The Princess of Light

Chapter 5.27 (The great escape from Azkaban)

The next day, pretty much every single member of the DA had found the opportunity to approach either Aurora or Harry to ask if they had another lesson tonight.

The both of them kept saying the same thing, "We'll let you know in the usual way when the next one is."

"I've got to go to - er - remedial Potions." Harry told Zacharias Smith awkwardly.

"You take remedial Potions?" Asked Zacharias superciliously, having cornered Harry in the Entrance Hall after lunch. "Good Lord, you must be terrible. Snape doesn't usually give extra lessons, does he?"

As Smith strode away in an annoyingly buoyant fashion, Ron glared after him. "Shall I jinx him? I can still get him from here." He said, raising his wand and taking aim between Smith's shoulder blades.

"Forget it," said Harry dismally. "It's what everyone's going to think, isn't it? I'm really stup-"

"Hi, Harry," said a voice behind them. They turned round and found Cho standing there.

"Oh,"said Harry as his stomach leapt uncomfortably, "hi."

"We'll be in the library, Harry," said Hermione firmly as she seized Ron and Aurora above the elbow and dragged them off towards the marble staircase.

"But Mione..." Harry vaguely heard Aurora pout, "I wanna watch,'

"Had a good Christmas?" Asked Cho.

"Yeah, not bad." Said Harry.

"Mine was pretty quiet." Said Cho. For some reason, she was looking rather embarrassed. "Erm...there's another Hogsmeade trip next month, did you see the notice?"

"What? Oh, no, I haven't checked the noticeboard since I got back."

"Yes, it's on Valentine's Day..."

"Right," said Harry, wondering why she was telling him this. "Well, I suppose you want to-?"

"Only if you do." She said eagerly.

Harry stared. He had been about to say, "I suppose you want to know when the next DA meeting is?' but her response did not seem to fit.

"I-er-" he said.

"Oh, it's OK if you don't." She said, looking mortified. "Don't worry, I - I'll see you around."

She walked away. Harry stood staring after her, his brain working frantically. Why weren't Aurora or Hermione, or even Elizabeth here? He needed an explanation as to what just happened. Then something clunked into place. "Cho! Hey - CHO!"He ran after her, catching her halfway up the marble staircase. "Er - d'you want to come to Hogsmeade with me on Valentine's Day?"

"Oooh, yes!" she said, blushing crimson and beaming at him.

"Right....well...that's settled then," said Harry, and feeling that the day was not going to be a complete loss after all, he virtually bounced off to the library to pick up Ron, Aurora and Hermione before their afternoon lessons.

~~~

Aurora, and nearly every other fifth year, had spent the evening working on Umbridge's most recent ream of homework. They all sat at lamp-lit tables, noses close to books, quills scratching feverishly over parchment.

Aurora was the first one to notice Harry enter. He was sweating and seemed to be shivering. His face was white as a sheet and his scar stood out against his forehead more obviously than usual. It was clear it had pained him somewhere in the last thirty minutes.

"Are you all right, Harry?" Aurora whispered as he sat opposite her and Hermione.

"Yeah....fine...I dunno." Said Harry impatiently, wincing and squeezing his eyes shut for a moment before opening them again with a new urgency. "Listen...I've just realised something...While Snape was trying to read my mind or something, I saw a flash of a windowless passage with a plain black door at the end...I've been dreaming about it for months and now I realise where I've seen it. Mr. Weasley led me past it before my hearing. It's the same passage that Mr. Weasley was attacked in, I'm sure of it."