The Potter Conspiracy

A/N: Thanks to all who have read and reviewed.  Feedback is greatly appreciated!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.  JKR and her partners do.

Chapter Eight – An Awakening

October 1st, 1995 – Hogwarts, Gryffindor Girls’ Dorm

Parvati Patil rolled over in her bed and stared into the darkness.  It was now almost 4AM, and she hadn’t been able to get a wink of sleep.  The argument that she and Padma had overheard repeated on an endless loop in her mind.  She simply couldn’t believe her ears.  Parvati liked to gossip and had more than once picked up some juicy rumors while eavesdropping.

But this was not gossip.  This was something else entirely.

Harry Potter was going to die?!  And this would somehow save the world?  His best friends and the Headmaster knew about it but he didn’t?  And Ron was giving him love potions?  Just what in the bloody hell was going on?

None of this made sense to Parvati.  The whole thing seemed absurd.  How could Hermione Granger be involved in a plot to kill Harry Potter? she wondered.

Parvati looked over at Hermione’s still, sleeping form and then closed her eyes again.  She couldn’t reconcile the swotty little bookworm sleeping next to her with the girl she had overheard last night.

She and Padma had been using an empty classroom to finish some reading and just talk.  Padma insisted that the two of them set aside Sunday evenings every week to spend time together, as they didn’t see each other very much otherwise.  Parvati liked to call this “twin time,” and they moved the location of their meetings around frequently.  It was usually an empty classroom near one of their respective towers.

Last night they were using an empty classroom near Ravenclaw Tower when Ron and Hermione had burst into the room and begun shouting at each other.  Since the room was L-shaped and fairly dark, someone entering from the main door would not have noticed that the other side of the room was occupied.  At first she had thought to reveal herself to the arguing pair, but after a few seconds of listening to their words she and Padma had looked at each other with wide eyes and then listened more attentively.

Once Ron and Hermione had departed, the two girls sat in shocked silence for a whole minute.  Parvati’s first thought was that it had to be a joke of some sort, or that Ron and Hermione were aware of them and were acting.  But Padma had disabused her of this notion, and Parvati didn’t really think the two of them were capable of such a performance.

So the girls had discussed what they heard for almost an hour before deciding it was safe to leave.  They were willing to risk missing curfew to avoid being seen coming out of this room.  If the conversation they had overheard was authentic, and it certainly seemed to be so, then they had to be very careful.

Their plan was to talk to Harry alone in the morning, as they both wanted an evening to think things over and digest this terrible new revelation.  Padma had made her swear not to tell Lavender, but Parvati hadn’t planned on it anyway.  She was smart enough to know that Lavender couldn’t keep her mouth shut, and knowing this information put them both in grave danger.

Parvati hugged her pillow tightly and wished that she had remained blissfully ignorant of their discovery.  She was convinced, upon further reflection, that this was no prank.  This was real.  As real as it gets.

The more she thought about it, the more scared she became.

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October 1st, 1995 – Hogwarts, Gryffindor Boys’ Dorm

Despite it being a Monday morning, Harry Potter awoke in a fine mood.  The previous evening had given him a nice break from worrying, and he didn’t have to face Snape or Umbridge today.  Last night he had spent a couple hours in the library helping Ginny with her transfiguration homework, in the process getting more comfortable around her.  He had not yet worked up the nerve to ask her to accompany him to Hogsmeade on the approaching weekend, but he would soon.

Last night he had even coaxed a description of the mythical crumple-horned snorkack out of Luna Lovegood.  Luna claimed both that no one had ever seen one and that she knew what they looked like.  Harry had weighed the consequences of pointing out that contradiction, but decided to keep his mouth shut.  Luna was a nice person, even if she more than earned her nickname.

According to Luna, a snorkack was a small monkey-like creature with a horn and a long tail.  It had a hard shell on its back, but it too was covered with fur.  Harry thought it sounded like the result of a mating between a miniature rhinoceros and a lemur, and reflected that it might actually be fun to go hunting for them with Luna.  It would certainly be an experience he’d never forget.

After showering and waiting for Ron to get his act together, Harry and Ron joined Hermione in the common room to start their day.  They walked together to the Great Hall for breakfast, Ron and Hermione flanking Harry.  Harry noticed that they did not speak to each other, but did not question them about it.  They had probably rowed while on prefect duty, as was happening often lately, and he didn’t want to take sides in any dispute.

