Dreams of Home

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

As classes came to an end for the day Harry had a morbid feeling resting in his chest. The Death Eaters were out leading attacks on the Muggle population without consequence. There had to be something that could be done to combat them. The thought had not been far from his mind all day. Images of the burning village of Sussex haunted the corners of his mind, and spikes of rage would shoot through him as he saw members of his house exchange excited whispers throughout the day. Praises of the Dark Lord and his followers were said quietly, making Harry want to rip some of the junior Death Eaters to shreds. It had become so unbearable in the common room that evening that he had forced himself to take a walk through the halls to cool himself off.

Thoughts of Harry's family swam through his mind as he strolled through the dungeons. How was it that Charlus and Dorea sat back and allowed this to happen in his timeline? He understood the grief they held, but when the slaughter started to happen in the streets of their country, how did they sit back and do nothing? Arcturus Black hardly seemed like the type to rest on his laurels either. How was it no one had done anything? Did they not take the threat seriously? Even James did not seem to understand how bad the situation was. Did the death of Muggles just truly mean so little to magical society?

The knowledge of what happened to their family in the future must have truly awakened something inside his surrogate parents. Harry remembered Dorea telling his grandparents that one of the reasons they allowed themselves to wallow in their grief was because they were no longer needed by the family. Perhaps it was simply too late by the time they realized what was happening to their country.

As Harry decided it was time to return to the Slytherin common room he detected a faint magical anomaly coming from an empty classroom towards the end of the hall. His first instinct was to investigate what his senses had picked up on, but another part of him was cautious of what he could be walking into. Originally he had separated himself from the others to give himself some time to think, and he wasn't really interested in disturbing someone else's evening, but something beckoned him to investigate the magical presence.

He was close enough to the common room at this point that he worried that someone might be getting bullied by the other Slytherins, and when he opened the door to find a powerful notice-me-not charm his suspicion increased as he gently rotated his wrist in tight circles. The charm dispelled before his eyes, and before he could do anything a wand was pointed between his eyes, "What the hell are you doing here, Potter?"

The angry blue and green eyes of Elaina Essex were honed in on him, and Harry quickly raised his wand, "I come in peace. Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you. I just thought-"

Taking in the room it looked like a bomb had gone off, and he trailed off observing the destruction, "You just thought what? That the little Mudblood might need saving?"

Frowning at her words Harry shook his head, "I meant it when I said I truly do not like that word. I think I have already discovered you don't need saving, Miss Essex. I just sensed the magical disturbance, and wanted to make sure no one was in trouble. These are dangerous times we live in, and by the looks of this room..."

He really didn't know what to say about the destruction of the room. It was clear from the magical saturation that the girl had been burning off some frustration, or was doing some type of explosive magical combat training. Whatever it was, it was messy. Noticing the wand still pointed at his face he nodded towards the weapon, "I would appreciate it if you would lower your wand. I won't attack you. Not after you saved me from that curse last night. I can only imagine the intent behind Avery's spell was anything but friendly."

This time Elaina's glare shifted slightly to her own wand, and hesitantly lowered it. Harry observed the small-framed girl for a moment, and nodded in appreciation, "Can I ask what you were doing in here?