Then Hannah had spotted Padma and her friends Lisa Turpin and Su Li. The blond Hufflepuff had shouted out to them and gotten the trio to join them as well. A space had quickly cleared next to Harry for Padma to sit down in, something that had resulted in plenty of good-natured ribbing directed at Harry, especially from Hannah.
Harry had gotten his revenge on her when he spotted Neville on his own. Recalling a certain piece of trivia that he had learned over the summer holidays, Harry had feigned the need to use the toilet and escaped the group to get to Neville. The boy wasn't on his own due to being shunned. Instead he was opting to use his free time to study a few of the magical water-plants that were growing in the shallows of the lake rather than endure a chess match with Ron up in the common room.
After a bit of persuasion on Harry's part, Neville had agreed to join the group for a bit and Harry led him over, calling out loudly "Look who I found!"
Everyone greeted Neville, and the shy boy blushed furiously at receiving such a welcome. Harry gave Susan a rather pointed look and the red-head had understood immediately. She had whispered for Lilith and Sally-Anne to move up and they did so with Susan following.
"There you go Neville," said Harry, manoeuvring the shy lion through the group "You sit there and just enjoy yourself."
Job done, Harry had sat back down next to Padma before chancing a glance back towards Neville and Hannah. Neville was staring determinedly at the floor, his face flushed. Hannah meanwhile was glaring daggers at Harry, though the effect was ruined by the pink hue that was rapidly growing more vivid on her cheeks.
Harry had just given her a roguish grin before turning his attention to Padma and Lisa.
Before Harry knew it, the sun had begun to dip down behind the mountains and the pleasantly cool breeze had become icy. As they all began to get to their feet, Harry had examined his watch and seen the time. It was five minutes to eight in the evening. What was supposed to have been an hour spent outside in the sun had extended to almost seven and a half hours.
Harry knew that he ought to feel bad for neglecting his work, but in all honesty he didn't. After all, he had just been through a hectic week and he deserved the afternoon off. Especially when that afternoon was spent sitting in the sun, in the company of friends with one arm around the shoulders of his new girlfriend.
And anyway, it was only three minutes past eight now anyway. If he stayed up until eleven he could still get in three hours' worth work, maybe three and a half if he pulled his finger out and got a move on.
However, as he had approached the door to his quarters, Harry was becoming slowly more aware that something did not seem right.
In fact several things did not seem right.
Despite the time of day the corridors were deserted. There was another hour and a half until curfew, and yet there were no students milling about as they usually did.
He paused and looked around. For some strange reason, none of the portraits in the corridor were moving. He approached one and examined it closely. The three hags contained within seemed to have stopped moving right in the middle of shouting at someone. The next one contained a balding man with a thick white moustache who held his walking stick in a raised position, as though he had been threatening someone with it when he was frozen.
The other portraits were the same, clearly shouting, gesturing aggressively, facing the same way (along the corridor in the direction that Harry had just come from), and all mysteriously unmoving and silent.
Harry drew his wand and looked around. There did not appear to be anyone in the corridor besides himself.
Cautiously he made his way along the rest of the corridor and came to the suit of armour which stood on guard outside the door to his rooms.
The guard's helmet was dented and his axe was missing but beyond that he seemed fine.
Harry whispered the password and the suit of armour stepped aside and opened the door for Harry, who could not help but notice that his guard was limping.
Obviously someone had tried to force their way into his quarters, though it was unlikely that they had been successful. Fortunately there was a fireplace in his living room that was connected to the floo network. He would give Madam Bones a call and alert her of the situation.
He stepped through the door and into his office. Inside everything seemed fine. The desk was in order, the suggestion boxes were as he left them and the parchment stuck to the wall at the back was all still there.
He made his way over to the door that led to the living room and pushed it open. The living room seemed fine as well and he checked both the bathroom and the bedroom before returning there.
It didn't seem like anyone had gotten inside, but he still thought it best to inform Madam Bones that someone had quite clearly made the attempt.
He made his way over to the fireplace and pocketed his wand before reaching for the small clay pot sitting on the mantel piece that contained his supply of floo powder.
A split second later a spell hit him square in the back. The impact forced the air out of his lungs and his eyes lost all focus.
He hit the floor with a thud, and the clay pot of floo powder smashed apart beside him.
Harry Potter lay spread-eagled, face down on the rug in front of the fire place, out cold.
.....
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