Keep Me In Your Memory

Chapter thirteen- The Writing on the Wall

"What's going on here? What's going on?" Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd, attracted no doubt by Draco's shout who was now also looking apologetic. When Filch saw Mrs. Norris he fell back clutching his face in horror. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" He shrieked. And his popping eyes fell on Harry. "You!" He screeched. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll-"

"Argus!" Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of other teachers, one such being Severus. In seconds, Dumbledore had swept past Harry and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket. "Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch. "You, too, Mr. Potter." Lockhart stepped forward eagerly.

"My office is nearest, Headmaster- just upstairs- please feel free-"

"Thank you, Gilderoy." Dumbledore said. The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart, looking excited and important, hurried after Dumbledore; so did Severus and Professor Flitwick.

As they entered Lockhart's darkened office there was a flurry of movement across the walls; Harry saw several of the Lockharts in the pictures dodging out of sight, their hair in rollers. The real Lockhart lit the candles on his desk and stood back. Dumbledore laid Mrs. Norris on the polished surface and began to examine her as Harry quietly sank into a chair outside the pool of candlelight, watching and silently wishing to be forgotten.

The tip of Dumbledore's long, crooked nose was barely an inch from Mrs. Norris's fur. He was looking at her closely through his half-moon spectacles, his long fingers gently prodding and poking. Severus loomed behind them, half in shadow, wearing a most peculiar expression: It was as though he was trying hard not to show his worry and fear. Lockhart was hovering around all of them, making suggestions. And Flitwick was watching Harry.

"It was definitely a curse that killed her- probably the Transmogrifian Torture- I've seen it used many times, so unluckly I wasn't there, I know the very countercurse that would have saved her…"

Lockhart's comments were punctuated by Filch's dry, racking sobs. He was slumped in a chair by the desk, unable to look at Mrs. Norris, his face in his hands. Much as he detested Filch, Harry couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for him, though not nearly as sorry as he felt for himself. If Dumbledore believed Filch, he would be expelled for sure and he didn't think he was needed at the school to help 'shield' his brother. Dumbledore was now muttering strange words under his breath and tapping Mrs. Norris with his wand but nothing happened: She continued to look as though she had been recently stuffed.

"... I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadogou," Lockhart continued to ramble, "a series of attacks, the full story's in my autobiography, I was able to provide the townsfolk with various amulets, which cleared the matter up at once…." The photographs of Lockhart on the walls were all nodding in agreement as he talked. One of them had forgotten to remove his hair net. At last Dumbledore straightened up.

"She's not dead, Argus." He said softly. Lockhart stopped abruptly in the middle of counting the number of murders he had prevented.

"Not dead?" Filch choked, looking through his fingers at Mrs. Norris. "But why's she all - all stiff and frozen?"

"She has been Petrified." Dumbledore said.

"Ah! I thought so!" Lockhart cried in the background but no one paid him any attention as Dumbledore continued.

"But how, I cannot say…"

"Ask him!" Filch shrieked, turning his blotched and tearstained face to Harry.

"No second year could have done this." Dumbledore said firmly a strange look in his eyes as he looked at Harry. "It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced-"

"He did it, he did it!" Filch spat, his pouchy face purpling. "You saw what he wrote on the wall! He found - in my office - he knows I'm a - I'm a -" Filch's face worked horribly. "He knows I'm a Squib!" He finished.

"I never touched Mrs. Norris!" Harry said loudly, uncomfortably aware of everyone looking at him, including all the Lockharts on the walls. "And I didn't know he was a Squib, at least until this moment."

"Rubbish!" Filch snarled. "Him and his brother saw my Kwikspell letter!"

"If I might speak, Headmaster." Severus said from the shadows. "Harry may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time." He suddenly looked like he was going to be sick, as if he didn't want to say what he was about to. "But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why was he in the upstairs corridor at all? Why wasn't he at the Halloween feast?"

"I kept getting turned around! And ended up in that corridor where I saw Ginny writing on the wall!" Harry cried hoping someone here would believe him, hoping Severus would believe him.

"Why would Mrs. Weasley be in that corridor writing on the wall?" Dumbledore asked in a guarded voice, and Harry sensed that Dumbledore knew something about him that he didn't know. This made Harry feel threatened for some reason, which made Harry very defensive.