The silence between Ron and Hermione continued throughout breakfast.  Harry decided to ignore them and concentrated on reading the latest Daily Prophet.  For once he wasn’t being lampooned; some poor sod had allowed his family’s griffin to escape its enclosure, and it had slaughtered most of the big cats in a nearby muggle zoo.  It had made the muggle news, and the Ministry obliviators were apparently in a quandary over how much needed to be covered up, if anything.

Hermione finished her breakfast first and left the table alone after wishing Harry a good day.  Ron watched her go a little wistfully.  He gave Harry only a brief nod before taking off to follow her.  Deciding he would spend his free time until divination in the Come-and-Go Room, Harry too rose to go.

He was nearly at the exit to the Great Hall when he was stopped.

“Harry?” came a hesitant voice from behind.

Harry turned to see Parvati Patil looking at him very intently, while her sister was a few steps behind, giving him the same look.

“Er, hi Parvati,” Harry said, a little unnerved at the looks they were giving him.  “What can I do for you?”

“We, um, that is, Padma and I, we need to talk to you about something.  As soon as possible.  It’s important.”

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October 1st, 1995 – Ministry of Magic, Dept. of Mysteries

Algernon Croaker sipped his morning coffee and contemplated the questions that Director Bones had just asked him about Harry Potter.  He didn’t have any answers for her, but he was beginning to think that Potter was somehow connected to the numerous unsettling events of the last two years.

Croaker had heard about Potter’s explanation for Cedric Diggory’s murder, but he didn’t give any credence to the prospect of the Dark Lord returning.  Unlike other wizards, he knew that immortality was impossible.  His personal library contained several extremely rare volumes that described the various failed attempts at immortality throughout wizarding history.

And yet the events of the last two years were ominous.  They had all the hallmarks of the Dark Lord’s first rise, and Potter seemed somehow mixed up in it all.  First Sirius Black had broken out of Azkaban and sought to kill the boy.  Then former Death Eaters had terrified everyone at the Quidditch World Cup; there had been no serious injuries, but seeing the Dark Mark hovering over Britain once again was truly worrying.   And someone had used Potter’s wand to cast it.

Bertha Jorkins had disappeared while traveling abroad.  Then months later Cedric Diggory had been mysteriously murdered by an Avada Kedavra, apparently kidnapped by someone straight off of Hogwarts grounds.  Their investigation had turned up Barty Crouch, Jr., thought to be deceased, masquerading in Hogwarts as Defense Professor Alastor Moody.  How had Albus not recognized his old friend?  Croaker wondered, and just what was Crouch doing at Hogwarts?

Most recently Emmanuel Ollivander had disappeared.  Ollivander was a longtime friend of his, and Croaker knew that he hadn’t simply gone on holiday.  No, Ollivander had either gone into hiding for some reason—unlikely, thought Croaker—or he had been kidnapped.  Ministry Aurors were technically looking for him, but they had uncovered no evidence of foul play and had no clues.  Croaker hoped that, wherever he was, his old friend was safe and whole.

Croaker ran his hand through his thinning white hair and rose from his desk.  Perhaps there was some clue about what was happening in Potter’s file?

Unbeknownst to most of wizarding Britain, and even most of the Ministry, the Department of Mysteries kept dossiers on nearly the entire population.  They weren’t strictly an intelligence organization, but it was helpful to know as much as one could about the abilities of others when studying magical mysteries.  The Unspeakables were under a variety of oaths never to misuse such information, or long ago they would have produced a Dark Lord of their own.

Leaving his office after locking it, Croaker strode imperiously through the halls of his Department.  He was in charge here, and he liked ensuring that the other Unspeakables knew it.  What was Potter’s connection to all of these events?  he wondered.  As he approached the secure room where all of the dossiers were filed, he hoped that some answers awaited him there.

If they didn’t, he would have to pay Albus a visit, and he really didn’t enjoy the presence of the Supreme Mugwump.

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Hogwarts, Room of Requirement

Harry Potter sat with his back against the stone walls of the Come-and-Go Room, his head in his hands.  He was emotionally spent.  Three hours ago Parvati and Padma Patil had turned his world upside down, and in the time since he had experienced a bewildering contradiction of emotions.

His knuckles were bloody from pounding his fists against the walls; his throat was raw from screaming in rage and pain; his eyes held no more tears, never having wept so much in his life.

