Chapter 17
━━━━━━━━ ✥ ━━━━━━━━

SOMEONE WAS SHAKING HIM. Ice creeped down the back of neck, making him shiver. A stark contrast from the immense burning that took over his forehead. Harry rolled over to the side of his bed, feeling as though he was throwing out his guts.

"He's really ill."

Harry heaved in large breaths. His eyes were closed, he could still see the image of Mr. Weasley fumbling away against his lids.

Harry's scar ached terribly. He wanted to dig in nails into his skin and peel it right off. But there were more important matters to deal with.

"Your dad," he said between panting breaths. "Your dad's ... been attacked."

"What?" said Ron, confused.

"Your dad. He's been bitten, it's serious, there was blood everywhere—"

"I'm going for help," said another voice.

"Harry, mate," said Ron. He was holding Harry by his shoulders, probably trying to get him to breathe in properly. "You...you were just dreaming..."

And part of Harry wanted to laugh at the absurdity. So much for not wanting to think about it.

"No, Ron. It wasn't a dream...not an ordinary dream...I was there, I saw it...I did it."

Ron didn't believe him. It was important that he did. That someone did. Why didn't anyone believe him?

Ron said something, and Harry replied back, but he wasn't really there. Harry was still shaking. He could feel sweat drip down the back of his neck, and he wondered how he could be sweating when he was so cold. He vomited again. He tried to get out of bed, to tell someone. Because if Ron wasn't going to, then maybe Hermione? Or Adhara? Yeah, he was going to go see Adhara—

But Ron pushed him back into bed.

Out of nowhere, McGonagall appeared right in front of him. Harry didn't think he ever felt so relieved in his life. He almost launched himself at her.

"What is it, Potter? Where does it hurt?" The woman looked almost frantic, almost like she was beyond worried.

"It's Ron's dad," Harry explained. "He's been attacked by a snake and it's serious, I saw it happen."

"What do you mean, you saw it happen?"

"I don't know...I was asleep and then I was there."

"You mean you dreamed this?"

"No," said Harry angrily. Why is no one listening? "I was having a dream at first about something completely different, something stupid...and then this interrupted it. It was real, I didn't imagine it. Mr. Weasley was asleep on the floor and he was attacked by a gigantic snake, there was a load of blood, he collapsed, someone's got to find out where he is..."

Harry rambled on. Professor McGonagall's mouth had thinned into a straight line. She looked at him with such worry and fear which only worked to surge the anger in him.

"I'm not lying and I'm not mad! I tell you, I saw it happen!"

"I believe you, Potter," she assured. "Put on your dressing gown — we're going to see the Headmaster."

━━━━

For all the faults Dumbledore may have, Harry was glad the man at least believed him.

Harry remembered every word he shouted at the man back in Grimmauld Place during the summer. Harry wasn't sure if any of them had gone through Dumbledore's head. If he even cared. Though, with the way the Headmaster still avoided Harry's gaze even tonight, he didn't think the man did.

It happened in an instant. The rest of the Weasleys were called into the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore finally made eye contact with Harry who was suddenly overcome with a searing burn on his scar. He didn't feel like himself. Hatred so powerful unfurled inside of him, making him want to surge forward and bite the man.

Between one breath and another, the portkey did its thing and transported Harry and the others away.

━━━━

"Roy should be here," argued Ginny.

"And Adhara," added Harry easily.

"They should," agreed Sirius. "Let me call for Phineas Nelligan again and have Dumbledore—"

Remus stopped him. "I don't think that's a good idea."

They were at Grimmauld Place, in the basement kitchen, with Sirius and Remus already waiting for them. Harry was still breathing heavily as the remnant of bitter anger tapered off.

"Why not?"

Remus hesitated. "For the same reason we aren't rushing to the hospital, yet."

Sirius seemed to have understood immediately.

The twins were angry. They wanted to see their dad but Sirius explained how suspicious that would be, as St-Mungo's haven't even informed Molly as of yet.

"It would be odd to take them out now. But we can definitely get them once Molly owls us about Arthur."