"I don't know, why don't we go and ask her instead of accusing me of things I never did!" Harry growled out folding his arms over his chest as if hoping it would create an unbreakable barrier between him and Dumbledore.

"Was Mrs. Weasley at the feast?" Dumbledore asked Flitwick.

"I do believe I remember seeing her." Professor Flitwick said and Harry huffed and rolled his eyes, they obviously didn't believe him.

"Just give me my punishment." Harry said in annoyance glaring at the desk in front of him.

"He's admitting to Petrifying my cat!" Filch cried.

"I'm not admitting to anything! No one here believes me when I'm speaking the truth and I don't want to argue this so just tell me my punishment." Harry bit out and felt a sting of regret when he saw the hurt in Severus's eyes.

"There is no evidence at all that Harry did anything wrong." Severus said.

"Innocent until proven guilty." Flitwick said firmly staring harshly at Dumbledore who nodded. Filch looked furious.

"My cat has been Petrified!" He shrieked, his eyes popping. "I want to see some punishment!"

"We will be able to cure her, Argus." Dumbledore said patiently. "Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris."

"I'll make it." Lockhart butted in. "I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep -"

"Excuse me. But I believe I am the Potions Master at this school." Severus bit icily glaring at Lockhart. There was an awkward pause.

"You may go." Dumbledore told Harry who all but ran from the room, he didn't stop running until he got to the Ravenclaw's library where Luna found him hiding in a dark corner. Harry watched as Luna stood in the doorway of the library watching him with a dark look in her eyes making him wonder what she was thinking. Suddenly the dark look in Luna's eyes vanished and a smile replaced it as Luna nodded to herself before skipping over to him.

"You're scared." Luna told Harry as she sat on his lap.

"Of course, if the chamber is open then will that mean my dream will actually happen?" Harry asked wrapping his arms around her waist.

"No, that's not what you're scared of." Luna told him,

"Oh, really? Then, tell me oh all seeing Luna, what am I scared of?" Harry asked in a joking manner.

"Dumbledore." Luna said.

"Why would I be afraid of the Headmaster?" Harry asked confused.

"I don't know, you tell me, you're the one scared of him." Luna said with a shrug.

"I never said I was scared of Dumbledore." Harry told her causing Luna to hum and tilt her head side to side.

"Maybe not yet." Was her answer.

"What do you mean 'yet'?" Harry asked.

"What were you doing in that hallway?" Luna suddenly asked.

"No, you're not changing the subject on me Luna. Tell me what you meant when you said 'yet'?" Harry demanded. Luna twisted her body around so that she could look him in the eyes.

"When you are ready to know the answer, the answer will be given to you." She told him and they fell into a tense silence.

"I heard a voice." Harry muttered and Luna nodded.

"You should tell the others." Luna told him.

"I don't want them to think I'm crazy, hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign." Harry told her causing her to hum.

"You should have more trust in them, especially Professor Snape. Trust him with your secret and he'll trust you with his." Luna whispered with a far away look in her eyes. "Also, don't be afraid if you do go down the path of craziness, because Draco will be right beside you, no matter what hardships you will face." The two looked at each other in silence, but Harry felt as if they were have a silent conversation that he wasn't aware of, that was broken when a clock chimed somewhere.

"It's midnight." Harry muttered, never taking his eyes away from Luna's it was almost like her eyes had trapped him.

"Better get to bed, the next few days will be rather interesting." Luna said, a smirk in her voice and Harry found himself physically smirking.

~Keep Me In Your Memory~

The next morning Harry woke up to Luna standing over him with a soft smile while holding Loki. "Sleep well?" She asked as Harry sat up while blinking the sleep out of his eyes only to have them widen in shock when he realized that he haddn't had the nightmare last night.

"I need to apologize to Myari, it seems she was right about talking about my feeling during the nightmare." Harry said and Luna hummed happily before turning and leaving his dorm. Harry smiled and stretched as he slipped out of bed. He popped his back and turned to get dressed, Harry had forgotten how great a good night's sleep had felt. As he slipped on his pants, Harry suddenly felt as if someone was watching him. He whipped around to see that no one was there. Freaked out, Harry quickly finished getting dressed, grabbed his books for his morning classes and bolted out of his dorm, thankful that the feeling left him when he left the dorm.