At first he hadn’t believed the story the twins told him.  Ron, Hermione, and Ginny couldn’t possibly do this to him.  Were the Patil twins, or even the Weasley twins, pranking him?  But the deadly serious demeanor of the girls assured him that this was no joke, and Padma had been able to recall the exact details of the argument they overheard.  Parvati was in tears during her recitation, and Harry didn’t think her capable of acting so convincingly.

When the girls swore oaths on their magic that they were telling the truth, Harry’s stomach had dropped to his knees.

His mind reeling, Harry had skived off divination and gone straight to the Come-and-Go Room to think.  He had gone through every possibility: could the Patil twins have misunderstood somehow?  Could this be a ploy by Malfoy to sow distrust between him and his friends?  Perhaps Ron and Hermione had been polyjuiced by Slytherins?  This just couldn’t be true.

But in his heart Harry had known that it was.

Harry had thought back over the major events of his life, and he had finally seen the pattern.

Growing up unloved and unwanted at the Dursleys, kept isolated from the magical world by Dumbledore, befriended only by Hermione and the Weasleys, both of whom revered Dumbledore.  Confronting Voldemort or his followers every year at Hogwarts, receiving no information about how to defend himself, loathed by everyone except his supposed friends.

Harry finally saw it: his life had never been his own.  He had been groomed from infancy by Albus Dumbledore, and apparently he had been groomed as a sacrifice to Voldemort.  His entire life was a conspiracy that even his best friends were in on.

That was when the floodgates had opened.  Every slight, every insult, every indignity, every danger, every death he had suffered boiled to the surface, and he released it all at once in a fit of rage and despair.  The room had provided him with likenesses of Dumbledore, Ron, and Hermione, and Harry had exhausted himself blasting them to tiny pieces.

Now Harry was spent.  He felt devoid of emotion, save an instinct for self-preservation and a growing sense of paranoia.  The walls were closing in, and he felt so very alone.  It seemed that everyone was out to get him.  As panic rose in his chest, Harry desperately pushed it back down and tried to think clearly.

He stood from his position on the floor and began pacing.  He had been in this room for three hours, and he would be missed if he were absent from both divination and lunch.  That meant he would have to leave soon, to go back out there and pretend that his world had not just been destroyed.  To look at Ron and Hermione and resist the urge to bash their skulls in.  Harry wasn’t sure he could pull that off.

Think, Harry, he scolded himself.  How do you get out of this?  So much about what the Patil twins had told him didn’t make sense.  Ron and Hermione think I’m about to die, but how is that going to save the world?  Why would my death save the world from Voldemort? Harry shook his head in exasperation.  He needed more information to make sense of that.

But if Dumbledore believed it to be true, his behavior over the last year finally made sense.  Dumbledore was surprised when Harry returned from the graveyard with Fawkes because he had expected him to die.  He had refused to train him because he wanted him to be helpless.  And…

It shouldn’t have been such a surprise to him, but it struck Harry with the force of a revelation that Dumbledore must be behind his faulty magic.  The old bastard had done something to prevent him from casting powerful spells.  And Dudley had died because of it.

Harry could see clearly now that Ron and Hermione had been manipulating him for months, at least.  How long had they known about this? he thought, pacing ever faster.  They had helped to isolate him at the Dursleys, and Hermione had constantly encouraged him in her letters to trust Dumbledore.  Padma had said that she seemed regretful about the whole thing, but that was cold comfort to Harry.  

And then there was Ginny.  Ron was giving him love potions to make him like Ginny.  This was another thing that made no sense to Harry.  Why would he want us together if he knew I was going to die?

Harry thought back over his encounters with Ginny, and didn’t think she was part of this plot.  For one thing, the shy, sweet girl just didn’t seem capable of it.  Plus, Padma had thought that Ron was doing this without Ginny’s knowledge.  When I get my hands on Ron, Harry thought, he may not live through it.

When did I start fancying Ginny?  Harry thought, trying to remember.  And then it hit him.  This summer she had constantly occupied his thoughts, and this summer he had received weekly packages from Molly Weasley.  Bloody fucking hell, Harry thought.  Is the whole family in on this?  Would the twins do something like this to me?

Harry stopped pacing as he felt the world close in on him again.  He should have been more suspicious of his friends, he now recognized, but he needed to believe that someone, anyone, was loyal to him, on his side in all of this, and in his desperation he had blinded himself to their treachery.  Am I even thinking clearly with a love potion in me?  Harry wondered.  Have they been slipping me something to keep me loyal to Dumbledore too?

