New Beginnings

Chapter 19

Harry had become increasingly frustrated as December continued on.

Hermione was deliberately being slow, although he gave her some motivation to speed up her work and Harry knew he wasn't going to be spending the holidays at the castle. Which meant Hermione would either need extra precautions or be killed. It was as simple as that.

His frustration didn't go unnoticed but no one decided to question it. They all thought it was because Hermione had gone missing; Umbridge once again spreading ministry propaganda.

Though he hadn't forgotten about the second map, Harry had decided to hold off on asking her for a little while longer - he needed her to focus on his task and not coming up with what she thought was a plausible lie. Instead he searched the girls dormitories.

But first he had to empty the common room. The last time that had happened was because Sirius had slashed the Fat Lady's portrait and whilst that was his plan, he didn't want anyone to see him.

He crept up the stairs during a free period - wearing the invisibility cloak - and ripped the painting to pieces. All that was left was the empty frame. He made sure to also set several pieces on fire.

Quickly he ran in and up the stairs, knowing that no one was in the tower at the moment. Reminiscent of Ginny in second year, Harry razed the common room and left deep claw marks in the doors leading to the dormitories. 

Harry knew Gryffindor would be relocated and maybe even the other houses. He also knew that if he vanished for a few hours before turning up injured would take suspicions off him.

He figured that not only could search for the map now but the damage he'd inflicted would force the professor's to relocate Gryffindor and give him extra time. He wanted to confront Hermione with the map itself so that she couldn't send him on a wild goose chase all over the castle.

He ran up the stairs to the girls dormitories and began to search it thoroughly. Time passed differently and Harry lost track of how long he'd been up there, ripping through trunks and beds.

Running footsteps sounded behind him and Harry curled into a corner, waiting for the person to discover what had happened. Technically he was covered in the invisibility cloak but he wasn't sure if someone would be able to feel him.

The door burst open to reveal Umbridge and Mcgonagall, the two witches staring at the messy but innocent room. Harry hadn't damaged anything yet so the dormitories simply looked untidy.

"Theres no one here." Umbridge simpered, almost smug but also very worried. The lines on her forehead were more pronounced as her frown deepened. 

Harry knew she'd use the situation to make more students turn on Dumbledore but what had been occurring clearly spooked the witch.

"Of course not, the portraits have said that the attack happened over an hour ago. Whomever was here has gone." Mcgonagall snapped, fury rampant on her face.

Harry hadn't known how long it took to destroy the two areas but an hour seemed like he'd wasted a lot of time. Especially considering with how little he'd found.

He waited patiently, breathing incredibly lightly as the two left. Creeping down the stairs he saw Snape and Flitwick coming down the boys stairs equally grim expressions decorating their faces.