Born From Madness (Harry Potter Fanfic)

91

"What. Are. You. Talking. About?" Hermione asked Harry, who told her and Ron one of the most weirdest stories she had ever heard in her life at breakfast. He had just finished telling her about how he had followed Crookshanks to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and seemed to be close with a stranger that lived in the woods. 

"I don't know who the man is, but he seemed like he was able to understand what Crookshanks was telling him. And whatever Crookshanks was informing him was important detail." Harry stated to her. Ron scoffed. 

"Figures! Crookshanks  is working with the enemy!" Ron stated, causing Hermione to shot him a glare. 

"It didn't sound like it. The man was saying how Hermione was in good hands with the cat. Like Crookshanks is secretly protecting Hermione from something we don't know about!" Harry claimed to them. Hermione opened her mouth to say something when Crookshanks hopped on the table. 

"Keep that fleaball away from me!" Ron hissed, holding up his fork in a threatening manner. Hermione grabbed hold of Crookshanks and glared at him. Harry leaned in towards Crookshanks till they were inches away from each other. 

"Hey... Crookshanks... if you could somehow speak at this moment of time... that would be great... please, tell me what you told the man in the woods. You brought me there for a reason," Harry told Crookshanks, who was busying licking his lips. Crookshanks then meowed. Hermione rolled her eyes. 

"You have lost your mind, Harry," Hermione told him as she stood up from her seat. 

"Wait! Aren't you coming to the Quidditch match?" Ron asked her. 

"Sorry, I'm not feeling the greatest." Hermione shot at him, clinging to Crookshanks, she walked away without glancing back. 

Hermione roamed the hallways, Crookshanks walking alongside her. She glanced down at Crookshanks, who was licking its lips while it gazed up between Hermione and the path before them. 

"You didn't eat Scabbers... did you?" Hermione asked Crookshanks. She gasped when Crookshanks shook its head in a 'no' manner. 

"I knew it! You didn't do it! But that doesn't exactly explain..." Hermione didn't get to finish her sentence when she heard footsteps coming from behind her. She peered over her shoulder, but she didn't see anyone. 

"Hello?" Hermione called out, hoping that it was one of the Professors just heading to see the Quidditch match. There was just a silence... until footsteps came from ahead of her, causing her to turn her head back in front of her. Hermione pulled her wand from her pocket, her heart pounding within her chest as her breathing was hitched. 

"Whoever it is, this isn't funny!" She shouted out to them. Hermione waited, listening for the footsteps. Her attention shifted when she heard Crookshanks meowing. She tilted her head downward to look at Crookshanks, who was turned around and was actually grinning at something... that soon was looming a shadow over her. Hermione shot her head up and the last thing she could do was scream. 

Harry was at the common room party, trying to enjoy it, but there was something eating at him. He couldn't find Hermione anywhere in the room. He even ask Ginny to take a look in the Girls' Dorm, but Ginny came back saying she wasn't there. And Ron wasn't making his mood any better with his constant mentioning of Scabbers. 

"Can't you give her a break?" Harry asked, "Besides, she's not even here!" 

"No," Ron stated flatly, "If she just acted like she was sorry-- but she'll never admit she's wrong. She's still acting like Scabbers has gone on vacation or something." 

"Maybe she's just hoping for the better outcome?" Fred suddenly joined into their conversation, "Honestly, Ron, didn't you tell us how awful Scabbers was looking these days? Maybe it was for the best if Crookshanks showed him mercy by eating him." 

Of course that didn't sit well with Ron, which Harry was thankful when McGonagall came in and demanded they go to bed. And just as they had went to bed... they woke up to Ron's screaming. Harry fumbled with the lights as he listened to movement around him and someone shouting 'What's going on,'. Harry soon found his way out from the curtains to find Ron sitting up in his bed, the hangings torn from one side. 

"Black! Sirius Black! With a knife!" 

"What?" 

"Here! Just now! Slashed the curtains! Woke me up!" 

"You sure you weren't dreaming, Ron?" Dean asked. 

"Look at the curtains! I tell you, he was here!" 

Soon they were drawing crowds from the other dorms and everyone was called down to the common room where McGonagall stood, looking tired and angry. 

"What in blazes is going on here?" she asked them, her arms crossed over her chest. 

"I'm sorry, Professor. I was just telling them all to get back to bed. You see, Ron here had a nightmare---" 

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE! PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!" 

McGonagall looked down at Ron with confusion.

"Don't be ridiculous, Wealsey. How could Black get through the portrait hole? He has no way of knowing the passwords." 

"Ask him!" Ron pleaded with her. Professor McGonagall sighed, turning on her heels and headed to Sir Cadogan's picture. Everyone scurried towards her, listening to her talk to him. 

"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?" 

"Certainly, good lady." cried Sir Cadogan. There was a stunned silence between them and McGonagall. 

"You-- you did? Why did you do that?" McGonagall asked him, furiously. 

"He had the password... in fact, he had the whole week's, my lady. Read 'em off a little piece of paper." 

McGonagall stormed back into the common room, her eyes glaring at everyone of them as her face was white as snow. 

"Which one of you was foolish enough to write down this week's passwords and left them lying around?" She asked in the worst angry tone Harry had ever heard from her. There was a silence of the crowd before it broke from a terrified squeak. Neville Longbottom, who trembled from head to toe, raised his hand slowly. 

"Mr. Longbottom, I will be discussing your punishment in the morning. Now everyone is to stay in your dorms... wait a moment..." McGonagall paused before scanning the crowd again, "Where's Miss Granger?" 

"Maybe she's in bed, still asleep." Ron grumbled under his breath. 

"No she's not, Ron! She never came to bed!" Ginny said in a concerned voice. Harry's skin began to cover with goosebumps as his mind began to think of the most awful things that could be happening to her. 

"Who was the last ones to have seen her?" McGonagall asked them all. Harry gulped before raising his hands. 

"Ron and me, Professor. At breakfast. It... it was the last time we saw her." Harry told her. 

"You haven't seen her since yesterday morning, and you are just now informing me this, Potter? Weasley?" McGonagall asked, almost sounding disappointed. Harry's head dropped down. He knew Hermione not showing up was a sign to go straight to one of the Professor. Didn't they had seen Barty Crouch Jr. right near Gryffindor Tower? Wasn't there a savage werewolf on the loose that was just as interested in Hermione? 

"Everyone, back to your rooms. We will be on the search." McGonagall informed them before going off to tell the other professors.