Midnight Jaunt
It was a quiet night in Gryffindor Tower.
Not that Harry minded, but he couldn’t help feeling just a little bored as he looked out the window.
It was a dark night out there. No moon, but the billions of stars overhead provided the only source of light.
He eventually dragged his eyes from the view and turned to his Potions book with a scowl. He hand’t been feeling very charitable toward the git of a Potions Master for suspecting them of theft and attempted murder. Of Tony, no less.
Unfortunately, he still had to do his homework.
His immediate corner was empty and it was just him.
It had been little things like that since he left his Aunt’s house, if he was completely honest.
Tony had said that it had been because of either him or Hermione reaching majority so near each other, so maybe he was still being affected by this strange Magical feedback loop. That led him to wonder if Tony had had another experience since his birthday.
He hadn’t been running out of rooms like he was being chased – well, except for once, but there had been a reason for that – and Harry hoped he would tell him or their friends if he experienced something else.
Harry rubbed an eye and had half a mind to call it a night, until he noticed Neville standing a few feet away looking like he wanted to sit at Harry’s table but wasn’t certain of his welcome.
“Hi, Neville,” he smiled warmly. “Something I can help with?”
“Maybe. I – uh, Potions,” he held his book up for Harry to see. “I’m having some problems.”
“I don’t really know how much help I’ll be,” he shrugged, “but go on. Have a seat.”
“Thanks,” he flashed a smile as he settled in across from him.
Harry was just getting his own book out when the radio warmed against his leg, making him haul it out as Neville looked on with interest.
*Ron? Harry? Tony?* Hermione called.
“Everything alright, Hermione?” Harry asked with a frown.
*I think so, Harry.*
“Should we be worried?” Neville looked nervous. “I mean, she shouldn’t exactly be calling if nothing’s wrong, right?”
^He wasn’t at the Owlry,” Ron spoke.
“Ag’nt Tony. Wassa ‘mergency?* the boys couldn’t help bursting into laughter.
“ ‘Just grading papers’,” Neville grinned. “I’ll bet.”
Hermione caught him out and Harry and Neville learned that Hagrid had yet to be seen at all. Tony’s remark about Hagrid not needing to be somewhere else confirmed that nothing related to the Order was going on. Hermione just said that she and Hannah were just checking and everyone signed off, anyway.
“Maybe it really is nothing,” Neville shrugged as they returned to their books.
“Maybe.”
They continued to do their separate work until Neville hit a snag and couldn’t go any further, so Harry decided to take a look before Hermione called him on the radio again – this time sounding a lot more freaked out.
Harry answered and told her that he was still in the Tower with Neville, both boys exchanging alarmed looks when Hermione told Ron and Tony that there was someone outside Hagrid’s where she and Hannah were holed up.
“I have to do something,” Harry decided. He couldn’t just let Hermione deal with the intruder all by herself.
“But you don’t have the Map,” Neville got up and followed him to their shared room.
“I’ve got the Invisibility Cloak,” Harry reminded him, having told him, Ginny, AJ and a few select others that the Map was being looked over for maintenance purposes.
Neville knew he wouldn’t stop Harry, so he let him out of the Tower and silently wished him luck.
* ** *
Having had so many years of experience, Harry found it easy to navigate the almost empty halls to make his way down the stairs, past the Great Hall and was making his way down to the school entrance when he caught movement as he glanced toward the down stairs entrance leading to Hufflepuff, the Kitchens and the rest of the lower levels of Hogwarts.
Seeing the movement made him freeze, breathing stuttering to a stop in his chest as he waited to see what would happen next, but the movement was a familiar figure slowly walking down the stairs itself.
‘Bloody hell, it’s AJ,’ he squinted, unable to actually make out much besides her dark hair and white dress – presumably the same one she had when they were at Vince’s house for Easter break.
He heaved a sigh, feeling responsible for the Second Year and not wanting her to get caught or in trouble whether she was sleepwalking or not, before making his way down the rest of the main stairs and hurrying after her.
He followed her to the Kitchens and Hufflepuff level, staying a few feet from her because he didn’t want to startle her into waking or anything since that was dangerous. They made a left turn away from the kitchens and headed for the end of the hall where even more classrooms were located.