Ron was awfully quiet. He hadn't said a word since they left their dormitories. And Ginny...well. Ginny seemed to be balancing between shock and anger.

"Roy is part of our family now! She deserves to be here! We're already here, so how much more dodgy would it be for two more students—"

"It would be odd," started Sirius, "because no one else other than your roommates know you're here. And no doubt everyone in Gryffindor will know. But to disturb two other students, both of whom are in different houses, means running the risk of three quarters of the school finding out you've left. Early."

Harry was fading in and out of his thoughts. Why did he want to attack Dumbledore?

Someone ran a finger down the bridge of his nose, startling him out of his thoughts. Harry looked up and saw Remus watching him, a wrinkle between his brows.

"Attached?"

Harry nodded. "When are you getting Adz?"

"As soon as Molly gives us the clear."

━━━━

Harry leaned against one of the walls in the small pantry, after recounting to his godfather what had happened in his dream. After telling him about wanting to attack Dumbledore as though...as though he had been inside the snake...or the snake had been inside of him.

Sirius sighed, looking grave.

Harry didn't know what to say, how to answer.  He still felt jittery, from the dream, from wanting to attack Dumbledore...from telling Sirius everything. Harry trusted Sirius, he did. But he wondered if there was any point of telling him all this.

Sirius was deflecting. He was stalling. He obviously was. But Harry didn't understand why.

"Was this the first time?"

"What?"

"The dream. Was it the first time you've had a dream like this?"

Harry bit his lip, casting his eyes to the floor.

"Haz—"

"No."

Sirius sighed again. "Since when?"

Harry shrugged. "I saw Pettigrew get tortured last year. In Azkaban. And...and well. Last summer. I had a dream about a woman. And she looked awfully like Bertha Jorkins."

"Why didn't you tell me anything before?"

Harry didn't answer, gaze still fixed on the floor. It was dark inside the pantry. He could barely see a thing, but he did see Sirius' silhouette crouching in front of him, slotting himself in Harry's view.

"You didn't realise you had anything to say?"

Harry let out an exasperated breath, forcing his eyes shut. He was tired, not with Sirius, but with himself.

"I didn't even realise that they weren't normal dreams until...until Cedric..." He didn't finish, and he didn't have to. Sirius understood right away.

Sirius took Harry into his arms, and despite everything, Harry didn't hesitate to bury his face into his godfather's shoulder.

"Speaking of Cedric, do you still have dreams about him?"

Harry nodded.

"Oh, Harry..."

"It's fine," he lied, more so out of habit.

"You need sleep."

"I can't—"

"I'll get you some dreamless sleep potion. We'll wake you up when we're about to leave for St-Mungo's, hmm?"

Harry nodded, not making a single move to leave.

━━━━

Adhara woke up to Professor McGonagall's face looking down on her. She startled out of bed.

"Wha—"

The sun wasn't even up yet. Adhara watched her professor through one open eye, blinking ferociously at the wand light.

"Come with me, Black."

"What happened?"

In the bed beside her, Adhara noticed Millie was still fast asleep. In fact, most of her roommates were, but she noticed Daphne Greengrass openly watching the scene in front of her, probably equally as confused as Adhara.

"No time to explain," informed the woman. She grabbed Adhara's arm, pulling her out of bed. Adhara put up no fight. "Grab your wand and follow me."

"I'm still in my sleeping clothes."

"Follow me."

━━━

On their way to the Headmaster's office, they had picked up Roisin, too. For a slim second, Adhara's stomach did a whoop. She wondered if this had anything to do with Aleyne, but then she noticed that no other Aleyne kids were retrieved.

And once they did reach the office, Remus was waiting for them.

"Remus?"

"Professor Lupin!" Roisin almost trudged into the man, but Adhara pulled her back by the back of the girl's jumper.

"What's going on?"

Remus looked as though he hadn't slept all night.

"Is anyone hurt?"

When Remus didn't answer right away, Adhara's stomach dropped again.

"...is it Sirius?"

"No!" Remus shook his hands. "It's Arthur."

