taking control

Chapter 25: Disappearing Act

Harry clapped his friend on the shoulder and said, "Sorry, mate. I tried." Ron turned away and walked up the boys' staircase without saying a word.

OoOoO

Harry settled very quickly into his new routine. Not only did his revision schedule change, but he began taking regular naps during the day. It was funny, he thought, the way unfortunate circumstances could sometimes work in your favour. Now that he had come out to his friends and Head of House about his visions, taking regular daytime naps was seen as a perfectly ordinary occurrence for Harry. Not only this, but when Ron or any of his roommates awoke in the middle of the night and found Harry's bed empty, they assumed he had had another vision and was unable to get back to sleep. A few times, Ron or Neville had even wandered down into the common room on such an occasion to see how he was doing. They would talk to him for a bit before heading back up to bed.

One such time, Ron had found the common room empty and questioned Harry as to his whereabouts during breakfast that morning. Harry had calmly stated that he was feeling a bit stir-crazy and needed to go for a walk. Harry had the perfect excuse to be missing at any given moment in the middle of the night, and no one thought it odd to find him making up for the lack of sleep during the day.

Harry's daytime sleep was mostly uninterrupted. He had experienced only one vision during the day since starting his naps. Luckily, he had not been witness to any of the acts he usually saw at night, but what he did see was just as ominous. Lucius Malfoy had just finished giving a report to Voldemort that seemed to have piqued the Dark Lord's interest. Unfortunately, Voldemort was keeping a tight leash on his thoughts, so Harry was unable to glean any details. Something about Voldemort's feelings had Harry on edge, but he could not quite place his finger on it.

Even though he was regularly getting a good amount of sleep, the change to his sleeping habits left Harry feeling constantly drowsy, as if his body did not know when it should grow tired and demand more sleep, but it was such an improvement over his previous exhaustion that, so long as he kept himself occupied, he hardly even noticed.

Harry used the privacy afforded to him in the middle of the night to his advantage. Not even Hermione made any attempt to track him at night. Harry guessed she was unwilling to break curfew by following him around the castle, or perhaps she merely needed her sleep. He tried not to become too relaxed, however. 'Constant Vigilance,' was one motto he could fully embrace. He had begun instinctively searching for any magical sources around him rather than doing it consciously, so he was sure that he was never being followed at night.

He often made his way to the Owlery in order to sneak off the grounds. He had wards to practice, after all. There were only a few days left until the house would be his. Harry had visited the house a few times in the middle of the night. He had not gone inside yet but had walked around the property to make some notes on the placement of the wards. He had already finished his calculations and was anxious to begin the casting.

In addition, Harry had tried and successfully cast the Fidelius Charm several times now. He started small, hiding just a small one metre by one metre section of land, but his last two attempts had hidden an enormous oak tree and a derelict Muggle play park. The charm was very draining, but he was confident now that he could cast it over his new property without issue. He made sure to dispel the charms after several days. After all, there was no sense hiding a tree and a run-down play park. Following his success with the Fidelius Charm, his preparations were complete.

As fast as most of May seemed to pass by, the last few days leading to the day of his house-closing were agonizing. The fact that he was so well-prepared was working against Harry. He had been so busy the past several weeks that he had hardly noticed the passage of time, but now that the day was almost upon him, there was nothing left to divert him – at least nothing relating to the warding of his new home.