Deciding that now was a good time to try speeding up in order to herd her back to her Common Room, he paused when she suddenly stopped.
“AJ?” he softly called. “Are you sleepwalking? It’s me, Harry.” She gave no response, but maybe she hadn’t heard him. “AJ?”
It suddenly occurred to him that she probably didn’t realize it was him, so he slowly took the Cloak off and bundled it in his arms. “See? It’s me.”
She finally began moving, but she only turned to face him slowly. He couldn’t quite make out anything else about her besides her night dress because the surrounding shadows seemed to have her wrapped in their embrace and, well, now that she was relatively facing him, he was suddenly struck with the thought that maybe …
This wasn’t AJ.
But … it definitely looked like her from the back …
And weren’t there torches down here or something? Harry hadn’t seen one lit since the stairs leading to the Great Hall.
“AJ, come on. I’ll take you back to bed and go out to Hagrid’s to help Hermione. You like her now, remember?”
But she stayed completely silent, watching him try to talk to her and it was actually beginning to slightly unnerve him the longer they stood there.
“What are you looking at?”
He bit back a yelp as he startled forward, whipping around to stare with wide eyes and racing heart as Hufflepuff Benson watched him curiously as AJ attempted to juggle an armful of patsies as she slowly made her way to them.
He stared at one, then the other, before slowly turning back to where the AJ lookalike had just been standing and found an empty hall.
Okay, he had no bloody idea what in Merlin’s name was going on, but he suddenly wasn’t sure he wanted to be standing here right now.
“Hey, Harry,” AJ drew his attention. “You want a patsy? These were just snacks to go since we really didn’t want to stay after the first round. Are you alright?” she must have seen the look on his face, because she frowned in concern.
No.
No, he wasn’t alright, actually.
This was just like his Aunt’s house the night Tony and Sherlock came to get him and –
And seemed kind of like what Tony experienced during the summer at the Burrow.
What if it was? Maybe Harry was experiencing it now, even though both he and Hermione were of age.
Now he know something of what Tony felt and he didn’t much like it at all.
“I will be,” he smiled weakly. “We need to get you back to Hufflepuff.”
“We were on our way,” H Benson assured. “I’m starting to get a bit tired myself.”
“How about you, AJ?” Harry glanced at her as she stared thoughtfully past his shoulder. “Any danger of sleepwalking tonight?”
She munched on a Pumpkin Patsy for a moment before swallowing. “You remember when we stayed at Vince’s house? You said I looked good in white, but I don’t like that color. I didn’t have any then and I don’t have any white things now, either.”
“Why are you telling him that?” H scowled at her. “He doesn’t need to know.”
“Yes, he does,” she shook her head. “So the next time he sees a girl in white that looks like me – like her-, ” she nodded behind Harry where she’d been staring, “he won’t need to run her down and get into trouble.”
“What?” Harry vaguely heard H ask as he slowly turned back around to see that girl – definitely not AJ – back in the hall, staring silently at the three of them. H obviously looked that way, too, because she said, “Hey, who’s that? I don’t recognize her.”
“You can see her, too?” Harry glanced back. So, maybe this wasn’t quite like what Tony experienced over the summer. No one else had seen anything odd back then.
“She’s standing there, plain as day,” H told him, both Badgers moving to stand next to him, her wand lit to illuminate as much as possible.
They watched the other girl watch them for a moment before AJ stepped forward.
“Hi,” she called out with a smile.
“What are you doing?” H hissed at her.
“Well, I don’t recognize her, so maybe she doesn’t go to this school and got lost or something on a visit. I’m just making her feel welcome. She must be scared.”
“A school visit in the middle of the night?” H exchanged looks with Harry.
“AJ,” he wrapped a hand around her collar, “maybe we should go get someone. Professor DiNozzo is around, so …”
“First, we have to get her to come with us,” AJ told them, before turning back to their silent watcher. “Would you like us to get someone for you? Here, you can have a Patsy,” she extended one out. “They’re really good. It’s pumpkin,” she stared moving forward and Harry’s grip on her tightened as a flare of unease settled into his stomach.
“I don’t like this,” H whispered beside him as she inched after them.
Harry didn’t either, especially since that other girl started moving backwards – as if luring them down the hall.
