Nexus (The Demigod Wizard)

Saving Sirius

EDUCATIONAL DECREE #028

DOLORES JANE UMBRIDGE WILL REPLACE 
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE AS HEAD OF HOGWARTS
SCHOOL OF WITHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY.

Signed,

Cornelius Fudge
Minister of Magic

Hogwarts was terrible. Harry'd endured the whispers about him attacking people in second year. He'd had to deal with a murderer wanting him dead in third year. Last year, half the school had hated him for being in the Triwizard Tournament. But during all of that, Dumbledore had been there. 

Even worse, Harry was still having dreams. He dreamed of that mysterious door every night now. It was like an obsession. He had a row with Cho, and he supposed whatever that had been was over now. To his surprise, he couldn't bring himself to care. There was so much more to deal with. And after the incident with Professor Snape, he wasn't allowed any more Occlumency lessons. Not that he'd told anyone that. Fred and George had made a go for it and left Hogwarts, too. Harry knew that Percy was having a hard time with that. They were his best friends. And then, of course, Hagrid had introduced them to Grawp.

Exams started sooner than Harry'd anticipated. Between Dumbledore's flight, dealing with his dreams without Occlumency help, Umbridge, and everything else, he'd really lost track of time. All the fifth years threw themselves into their studying, averaging five-eight hours a day. Harry rarely saw anyone outside of his year for very long, and barely even encountered his classmates either. He and Ron sat near the Quidditch pitch to review their notes while Hermione was almost exclusively in the library. 

Harry saw Percy everywhere--the older wizard clearly could not sit still in one place to study for very long. In fact, it didn't seem like he was studying very much in general. Percy reminded them that he'd taken OWLs already, but Harry had also noticed that the wizard didn't seem to be around much. Harry'd woken up early in the morning from a nightmare and had seen Percy hurrying past the Hogwarts boundaries and Apparating away. Harry had seen the wizard exit McGonagall's office, leave the Great Hall after dinner with Snape, and walk up the halls in the direction of Dumbledore's abandoned office.

Thankfully, Percy did seem to show up for the OWL exams, even if he wasn't always around normally. He walked into the Transfiguration exam late and disheveled, much to everyone's surprise and horror. His shirt had come untucked, his tie was crooked, his pants rumpled, and his hair wayward. Yet, he'd approached the examiner and proceeded to execute almost every spell perfectly. The only time he messed up was when he refused to transfigure his cup into a fish, claiming that he would not make an animal suffocate out of its habitat for the sake of an exam.

Their last exam was History of Magic, and it was easily the worst one yet. It wasn't Harry's hardest one at all, it was just so boring. They'd arranged the desks in endless rows, each table a few feet apart. It felt like a prison. Harry hadn't been sleeping well between his nightmares and late study nights, and his head felt leaden.

He was so tired. In front of him, Ron was staring at his paper, clutching his hair with white knuckles. Beside Harry was Hermione. The witch was scribbling away furiously, writing way more than she needed--that was always her biggest vice. Behind him should have been Percy, but the wizard had just flat-out not showed up for the exam. He'd made no move to pretend he cared about History of Magic, but not even attempting the OWL...it was bold and ballsy.

His eyes dropped, and Harry took considerable effort to keep them open. His head was pounding horribly, his body heavy with exhaustion. His scar burned. Harry closed his eyes...he'd rest just for a moment...he just need one minute of rest and then he'd continue...

He was walking towards the door again. It was there, at the end of the hall. He approached it, held out his hand to turn it...and walked through.

Inside, Harry saw a room full of doors, all identical. He walked straight forward and through the door opposite him, entering a much larger room. It was full of shelves and shelves of glass balls like the ones in Professor Trelawney's room. Harry looked around in amazement.

Then he heard a noise, a choking gasp. Harry quickly turned around to see Sirius kneeling on the floor, a hand around his throat. His eyes were red and wide as he gasped for air. And in front of him, wand extended, was Voldemort.

"Give it to me!" Voldemort hissed, red eyes flashing murderously.

"Never!" Sirius gasped defiantly.

Voldemort's face hardened into an expression fury. "You will tell me one way or another. Crucio!"

Horrible, terrible screams burst from Sirius's mouth. The screams were so loud, so filling, like they were pouring into Harry's ears, pounding through him, erupting from him...

"Harry! Harry! HARRY!"

He gasped and jerked upwards. He'd fallen onto the floor, clutching his scar. Harry realized the screams he'd heard had become his own. Everyone was staring at him--he'd just yelled his ear off in a fit during an OWL.

Hermione and Ron were kneeling at his side, looking extremely worried.

Professor Flitwick, who was proctoring the exam, hurried over on his short legs. "Potter! Potter, are you alright?"

"Yeah--no," Harry said, quickly changing his response. Ron and Hermione stared at him. "I think I need to go to the infirmary--headache."

Flitwick stared. "But, Potter--you'll miss the exam!"

Harry nodded. "I know, but I really don't feel well enough to continue."

The professor sighed. "Alright. Can you walk yourself up?"

Ron and Hermione jumped up. "We'll take him."

Flitwick looked horrified. "I--but then you'll all fail the OWL!" But they weren't listening--the three had already started out of the hall, half-running.

Ron rounded on Harry as soon as they cleared the room. "Mate, what is going on?"

Harry tugged on Ron's sleeve, not slowing his pace at all as he half-ran up the stairs. "It's Sirius--Voldemort's got him, he's torturing him."

Hermione blanched. "What? Harry, how do you know this? What happened?" She stopped walking and grabbed him, forcing him to stop and explain.

Aggravated, Harry quickly told his friends about his vision. They listened with identical worried expressions.

"Harry, are you sure this is a good idea?" Hermione asked nervously.

Rage boiled inside him. "Are you for real? Sirius is DYING!" Harry bellowed.

Hermione winced. "I know, it's just---alright, fine. But at least check to make sure Sirius isn't at Grimmauld Place."

Harry reluctantly agreed. He knew it was a waste of time--Sirius was at the Ministry of Magic, int he Department of Mysteries, getting tortured. 

They ran into Neville, Luna, and Ginny. After a lot of convincing, Harry agreed to let them help. They create a diversion and allowed him to sneak into Umbridge's office--and he was right. Kreacher revealed that Sirius was not there. 

Unfortunately, Umbridge caught them. After a clever move by Hermione that involved Grawp, the Forbidden Forest, and centaurs, they were on their way to London. 

Harry stared at his friends, all riding atop the thestrals they'd lured with the blood on Harry and Hermione's robes. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Ginny. Three more people than normal, and three more people that Harry would feel horrible about if anything happened. 

He turned to face forward again as he felt his thestral tilt his wings down to prepare for the descent.