"What?" asked Roisin, bewildered. "What happened? Is he alright? Oh, please say he's—"

"Arthur is fine," reassured Remus, patting Roisin's head to comfort her. "He's out of danger, now."

Roisin calmed down almost instantly, but the anxiety was still quite visible in her eyes.

"But he was in danger," reiterated Adhara. "What happened? And where are the Weasleys?"

Remus explained about Harry's dream — or vision — about what happened last night and how they didn't want to raise any suspicion, so they couldn't risk waking up more than one House.

"Visions?"

"He didn't tell you anything?"

Adhara licked her lips, thinking her answer through. "He...might...have mentioned something about Voldemort being inside his head..."

Remus closed his eyes, looking grim. He released a breath.

"Did he mention it to anyone else?"

All heads turned towards the Headmaster. In all honesty, Adhara hadn't even noticed the man, yet.

She furrowed her brows. "No," she lied. She didn't bother mentioning how Ron, Millie and Hermione were there when Harry decided to reveal that bit of information.

She could snark back at the old man if she wanted to, but seeing Remus' expression, and Roisin's shoulders shaking in fear, Adhara decided now was not the right time.

━━━━

Harry inserted the plug of the extendable ear as the other end was shimmied under the door. It took only a moment for Tonks' voice to come in clear through the fake ear. Harry heard the voice of Mad-Eye Moody, followed by the concerned ones of Sirius, Mr. Weasley, then Mrs. Weasley.

"Dumbledore seemed worried about Harry when I spoke to him this morning."

It sounded like they were discussing him.

"Course he's worried," growled Moody. "The boy's seeing things from inside You-Know-Who's snake...Obviously, Potter doesn't realise what that means, but if You-Know-Who's possessing him..."

Harry dropped the ear, stumbled a step back from the door. He looked around at the others, who were watching him, fearful. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears but before he could react, he heard a voice behind him.

"Haz?"

Harry whipped around, coming face to face with Adhara. Her brows were furrowed in concern, probably wondering why Harry looked frightened.

"What happened?"

Remus and Roisin were next to her, watching Harry with the same worry.

"Is everything alright with Arthur?" asked Remus.

Suddenly, Harry couldn't bear the weight of their gazes anymore. The fear, the concern, it was all too much.

He heard one of the Weasleys talk to Remus, probably telling him about their dad. Someone opened the door to the man's room, from inside, but Harry didn't wait to listen.

He turned around and dashed.

━━━━

"What's going on?"

Adhara had picked up the twins' strange contraption. She held the flesh coloured rubber ear in front of Sirius, who had opened the door when he heard Adhara and Remus' voice.

There were several people inside the room with Mr. Weasley, who was still laying in bed. Moody and Mrs. Weasley were next to the cot, while Tonks was standing right behind Sirius.

The man took one look at the extendable ear and cursed under his breath, running after Harry.

Adhara squeezed the fake ear in her hand, holding it firmly. She had put two and two together, drawing a clear image of the situation — the ear, the closed door, Sirius cursing. Adhara glared up at Tonks, who was watching her the entire time.

"What were you talking about?"

━━━━

Adhara watched her brother mope around for the rest of the day. She wasn't sure what Sirius had told the boy, but whatever it was, it apparently did nothing to quell the fear in him.

Ron relayed to her what they had heard with the fake ears: a confirmation of doubts that plagued Harry for months now.

Voldemort was possessing Harry.

Adhara dug her nails into her pyjama clad legs. She was in the den, on a leather chair next to the fireplace — turned off, obviously. She didn't like using the floo, and didn't like being near it when someone else did. Thus, Adhara told the House to turn it off, not caring about whoever wasn't able to enter.

Lost in her worries about Harry — who locked himself in his room and wasn't talking to anybody — Adhara didn't notice her cousin approach.

Tonks poked her cheek to get her attention, and Adhara couldn't help but send her the nastiest glare she could muster. The pink-haired woman simply grinned, sitting down on the arm of the chair.

"Reckon you're the one who closed the floo?"

Adhara didn't bother to answer. Her silence should be confirmation enough.