A feeling of righteous fury pulsed through Harry alongside an overwhelming sense of helplessness and despair.  The more he thought things over, the harder it was to quell his growing sense of rage.  But what could he do about it in his present state?

Harry’s instincts were screaming at him to run, to get out of the castle immediately, but where would he go?  Where could he hide?  He needed more time to think things through, and he didn’t know how much time he had.

Harry was suddenly very afraid of leaving this room and stepping back into the castle.  Who could he trust now?  Dobby and the Patil twins, he thought.  Everyone else is suspect.  Harry remembered that Dumbledore had placed guards at the Dursleys without his knowledge, and his skin crawled at the thought that he was being shadowed at Hogwarts.  Am I being watched here too? he wondered.  Is someone waiting on me outside this door, underneath an invisibility cloak?

Paranoia was beginning to make Harry’s head spin, so he took a few deep breaths and tried to think clearly.  He succeeded again in stemming his rising panic, but only barely.  Get it together, Harry, he chided himself.  No one’s watching you, or they would show up on the map.  You just need to make it through classes today, and then you and Dobby can think of a plan.

Why couldn’t some seventh-year have overheard that conversation?  Harry griped mentally.  Someone who’s powerful and would know how to help me?  Instead I get the Gryffindor gossip queen and her sister.

Harry sighed as he fixed his appearance and prepared to exit the Come-and-Go Room.  Today was going to be a trial of epic proportions.  He couldn’t skive off of lunch and afternoon classes, so he would have to behave normally around Ron and Hermione.  This evening he would have time to think through his problems alone and come up with a solution.  Maybe Dobby can save my arse again, Harry thought.

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Malfoy Manor, The Dungeons

While Harry agonized over how he could escape Hogwarts with his life, another man was thinking through the steps required to take his own.  He had just endured another round of “sport” in the presence of the Dark Lord, and now his body was nearly broken beyond repair.  Bloodied hands trembling with fatigue, the man grasped an enchanted crystalline carafe and gently unstoppered it.

Today he had lost all hope of rescue.  The odds of the Dark Lord’s stronghold being stormed in the next few days were absurdly low, and he would never recover fully even if he were rescued.  He had lived a long and fruitful life, and his only regret was the wealth of magical knowledge and wisdom that would die with him.  What happened next would be painful, but at least he would be able to die with some semblance of dignity.

As carefully as he could, the old man raised the carafe of basilisk venom to his lips, then quickly downed its entire contents.  His body twitched and convulsed for ten seconds, and then Emmanuel Ollivander was dead.

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Hogwarts, Great Hall

Harry gave Hermione a strained smile as he passed her a pitcher of pumpkin juice.  It was now dinner time in the Great Hall, and Harry had somehow made it through the last seven hours without murdering his best friends.

After missing divination, he was determined to go about his usual routine and not arouse anyone’s suspicions.  With Ron and Hermione not speaking to each other, this proved to be easier than he thought.  He had endured their presence for Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology, but then escaped them quickly after that.

He had found a few spare moments during the day to call Dobby and explain what was happening, and the little elf was now frantic with worry.  It didn’t appear that Dobby would be able to help much this time.  Elves couldn’t pop with humans, so Harry would have to find another way to escape the castle.  The real trouble was figuring out where to go after that.  If he went missing would they be able to hunt him down immediately?

Tonight he cast surreptitious glances at those around him while he ate.  He was wondering just how many of these people were conspiring against him.  Ron and Hermione were not behaving any differently toward him, and he wondered at their ability to lie so brazenly to his face.  Ginny was sitting with some of her friends, and Harry still couldn’t visualize her being a part of all this.  The usual chatter and noises of dinner were so surreal to Harry that he almost wondered if he had imagined the first part of his day.

As dinner was coming to an end, Parvati caught his eye and gave him a small raise of her eyebrow.  Harry just shook his head slightly, and Parvati gave a barely perceptible frown.  What exactly is she asking me?  Harry wondered.  I need an ally here, but how could Parvati Patil possibly help me?  She knows more about makeup than she does about magic.

Closing his eyes in frustration, Harry wondered again how he was going to get out of this trap alive.

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Harry, Ron, and Hermione finished dinner and returned to the Gryffindor Common Room in silence.  Ron and Hermione still weren’t speaking to each other, and Harry was certainly in no mood to break the silence.  When they arrived, Harry noticed Parvati sitting one of the couches, pretending to read as she kept an eye on the door.  When he passed by, she coughed loudly.  Sighing mentally at the girl’s persistence, Harry leaned down to tie his shoelace and whispered “ten minutes, just outside this room” in her direction.