"Sleep looks good on you Harry." Myari greeted him the second he exited the Ravenclaw tower.

"It's all thanks to you and your grandmother. And I'm sorry for what I said to you yesterday." Harry told her and Myari waved his apology away.

"It's okay, Harry, I knew you didn't mean anything you said." Myari said before looking distressed. "But Draco wouldn't leave his room this morning, I think he feels bad for being the one to basically call Filch to the scene last night." The three of them began to walk towards the Snake Pit. "You didn't get into too much trouble did you?" Harry stopped walking and glared at her.

"Why would I get in trouble? I didn't do anything?" Harry hissed out causing Myari to stumble backwards in fear.

"I-I didn't mean to imply that you had done something." Myari whispered.

"It sounded like you were." Harry told her, still glaring at her for a few more minutes before he felt the eyes from before back on him causing his hackles to rise. Harry balled his hands as he took a few deep breaths. Someone was watching him, waiting for him to do something. What that something was, he didn't know and he didn't want to find out. "I'm sorry, I guess I'm still on edge about what happened last night."

"What happened last night?" Myari asked carefully.

"Let's go get Draco and I'll tell you." Harry said motioning for both Myari and Luna to walk ahead of him as he glanced behind him in time to catch a shimmer of magic.

~Keep Me In Your Memory~

As they got to the entrance to the Snake Pit it opened and Draco stumbled out with eyes red. When Draco saw them he hid his face and tried to push past them, but Myari caught his arm. "Let me go." Draco ordered with a tremble in his voice.

"Harry has something to say to you." Myari told him and Draco tensed up.

"I'm sorry for calling you a spoiled brat." Harry said as he pulled Draco into a hug causing Draco to flinch, obviously not expecting that. After realizing what was happening, Draco began to weakly try and fight Harry only to give up when Harry didn't let go.

"You're apologizing to me?" Draco asked confused "Why? I am a spoiled brat, and I got you in trouble. I thought you wouldn't want to hang out with me anymore."

"Yes, you are a spoiled brat." Harry told Draco and felt him tense up again. "But, I wouldn't have you any other way. Because if you were any different then you wouldn't be my Draco."

"Harry…" Draco whispered before wrapping his arms around Harry and finally returned his hug.

"I'm glad to see you two have made up, but I need to borrow Harry." Severus said causing Harry and Draco to jump apart with blushes causing Severus to stare at them suspiciously for a second before shaking his head. "Please come with me, Harry. I need to speak with you about what happened last night." Harry looked at Severus and glanced away when he had the sudden urge to just turn and walk away. The only thing keeping him from doing so was Luna's words from last night.

"I'll see you guys later." Harry said before following Severus to his office. All the way to Severus's office, the air between Harry and Severus was very tense which felt strange to Harry. Harry nervously stood in front of Severus's desk while Severus shuffled some papers looking as if he was searching for the perfect words to say.

"I didn't mean to make you think I didn't believe you." Severus suddenly said causing Harry to jump in shock, not expecting him to suddenly speak.

"Then why did you?" Harry asked and Severus sighed.

"It's very complicated." Severus said with a dark look in his eyes that caught Harry's attention and brought Luna's words from last night to the forefront of his mind.

"I didn't just wind up in that hallway." Harry blurted out. Severus looked confused before looking frightened, "But I didn't petrify Mrs. Norris." Harry informed and Severus sighed in relief causing Harry to get angry. "Did you really think I would do something like that?"

"I don't think you would Harry, but that doesn't me that you couldn't." Severus said confusing Harry.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked and Severus opened his mouth to say something only close it and give Harry a sad smile.

"It's nothing for you to worry about right now." Severus told him pissing Harry off.

"No." Harry hiss out. "Don't do that, don't treat me like a child. I know I'm only 12 but I've been through more than most kids my age. Me and my brother lost our parents before we could even walk and had to live with our abusive relatives. And then in my first year of Hogwarts I lost control of my magic and was possessed! And now I'm hearing voices and being accused of using black magic to petrify a stupid cat! I don't need you treating me like a child on top of everything!" All throughout Harry's speech Harry's magic took over and began to either shake or lift the things in Severus's office.