"There are people trying to enter, you know?"

Adhara rolled her eyes. She genuinely couldn't care any less. Why was Tonks talking to her anyway?

The woman in question crossed her arms, straightening up. "Can I ask what's gotten your knickers in such a twist?"

Adhara whirled around. Tonks only smirked.

"You've been glaring at the carpet for a good ten minutes now."

"You haven't been here for ten minutes."

"Now, how would you know that? You been lost in your thoughts since we've got back, too busy moping about your brother —"

"I haven't been moping."

"Oh, yes, you have."

"Harry's the one who's been moping!"

Tonks sighed at that, nodding like she understood things better than Adhara. "Yes...well. He did just find out that You-Know-Who might be possessing him."

Adhara scoffed. "He already has suspicions. This was more like confirmation."

"He knew, already?"

Adhara wasn't sure why she was even talking to Tonks. She didn't particularly like nor care about her, especially with how she had treated her when they first met. Though, Tonks did apologise, and she was trying to make up for it.

"Harry mentioned something about having Voldemort in his head. I don't think he realised it was possession."

Tonks pulled her bottom lip in her mouth. "Well, I don't think it's possession."

"...Moody said so. And Dumbledore seems to believe it, too."

"Yeah, but if Harry was possessed by You-Know-Who, don't you think we'd be all dead already? Or at least, near dead?"

Adhara blinked, astonished that she hadn't thought about something so simple...yet so obvious.

"Maybe it's part of his plan."

"Maybe. But even then, he would know Snape is working for us, then no? Do you think he would let that slide?"

Once again, Adhara was left speechless.

Tonks stood up, patting Adhara's shoulder. "Open the floo, will y'a? Your friend is trying to get in."

"Friend?"

"Hermione."

━━━━

"Thank Merlin Umbridge is gone. Otherwise, I'd have to wait for the end of term to come, no doubt. McGonagall let me use her floo!"

Ron, Hermione and Ginny sat in a circle with Harry, on the floor in his bedroom. Apparently, Adhara dragged Hermione to Harry's room the minute the girl stepped foot out of the fireplace. Ron and Ginny had followed.

Harry wondered why his sister didn't bother coming in herself. Was she avoiding him, too?

"McGonagall's here, too?" queried Ginny.

Hermione nodded. "She came to find me and Millie after lunch. It was a good thing, too. I don't like the idea of the Knightbus."

"Millie's here?" asked Harry.

"No, sadly. Her dad wanted her home for Yules."

Harry looked at the girl with his mouth shut tightly. He felt awkward and didn't particularly want to talk to anyone, yet they still barged into his room.

Ron lightly punched his shoulder.

"Oi! What was that for?"

The boy rolled his eyes, and directed a look at Hermione instead. Honestly, Harry was starting to think that Ron was spending too much time around Adhara.

"'How're you feeling? asked Hermione.

"Fine", said Harry stiffly.

Hermione rolled her eyes, too. What was this? Were they ganging up on Harry? "Oh, don't lie, Harry. Ginny said you've been hiding from everyone since you got back from St Mungo's! Adhara didn't even bother greeting me, she just pushed me here!"

"Yeah? Then where is she? Avoiding me like the rest of them?" Harry glared at Ron and Ginny. Ron looked down at his feet, but Ginny didn't seem to care about Harry's outburst.

"Don't be ridiculous," said the redheaded girl. "You're the one who won't look at any of us!"

"'It's you lot who won't look at me!"

"Maybe you're taking it in turns to look, and keep missing each other," suggested Hermione, the corners of her mouth twitching.

"Very funny." Harry felt quite indignant. He didn't understand what was so amusing about the situation.

"Oh, stop feeling all misunderstood. Adhara didn't think she could talk to you without calling you an idiot, and thought perhaps that wasn't the energy you needed, right now.

"She'd be right. You are an idiot."

Ron looked at Ginny sharply. The girl crossed her arms and turned away.