Ten minutes later Harry was waiting outside the Common Room entrance under his invisibility cloak.  When Parvati appeared, she was startled briefly to hear Harry’s voice come out of thin air.

“Parvati,” he whispered.  “I’m under an invisibility cloak.  We need to go to the seventh floor, and then I’ll take this off.  I’ll be right behind you, but don’t talk until we get there, yeah?”

Parvati nodded and headed off in the direction of the closest staircase.

Harry followed three feet behind her, careful not to make any noise or take up much space.  It would be a disaster to run into someone right now.

While trailing behind her, Harry could not help but notice how well-dressed Parvati was for so late in the evening.  She had taken off her black Hogwarts robes and donned a light blue outfit that looked to Harry like some combination of a dress and a robe.  The blue color presented a nice contrast with her long black hair and dark bronze skin.  Parvati truly was a very attractive girl, and Harry knew it.  He thought her best feature was the brightness of her smile, her white teeth standing out beautifully against the color of her skin.  If she weren’t such a divination-obsessed gossip, Harry thought, I might have crushed on her last year rather than Cho Chang.

But the fact was that Harry didn’t have a crush on Parvati, however much he admired her beauty, and he was faintly annoyed that she was persisting in trying to help him.  He was grateful to both her and her sister for informing him about what they heard, but now he failed to see how a girl like Parvati could help him. She may do me more harm than good, Harry thought.

When they arrived on the seventh floor, Harry removed his cloak and led Parvati toward the Come-and-Go Room.  She watched him pace back and forth in front of a blank wall, and then a door appeared which led into a luxurious room that looked very familiar to both of them.

“Wow, what is this place?” Parvati asked in wonder at the exact replica of the Gryffindor common room.

The two seated themselves on a huge couch near the fire and Harry explained to her how Dobby had introduced him to the room.  She was impressed that he had a house elf, as they were usually associated with old pureblood families.  Harry just stared into the fire as she talked, not sure how to broach the topic they were there for.  Silence eventually reigned.

Finally breaking the awkward moment, Parvati asked in a small voice, “What are you going to do, Harry?”

Harry didn’t meet her eyes and continued to stare at the fire.

“I don’t know yet…it…well, at first I didn’t believe it was real.  I’m still trying to get a handle on things.”

Parvati had no answer for this, and after another tense silence, she interjected, “Harry, I think you should leave Hogwarts.  The sooner the better.”

Harry snorted.  “Do you?  And where should I go?” he snapped out bitterly.

Parvati frowned at his tone, but otherwise ignored it.

“Well, I don’t know, do I?  I guess you can’t go back to your relatives; the Headmaster would you find you there…don’t you have a family home or something that you can hide in?” she asked.

Harry sighed and shook his head.  “It was destroyed the night I got this bloody scar.”

“What about friends in the muggle world?” tried Parvati.

Harry couldn’t hold in another small snort.  “Parvati, every muggle I grew up with thinks I’m a deranged criminal.  They’d probably turn me in to the police.”

Harry brooded for a few seconds, then said bitterly: “Look, Parvati, you and Padma are the only two people I know who are not suspect, as far as I’m concerned.  My two best friends are plotting to have me killed, and Merlin knows who else is in on it.  I’ve got an elf, an owl, and the Patil twins on my side.  I’m bloody well fucked.”

Parvati gave no immediate response, but did feel a little slighted by Harry’s dismissal of her help.  This whole situation was just so far beyond her usual comfort level.

She ground her teeth while musing for a moment, then spoke aloud.  “You’ve got to start somewhere, Harry.  Maybe you should make a list and figure out what you need…I wish Padma was here; she’s so much better at thinking things through.”

Harry eyed Parvati for a few seconds, choosing his words carefully.

“Parvati, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not sure how you can help me.  I don’t even know why you’re trying to help me.  You know that if someone sees us together you’ll be in danger, right?”

Now Parvati was offended.  “Well pardon me for trying to do the right thing, Harry Potter.  Would you rather I just left you in here to rot?  It seems to me you need all the help you can get.”

Harry sighed.  He wasn’t trying to be mean to Parvati, but he didn’t really think she’d be an asset to him right now.