“Wait, don’t be scared,” AJ gave chase, glaring back at Harry and H as if to tell them to hurry up. “We want to help you get back to where you belong.”
The three of them froze when she stopped, shaking her head slowly from side to side.
“No, you don’t want our help?” AJ frowned.
“No … more.”
AJ backed into Harry as H pressed into his other side.
“Did you hear that?” H whispered, starting to tremble.
Harry most certainly did, the soft whisper seeming to have originated from the air in front of them. It raised the hair on the back of his neck, being so soft that he was almost certain it had been in his head.
“N-no more what?” AJ’s voice had lowered, too. She swallowed slightly as the girl resumed moving backwards.
They just stood there as she seemingly melted into the shadows, her white dress suddenly dulling somehow, but not enough that they couldn’t see her stop in front of a classroom and vanish.
“Okay, now, we turn ourselves right back around and go to bed,” H tugged on Harry’s elbow.
Harry’s eyes were still trained on the door that girl stood in front of a moment ago as the thought that she could be connected to what Hermione was experiencing flitted through his mind. “I’m going to check,” the girls had no choice but to move with him as he moved to the door he was locked on.
AJ and H moved closer together as Harry lit his wand.
“You two wait here,” he told them, leaving them in the corridor as he came to the half open door. “Hello?” he pushed it open and looked around.
It was an empty classroom, one of many in the school, and it appeared only recently used. If he had to guess, the last time it saw anyone was probably before his First Year.
There was no sign of the girl, but they had all seen her disappear in front of this door, so she had to be somewhere, right?
He moved into the center of the room and found a teacher’s office on his right and two half open doors at the very back of the room. The teacher’s office was closed, but the two doors in the back revealed nothing but darkness from his position in the room’s center and he couldn’t see in them or outside of his wand light’s bounds.
Heaving a sigh, he decided to go for one of the doors, but he heard one of the girls hiss his name and went back to the classroom door. A question was on his lips before he actually looked at them to see them staring off to their right with wide eyes.
Harry looked around the door and it took a moment for him to see a figure at the very end of the hall.
“Harry,” AJ’s voice trembled, “I think it’s time to go get Professor DiNozzo, now.”
Harry couldn’t see any features, but the figure was tall and he was pretty sure it was a man. He hadn’t heard anything from Hermione, Tony or Ron, so maybe this was the lurker from outside? But how did it – he – get past them?
Had he – they? – been there the whole time?
He didn’t like this.
Glancing at the now shaking girls beside him, he realized that he couldn’t put them in danger and this was quickly shaping up to be a potentially dangerous situation.
He shivered as a sudden gust of cold air hit him, unease quickly overtaking him as he stepped in front of the pair slowly backing away.
“Wh-who’s there?” he tried putting on an intimidating air, but the figure … bulged.
“Harry, come on,” AJ grabbed his arm and pulled. “I don’t like –”
There was a rattling sound that suddenly filled the air and all three stepped back in alarm.
The figure seemed to expand, filling the hall from one side to the other and another cold burst of air seemed to touch Harry’s very core, panic suddenly filling him as every instinct he had told him to run.
“Go!” he yelled, whirling around to push them and the three took off with yells.
It sounded like someone – something – gave chase, but Harry wasn’t about to look and see as he raced after the girls, a third burst of air seeing them taking the stairs at a run and not stopping until AJ and H crashed headfirst into Tony as he and the six Prefects stood in the Entrance Hall.
Losing points did sting a little, but he was just glad that they were all safe.
“I think we’ll need to curb the midnight jaunts,” Hermione burrowed into Harry’s side, both taking the relief and comfort of not being alone anymore. “At least until Tony gives us the all clear.”
“And we don’t go by ourselves,” Ron added, he and Tony seeming to be the only ones of their friend group not encountering anything tonight amidst the melee.
They went inside the Common Room, waving goodnight to the Ravenclaws as they did so, dropping onto a couch to try feeling safe again as they talked through the night's events.
“I’m going up,” Hermione eventually sighed.
They passed a half-asleep Neville, who was glad everyone was alright, and gratefully went to their separate dorms.
Harry gratefully sunk into bed, pulled the curtains shut and covered his head with the blankets for good measure.
It was a childish thing to do, maybe, but right now he had never felt safer.
* **