"Look," continued Hermione, "the others have told me what you overheard last night on the Extendable Ears—"

"Yeah?" Harry stood up, shoving his hands in his pockets and pacing around the room, angry. "All been talking about me, have you? Well, I'm getting used to—"

"That isn't fair!" shouted Ron, not letting him finish. He was here this morning, calling Harry for breakfast, avoiding eye contact. But he looked directly at him now, unafraid. "We wanted to talk to you, but you ran away yesterday and you locked yourself in your room. You weren't listening to anyone, not even Sirius."

Harry pursed his mouth, somehow feeling wronged. "Well, I didn't want to talk to you—"

"Well, that was a bit stupid of you," said Ginny angrily, "seeing as you don't know anyone but me who's been possessed by Tom, and I can tell you how it feels.'

Harry could hear the penny drop. He stopped pacing, letting the words hit him. Ginny was possessed by Voldemort, wasn't she? In fact, she had spent an entire year with him lurking in her mind. Harry even saw her, or rather him, when he had full control of her body.

How could he have forgotten?

He turned on the spot to face her.

"I forgot," he said.

"Lucky you," said Ginny coolly.

"I'm sorry," Harry said, and he meant it. "So... so, do you think I'm being possessed, then?"

"Well, can you remember everything you've been doing?" Ginny asked. "Are there big blank periods where you don't know what you've been up to? Do you wake up in places you're not supposed to be? Can you hear his voice inside your head?"

Hermione and Ron were looking at Ginny with concern, especially Ron. Harry wondered if this was the most she'd ever said about what happened during the girl's first year.

Harry racked his brains for blank moments and came up with none.

"Then, Tom hasn't ever possessed you."

And could it be that simple? Harry had been seeing what Voldemort had been doing since last year. With Pettigrew, with Bertha. And now with the snake. Only this time, he was the snake.

He told Hermione just that, but the girl continued to put down all of his theories.

"You can't apparate from or in Hogwarts," she reminded.

"You didn't leave your bed," confirmed Ron. "I saw you thrashing in bed."

And Ginny repeated, "I know what it feels to be possessed by Tom. And what you're experiencing isn't that."

Harry could feel the weight lift off his shoulders.

━━━━

"Got your head out of your arse, finally?"

Harry scoffed. "I thought you were trying to be nice to me?"

"I could be worse." Adhara thought for a moment. "You know, Tonks said something quite smart."

"Oh? What?"

"That if you were truly possessed by that madman, we'd be dead already."

Harry paused, probably realising how stupid they've all been.  "Well. She isn't wrong, I suppose."

"Suppose, she's not."

━━━━━━━━ ✥ ━━━━━━━━

A/N Y'all, I have a question (completely unrelated to the chapter). Did anyone else get the impression that Lavender Brown was giving Ron a love potion in HBP? Because I'll be honest, I genuinely thought that was canon until recently when I was doing research and found out that it isn't (I'm planning book 6 for the series)?

Here's the thing, the 'real' canon was that Ron was jealous of Hermione and McLaggen, the comment that Ginny makes sets him off, insecurity regarding being the forgotten Weasley and his best friend always overshadowing him, not to mention raging teenage hormones lead to him dating Lavender.

Which makes sense, but my little ace ass didn't really understand the attraction (teenage hormones who?), and genuinely believed he was being given a love potion since you know, it's one of the central topics of the books. Also, Ron breaks up with Lavender after he mistakenly takes the love potion intended for Harry and then gets given a cure by Slughorn (hence neutralizing whatever love potion Lavender was giving by him).

I know it's never said explicitly, but I thought that was the point? Cause love potions (although a serious issue) isn't taken seriously in the magical world at all, and I though that by keeping it implicit that was what the author was intending to show.

I'm asking this because I planned out Book 6 to be that Lavender gave a love potion to Ron but with the recent rise in appreciation for Lavender (which makes sense to me now since apparently I was the only one who thought she was love-potioning Ron) I'm hesitant to keep it that way in case it angers a bunch of y'all. The other part of me is telling me to not care about what others think and just write what I want since it's my story at the end of the day and I'm writing for fun and not to gain readers but still, I wanna know your thoughts, so let me know.