“I’m sorry, Parvati.  It’s just…well, you’re not exactly the kind of girl who’s into, er, this kind of thing.  I mean, I know you can do magic…I just….I mean the things you know about are a little too, girly, I guess, to help me.”

Parvati surprised Harry by standing up and glaring at him with flashing eyes.

“Too girly, huh?  I’ve got news for you, Harry Potter.  I am a girl.  And just because I like dancing and nice clothes, it doesn’t I’m mean stupid or a coward.  Would you stand aside and do nothing if someone you knew was about to be murdered?”

Harry, a bit shocked at her outburst, shook his head hesitantly.

“Well, neither would I, you bloody git.  And it’s got nothing to do with being a girl.  But I’m delighted to know what you truly think of me,” she snapped.

Harry thought he heard her mutter “bloody wanker” under her breath.

Harry put his head in his hands and exhaled deeply.  He really was being an arse, taking his frustrations out on her of all people.  She was right, after all.  He did need all the help he could get, even if it came from someone like Parvati Patil.

“Now,” Parvati continued evenly, still standing over him, “should I go get Padma so she can help your sorry arse or should I leave you here to whine about how ‘fucked’ you are?”

Harry, properly shamed, decided that he should take the former option.

“I’m sorry again, Parvati, and I do appreciate your help.  I’m not thinking clearly, and I’m taking out my anger on you.  You don’t have to get Padma.  Hang on a sec.”

Harry reached into his robes and pulled out the Marauder’s Map.  It had not left his presence today, as he felt the need to know where his potential enemies were at all times.  He quickly located Padma, who was alone in the Ravenclaw dorms.

“Dobby?”

Dobby popped into the Come-and-Go Room less than a second later.

“How can Dobby be helping, Harry Potter sir?” he asked eagerly.

“Dobby,” Harry said, gesturing in Parvati’s direction, “this is Parvati Patil.  She’s a friend of mine who’s trying to help me get of here alive.”

Dobby bowed toward Parvati and she gave him a beautiful smile in return.  “Hi, Dobby.”

“Dobby,” Harry continued, “Parvati’s twin sister is named Padma, and she’s in her room in Ravenclaw Tower.  Do you think you could find her and tell her to come to the main seventh floor corridor and meet us?”

Dobby nodded enthusiastically and popped away before Harry could thank him.

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An hour later found Harry on the same couch, surrounded on both sides by the Patil twins, while Dobby sat on the floor in front of the fire and listened intently.  A dozen books lay before them on a small table.  Padma had not been happy at being summoned by Parvati, and seemed less eager to get involved in Harry’s troubles.  Nevertheless, just as Parvati had said, Padma had immediately set to making a list of Harry’s assets and liabilities.

He had a house elf, an owl, a Firebolt broom, the Marauder’s Map, an invisibility cloak, his wand, 75 galleons, and his vault key.  The Patil twins were helping him plan, but they were working against Dumbledore, the Weasleys, Hermione, and who knew how many others.  Plus Harry’s magic wasn’t working properly.  They knew Harry’s magic could be tracked through his wand when he exited the castle, but they didn’t know whether Dumbledore had placed tracking charms on Harry or his things.

They also didn’t know where Harry could go and remain safe from Dumbledore.  He could probably have Aurors hunting Harry within minutes of his departure.  Harry had no allies in the muggle world and most of the wizarding world thought him an attention-seeking liar or worse.  And who knew what Voldemort and the Ministry were capable of with Harry on the run?  After looking at the list, Padma sighed and summed up her opinion, matching Harry’s own:

“You’re pretty well screwed, Harry,” she sighed, rubbing her eyes.

Harry rolled his eyes.  “Thanks, Padma.  I could have told you that.”

Outside of finding a safe place to go, the biggest problems were that Harry couldn’t apparate and that they did not know how to identify or remove tracking charms.  Each could perform ‘specialis revelio’ to identify whether or not an object had magical properties, but thereafter they could not tell what kind of advanced magic had been performed.

Unfortunately Dobby could not do so either; he could recognize his master’s magic and sense it from far away, but he was unable to recognize general enchantments.

They had discovered, upon looking through several books, that tracking charms were very finicky spells and didn’t ‘take’ well when cast on living things.  That made it unlikely that Harry had tracking spells on his person, but it also meant that almost any or all of his belongings could have them.  He could check each of them for magic, but the complicated magic on his invisibility cloak and robes made it impossible to know for certain what enchantments they possessed.  They concluded that his glasses were also a strong possibility for tracking charms, as he was half blind without them.  The group was unsure whether Hedwig could be tracked or not.