"Harry, calm down." Severus ordered causing Harry to huff in anger and unconsciously release his magic allowing the stuff to either stop shaking or fall to the ground. "You're right I shouldn't treat you like a child. But you have to understand my reasoning. You've been under a lot of stress and I didn't want to add anymore stress." Harry went to say something but Severus stopped him. "I'm also new to parenting, as you know, so there are things that we will have to work on as we go. Now, you mentioned hearing voices, what do you mean by that." Harry's eyes widened, he haddn't meant to tell about the voices just yet.

"Just that I've heard a disembodied voice twice now." Harry mumbled looking away from Severus and began to play with his hair in embarrassment. Severus sighed and stood up from his desk to walk to Harry and pull him into a hug.

"I'm not going to sugar coat this, I'm worried for your health, mental and physical. As you've mentioned before, you've been possessed and that was a scary experience to just witness, and to hear that you knew you were being possessed I can't even express how terrifying it is to hear that. I have no doubt that you were probably beyond terrified while it was happening. And now you're hearing voices that are leading you to a petrified Mrs. Norris. I know you're smart enough to know that this isn't a good sign." Severus pulled away from the hug to look Harry in they eyes. "I want to have a professional look at you, but I don't want the headmaster to know about this. Who knows how he'll be able to use this against you or even me. If he knows about this he may use this against me as I fight to get custody of you."

"I'm not crazy." Harry whispered as a few tears slipped down his cheeks, Severus quickly wiped them away.

"I know you're not Harry, but if the Headmaster finds out about this he may twist it to look as if you are. And then who knows what will happen to you." Severus said. "Do you understand the severity of this situation, not just in my case against Dumbledore but for you?" Harry nodded as more tears slid down his cheeks faster causing Severus's chest to constrict with pain which then caused Severus to pull Harry back into a hug. "You're such a smart, brave, and strong little boy Harry. Yes you've been through so much at such a young age and I fear that this is just the beginning. I want to protect you from everything, to shoulder as much of the pain and heartache of the world as I can so that you can stay carefree and innocent as long as you can. That's why it frustrates me to no end that this is happening to you and I can't do anything to protect you."

"I'm scared." Harry cried into Severus's shoulder, but his voice sounded different almost like when he was being possessed, but Harry still felt in control. Harry felt Severus tense up, alerting Harry that he heard the change in Harry's voice. And then Harry felt something mentally push the words out of his mouth. "I'm scared he won't let me stay."

"Who? Who won't let you stay?" Severus asked tightening his hold on Harry. Harry opened his mouth to explain how he didn't know where those words had come from when someone knocked on the door right before they opened the door before Severus gave them permission showing Dumbledore with Lockhart behind him.

"Oh, are we interrupting something?" Dumbledore asked with a twinkle in his eyes and Harry quickly pulled away from Severus and turned away from Dumbledore to quickly wipe his eyes not wanting Dumbledore to see him crying. Something about Dumbledore made Harry want to put his guard up, almost as if he was expecting a battle.

"No, I was just leaving." Harry said in a guarded voice.

"You don't have to leave on my account." Dumbledore said, sounding as if he was smirking. This caused Harry's hackles to rise while also giving Harry the urge to either snap at him or even throw a spell at him.

"I'll see you later, Professor Snape." Harry said and began to leave the room only to be stopped by Dumbledore who gently placed a hand on his shoulder causing Harry to tense up, half expecting Dumbledore to magic him for some reason.

"Harry, I just want to tell you that I believe that you didn't petrify Mrs. Norris and that you can trust me with anything." Dumbledore said in his grandfatherly voice. Harry gently pulled away from Dumbledore's hand and turned to look at him with a genuine smile as he felt something mentally push more words out of his mouth.

"Oh, Headmaster, I wouldn't trust you even with a bag of shite." Harry said before he felt his genuine smile turn into a maniac smile and then suddenly he was in the middle of his Magical History class listening to Professor Binns talking about the legend of the Chamber of Secrets. He blinked and looked down at his notes and saw he had written: 'Sorry about that, I lost control of my spell and my inner thoughts took over. I made sure you didn't get in trouble though ;) -You'