章節 202: Chapter 202: "Into the Shadows"
As May arrived, bringing with it the promise of warmer days and the looming specter of OWLs, Harry found himself in Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class. The usually composed professor was noticeably hurried, rushing to complete the fifth-year syllabus before diving into the OWL exam revisions.
Harry's mind, however, was far from the intricacies of advanced Transfiguration. The past months had been too quiet without any incidents, and it was giving him bad vibes. It was uncharacteristic for the mentally unbalanced Death Eaters to bide their time and do nothing for so long. He had a very bad feeling about all this. Now that he had very few prophetic advantages due to the changes he himself had caused in the timeline, he was always on edge to ensure nothing disastrous happened.
Harry hadn't been idle these months, though. He had finished his Patronus classes, and many students had surprisingly learned the corporeal Patronuses. It was quite a sight to see many silvery animals and birds flying, hopping, and running around the empty classroom. Higher year students, his friends, and some talented juniors like Neville and Susan were the ones who successfully cast the corporeal Patronus charms. Harry was quite pleased with this result, feeling a sense of pride in his students' accomplishments.
Another thing Harry had done was to ensure the incidents in the canon did not happen. A incident he remembered was Sirius Black, the fugitive in the canon, breaking into the Gryffindor dorms using the password gained from Neville's notes to attack Pettigrew. Harry ensured this didn't happen by giving Neville a badge that could be accessed only by him where he could write himself reminders and notes. The badge would never get lost and would always return to Neville's pocket.
Neville had been very excited on receiving this gift. The new password keeper, some knight who had replaced the Fat Lady after the attack on Halloween, was an interesting fellow who kept changing the passwords. This made it difficult for Neville to remember the password. Harry's gift was a godsend.
Nothing had happened at Hogwarts in this term. Maybe it was due to Harry's precautions and actions like these, but he did find these quiet days unnerving. As he was lost in these thoughts, absentmindedly twirling his wand, he felt a sudden vibration from his pocket.
With practiced stealth, Harry slipped the Marauder's Map from his robes. Keeping it hidden beneath his desk, he muttered the activation phrase and scanned the parchment. His heart raced as he searched for the intruder, but to his confusion, he found no unfamiliar names. He was half expecting to see the Death Eaters on it on their way to attack Charles. But nothing.
A chilling realization dawned on him: Pettigrew must have entered the castle and promptly hidden himself again. It had been months since the rat had dared to infiltrate Hogwarts, and Harry's instincts screamed that it was him and this wasn't a casual visit.
For the remainder of the class, Harry's attention was split between McGonagall's lesson and surreptitious glances at the map. But Pettigrew's name never reappeared, and both Charles and Neville remained safely within the castle walls. Nothing seemed amiss, yet the sense of unease persisted.
As soon as class ended, Harry bolted from his seat, earning a reproachful look from McGonagall. He spent the next hour combing the castle, questioning portraits and ghosts alike, but found no trace of anything unusual.
Frustrated and increasingly anxious, Harry retreated to the Room of Requirement to clear his mind and practice some spells to calm his nerves. Destroying some dummies that the room produced always seemed to calm him down. The room transformed into a spacious training area, with various targets and obstacles for Harry to practice on.
That evening, driven by a nagging suspicion, Harry once again consulted the map. At first, all seemed normal, until he spotted two names moving hurriedly across the Hogwarts grounds: Remus Lupin and Neville Longbottom. Frowning, Harry scanned the map for the familiar cluster of Charles, Ron, and Hermione - only to find them missing entirely.
Harry's instincts screamed trouble. Without hesitation, Harry sprinted from the castle, his heart pounding as he raced to catch up with Lupin and Neville and learn what was happening. As he ran, his mind spun with possibilities, each more dire than the last.
---
Meanwhile, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Neville struggled to keep pace with Professor Lupin's long strides. "Professor," he panted, "shouldn't we wait for backup? What if something's really wrong with Charles and the others?"
Lupin's face was grim as he replied, "I've already informed Dumbledore. He's on his way back from the Ministry. For now, we need to confirm if this is a genuine emergency or a false alarm. The three of them are always up to something, and I don't want to disturb the professors and the patrolling Aurors without knowing if this was not one of the trio's secret adventures."
Neville nodded, his round face etched with worry. He'd come to Lupin earlier, disturbed by Hermione's odd behavior this evening an hour or so ago. She had insisted that Charles, Ron, and Neville accompany her outside the castle to see something 'interesting.' She said she had found a unicorn who had left her herd, and she had played with it in the forest. Now she wanted to show her friends her pet unicorn.
While Charles and Ron had agreed readily, Neville had hesitated, unnerved by Hermione's uncharacteristic disregard for rules and safety. Also, he was not brave enough to go out at night into the Forbidden Forest.
"It just wasn't like her, Professor," Neville said, his voice trembling slightly. "Hermione's always so careful, especially now with the Death Eaters about. And the way she kept pushing even after I said no... it scared me."
Lupin's frown deepened as he listened. "You did the right thing coming to me, Neville. Let's just hope it is a false alarm. Hermione should not lead her friends into danger. Anyway, I have informed Professor Dumbledore; he would be here if anything goes wrong."
As they pressed deeper into the forest, neither knew that an anxious Harry was running at his fastest speed to catch up to them from the castle. They had no idea they were walking into life-threatening danger.
---
In a small clearing just beyond the Hogwarts wards, a scene of horror unfolded. Charles, Ron, and Hermione lay rigid on the forest floor, their eyes wide with terror as they stared up at their captors. Their bodies were shivering, signs that they had been under the Cruciatus Curse a few minutes ago. The Lestranges and Peter Pettigrew stood over them, wands drawn and faces twisted with malicious glee.
Bellatrix was in a rage, her wild hair seeming to crackle with the force of her anger. "You useless rat!" she shrieked at Pettigrew. "How could you fail to lure in the Longbottom brat as well? By now we could have finished our mission and started searching for our Lord."
Pettigrew cowered, his watery eyes darting nervously between Bellatrix and her victims. "I-I tried my best," he stammered. "How was I to know the coward Longbottom would choose to stay behind?"
Rodolphus Lestrange interjected, his voice cold with disdain. "We wasted weeks teaching you the Imperius Curse, all for this half-success. If you hadn't exposed our presence in Hogsmeade, we could have done the job ourselves and taken them both during a village visit."
As the Death Eaters bickered, Charles locked eyes with Ron and Hermione. Hermione, after reaching the trap location, had been freed from the Imperius and now she was wracked with guilt, thinking if she had been strong enough, she would not have fallen under control of the rat and lured her best friends into this trap. However, even if the trio knew they had no escape, their gazes conveyed a mix of fear and determination.
Suddenly, Rabastan held up a hand, silencing the group. "Someone's coming," he hissed, a predatory smile spreading across his face.
The tension in the clearing ratcheted up several notches as the Death Eaters turned their attention to the approaching footsteps. The captive trio exchanged glances of mingled hope and fear, wondering who was about to stumble into this nightmarish scene.
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