, glancing around the room. But there were hardly any students left now, and the ones remaining had had the good sense to stay away from the fireplace.  

"Who cares," said Harry. "It's too late, they've already got him. We can't do any more damage now." 

Ron rubbed and blinked his eyes. "I still say we can convince Fudge. If my dad can just get us into the Ministry-" 

"He still won't listen," countered Harry. "Even if we scream in his face, he doesn't want to know." 

"It's so corrupted," growled Hermione through her teeth. "It's not a judicial system at all." 

Ron drummed his fingers on his knee. "Maybe Dumbledore's heard something," he said, looking at the window nearest them, as if hoping to see Fawkes perched outside with a note. But there was only the rain that had set in about an hour ago, pelting against the window. As they looked, a fork of lightning pierced the black sky, and the thunder wasn't far behind it. "Maybe we should send him a message to ask?" suggested Ron.  

"Dumbledore will contact us as soon as he knows anything," said Hermione, looking down over her notes again. "I just wish we knew how they found him." 

Harry closed his eyes, and couldn't help but feel she was getting at him. "It was my letter," he snarled, pushing himself to his feet and running his hands through his hair. "It's my FAULT." 

The couple of Gryffindors that were left jerked their heads up. He hadn't meant to shout, it had just leapt from his mouth in frustration. But on the upside those students seemed to decide that it was time for bed and vacated the common room pretty sharpish. 

"Stop saying it's your fault," insisted Hermione. "You've sent dozens of letters before now, it's more likely that wizard noticed Sirius was breaking into his house, I told him he shouldn't have gone back more than once." 

"So it's Sirius' fault now?" Harry lashed out, but he instantly regretted it. "I'm sorry," he said hastily, leaning heavily on the back of the armchair he'd been sitting on. "I'm sorry, I know you're just trying to help. I've just never felt this helpless. He's the only family I have, what if we can't do anything to stop the Ministry bringing in the Dementors?" 

"You can't think like that mate," said Ron.  

But Harry couldn't help it.  

He sighed. "I think I'm going to go out for a bit," he said, squeezing the upholstery of the chair. "I just need to...think."  

"But it's after-" started Hermione, glancing at her watch. But she stopped herself before she could finish, and looked up at Harry with sincerity. "Just be careful, okay?" 

"Yeah," said Ron, stifling a yawn and picking up a book on wizarding law. "We'll keep working." 

What little of Harry's insides weren't consumed by worry and anger for his godfather filled up with gratitude for his friends' unwavering dedication. "Thanks," he said tiredly. "I won't be long, I'll see you in a bit." 

He just needed some different air, to stretch his legs out from where they'd been huddled around the table for so long. A walk would do him good.