UnExpected

Chapter 31

"How did you see this?" Dumbledore asked.

After waking up from his vision, Harry, along with Ron, had been taken up to see Dumbledore by Professor McGonagall. Someone had called for the Deputy Headmistress while Harry was still in his fit of daze and fear after waking, and after trying desperately to convince her that what he had was a vision and not a nightmare, she finally relented and took him to the Headmaster.

Now, here he stood in the Head's Office. Telling Dumbledore what he had seen and irritated by the fact that Dumbledore had not looked his way since he had arrived.

"Well...I don't know," Harry answered angrily. What did that matter? "In my head, I suppose –"

"You misunderstand me," Dumbledore interrupted calmly, still looking down at his interlocked hands. "I mean...can you remember – where you were positioned as you watched this attack happen? Were you perhaps standing beside the victim, or else looking down at the scene from above?"

"I...I was the snake," he replied, surprised at the question. It was almost as though Dumbledore had known. "I saw it all from the snake's point of view."

The room stood quiet as they waited for Dumbledore to continue. Finally, after a lengthy pause, he looked up and placed his vision on a white-faced Ron. Refusing, again, to look at Harry.

"Is Arthur seriously injured?" he asked sharply, not moving his gaze.

"Yes," he said emphatically, irrated. Why weren't they reacting fast enough? He had already mentioned how badly Mr. Weasley had been hurt. And why wasn't Dumbledore looking at him?

"Everard! Dilys!" the Headmaster called out crisply as he sprang to his feet. He turned toward two portraits where a silver-haired witch and a sallow-faced wizard immediately opened their eyes. "The man has red hair and glasses. Everard, you will need to raise the alarm, and make sure he is found by the right people."

Both of the wizards nodded and moved sideways out of their frames. But instead of appearing in the next ones, as most of the portrait people tend to do, they hadn't. All that was left of them were empty casings.

"Everard and Dilys were two of Hogwarts' most celebrated Heads," Dumbledore stated as he walked around Harry, Ron, and Professor McGonagall, toward his beloved phoenix that still remained asleep on its perch. "Their renown is such that both have portraits hanging in other important Wizarding institutions. As they are free to move between their own portraits, they can tell us what might be happening elsewhere..."

"But Mr. Weasley could be anywhere!" Harry said urgently.

"Please sit down, all three of you," he continued calmly. "I suspect Everard and Dilys may not be back for several minutes. Professor McGonagall, if you could draw up extra chairs."

Reaching into the pocket of her dressing gown, Professor McGonagall pulled out her wand and with a wave, conjured up three uncomfortable looking chairs. They sat themselves down, all the while keeping their eyes on Dumbledore.

"We will need a warning," the Headmaster quietly said to, a now awake, Fawkes, and in a flash of fire, the phoenix was gone.

They quietly resumed their waiting for any news from the previous Head's of Hogwarts who had gone to who-knows-where on Dumbledore's orders.

"Dumbledore!"

All four of them turned to the frame where Everard, panting slightly, had just returned.

"What news?" Dumbledore asked immediately.

"I yelled until someone came running," the wizard replied. "Said I heard something moving downstairs, they weren't sure whether to believe me but went down to check, you know there are no portraits down there to watch from. Anyway, they carried him up a few minutes later. He doesn't look good, he's covered in blood, I ran along to Elfrida Cragg's portrait to get a good view as they left."