While Harry was musing over whether he would have to leave the castle stark naked, Parvati cleared her throat and motioned Padma over to a corner of the room.  They held a whispered conversation for a few minutes, and judging by Parvati’s gesticulations, Padma was reluctant to agree with her on something.

They returned and Padma seated herself with a glowering look on her face.  Parvati stood before Harry and wrung her hands before she began speaking.

“Harry, we think we might have a place for you to go.  We have an uncle who is a bit, er, dodgy.  My dad won’t let him in our house because he doesn’t approve of him, but he dotes on the two of us and sends us things all the time…”

“Why is he dodgy?”  Harry interrupted.

“Well, er,” Parvati continued, “we’re not entirely sure.  I know that he imports potion ingredients and things like that from Asia, and some of it is probably illegal…but, well…dad says he knows a lot of bad people and he sometimes disappears for months at a time.  I think he has to go into hiding when some deal or other goes wrong…”

“The point,” interrupted Padma with irritation, “is that our uncle Dinesh might—might—be able to hide you successfully if you can get out of Scotland.  But we would have to ask him, and he’ll probably want to be paid for doing it.  He’s not very wealthy.”

“But if he does this,” Padma continued with some heat, “and someone finds out, our entire family suddenly becomes interesting to Dumbledore, You-Know-Who, and the Ministry.  I think it’s a bad idea, but Parvati insists,” Padma said with finality and crossed her arms.

Harry was unsure what to think of this proposal.  On the one hand, this might be his chance to hide successfully.  On the other, he didn’t know this Dinesh person and he did sound dodgy.  Did he have connections to Death Eaters?  Plus, Padma was right.  Hiding with a member of the Patil family would make them a target, and Harry, despite the desperation of his situation, was noble enough to think of the safety of others.

Parvati could virtually see the thoughts passing through his head from the conflicted expression on his face.

“Harry,” she said gently.  “You don’t have to worry about us.  No one is going to find about it from us; we’ll be very careful.  And I think you’ll be safe with our Uncle Dinesh until you figure out what to do.  You don’t have to stay there long, but you have to get away from here right now.”

Harry nodded in agreement; that was certainly true.  And yet…

“Er,” Harry began hesitantly.  He had already offended Parvati once tonight, and he didn’t want to do it again.  “Are you sure that he’s not too dodgy?  I mean, he wouldn’t just try and turn me over to…somebody?”  Harry trailed off, letting them complete the thought on their own.

Parvati shook her head.  “No, Harry.  If we can find a way to get in touch with him, he’ll help you because we asked him to.  He’s not a bad guy; he’s just a little…I don’t know…rough around the edges, I guess.  He knows how to take care of himself.”

“Okay,” Harry sighed, resigned to trying this, since it seemed to be his only option after he left the castle.  “If you tell Dobby where he can find your uncle, he’ll probably be able to deliver a letter from you, and then we’ll see what he says.”

And so Padma gave Dobby very specific instructions on the various places where he might find Dinesh Patil at this hour of the night, while Parvati quickly penned a letter.  Dobby informed them that he would find him as soon as possible, but that it might take a few hours.

Harry thanked Dobby and then rose from the couch.  He was absolutely exhausted from the constant stresses of the day, and it was approaching curfew.  Desperately hoping that he would have a workable plan soon, he thanked the twins profusely for their help and they made plans to meet again before breakfast in the morning.  After checking the map, Harry had the twins leave first so that they would not be seen with him, and then he too left the room five minutes later.

On the long walk back to Gryffindor tower, the surreal nature of the situation took hold of him again.  His best friends were conspiring to get him killed, and he was going to leave Hogwarts with the help of the Patil twins and a house elf.  Harry shook his head, trying to wrap his head around the truth of it.  As angry and betrayed as he felt, this still seemed like an absurd hallucination.

Harry desperately hoped that Dinesh Patil would be able to hide him.  He needed to escape this damned castle immediately.  But whatever happened, he was certain of one thing.

Before he fled Hogwarts, he was going to have a “conversation” with his best friends.

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A/N: Next chapter, Harry confronts Ron and Hermione and then runs for his life.  But how hard will it be to escape the castle?

My description of a snorkack is somewhat similar to bobmin’s wonderful characterization in Sunrise over Britain.