Child of Hogwarts: Part I

Chapter Eleven - The Pensieve

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Pensieve

The rest of Harry's birthday went wonderfully, right up until nightfall. The children came in from their afternoon at Hagrid's thoroughly excited about the thestrals, although shocked that they couldn't see them. They had dinner with Albus, Minerva, and Severus in the Great Hall, then Albus and Minerva took them up to Gryffindor Tower for the night.

They had decided that all three of the children would stay in what was usually Harry and Ron's dormitory, since neither professor was entirely comfortable with Hermione remaining on her own in the girls' dormitory and the children were far too young and innocent to be worried about anything untoward. Minerva had the house-elves see to fitting up three of the four-posters for the night, and she decided to stay in her own quarters just across the corridor that evening. Of course, Harry didn't know that Minerva usually spent the night in Albus's chambers anyway... and both Albus and Minerva decided that she should be close at hand, in case anything went wrong in the night. The pair of them saw the children into their beds, and left the tower.

Minerva was awakened hours later by a tiny hand shaking her shoulder. 'Mistress McGonagall, ma'am,' a squeaky voice said in her ear. 'Wake up, Mistress, wake up!'

Minerva's eyes snapped open. She turned to see a house-elf next to her bed, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

'What is it?' she asked the elf, alarmed.

'Mistress McGonagall asked Kimmy to stand watch in the tower, ma'am,' the elf reminded her timidly. 'Mistress says to tell her if anything goes wrong.'

'Is something wrong in the tower, Kimmy?' Minerva asked the elf, already getting out of bed and tying a tartan dressing gown over her nightdress. The little elf nodded.

'Kimmy thinks so, Mistress,' she said. 'Master Harry is calling out, ma'am. Crying in his sleep. Kimmy tries to wake him, but Master Harry will not wake.'

Minerva felt her heart clench slightly. 'Are the other children awake?' she asked.

'The red-haired boy woke up, Mistress,' Kimmy said, nodding. 'Then Kimmy put a charm around the other bed. The young mistress still sleeps.'

Minerva nodded. 'Thank you, Kimmy. I'll go to them now.' The house-elf disapparated with a crack, and Minerva headed immediately for the door.

'Thistlewood,' she said in a whisper to the portrait as she crossed the corridor. The Fat Lady grumbled a bit at being awoken, but swung inward to admit Minerva. She crossed the common room for the stairs to the boys' dormitory, climbing quickly to the top, where the children lay. She didn't hear any sounds of disturbance, but pushed open the door quietly to enter.

Ron Weasley was sitting on the edge of Harry's bed, his face pale and concerned as he looked down at his friend. Harry appeared to be asleep. Minerva could not see any signs of a nightmare.

'Weasley?' she called quietly. The boy jumped, turning to face her. He looked scared.

'He stopped a minute or so ago, professor,' he said, correctly guessing the reason for her appearance. 'I got him to calm down. He didn't wake up.'

Minerva nodded, approaching the bed to look more closely at Harry. He seemed to be peaceful now.

'Thank you, Weasley. I'm sorry if it frightened you – Harry has been prone to nightmares of late.'

Ron was still looking in some concern at Harry. 'I've done it before, professor. He had a few of these nightmares during school, especially at the end of the year. Sometimes he wakes up, but sometimes he doesn't. I'm a light sleeper and I'm right next door, so I hear him before the others if it happens.' He shrugged. 'I can usually talk him down again.'