Shattered Memories

Chapter Six

Terrors of the Worst Kind

"No - Harry! Quick, the water - Hermione!" Harry jerked awake. It took him a minute to figure out what had woken him, and he quickly climbed out from the warmth of his own bed and walked over to Ron. His best friend was thrashing in the covers, his face scrunched up. Harry watched him a second, wondering if that was what he looked like when he was having a nightmare. He gently placed a hand on Ron's shoulder and pushed it slightly. Ron's eyelids immediately opened and his eyes were staring wide at Harry's face.

"Its okay Ron, nothing's wrong!" Harry said earnestly, stepping back to allow Ron some room. The red head slowly sat up, his breathing ragged and sweat beaded on his forehead. His eyes looked scared as though he had seen some great terror. Slowly, though, he returned back to normal and they were left in an uncomfortable silence. Harry was back sitting on his own bed and had the covers wrapped around his legs. Ron was trying not to look at him, and was staring absently at the wall.

Harry cleared his throat. "Er - do you want to talk about it?"

Ron looked to him and Harry fleetingly saw panic reflected in his eyes. "No, its fine." Ron said blankly, turning his gaze away. Harry sighed and knew that Ron needed to talk about it, even if he didn't say.

"Are you sure? I mean - it sounded pretty bad..." Harry said quietly, keeping his eyes on Ron. Ron seemed to tense against the moonlight as his hand stopped rubbing a spot on his neck and he turned to face Harry, an angry glare in his eyes.

"You tell me what you've been dreaming about then, and then I'll tell you mine!" Ron said defiantly. Harry scowled and glared at Ron.

"I haven't even had any dreams lately!" he said untruthfully. He had been in that stone room again last night. Ron raised one thin red eyebrow.

"Than what were you mumbling about last night? Something about it being cold and they were coming?" Harry tensed at Ron's words. He had heard the footsteps clearly last night and they he had just woken as they stopped outside the door.

"I was dreaming that I was in a cold bath and thousands of centaurs were running towards me! Now, can you tell me what you were dreaming about so we can both get some sleep?" Harry said angrily, glaring daggers at Ron.

"No, I won't tell you my dream until you tell me yours!" Ron said just as angrily.

"Fine!" Harry yelled, turning around in his bed and pulling the covers up to his neck. Harry didn't hear Ron go back to sleep as he lay awake for hours. His heart was still thumping in his chest when sleep finally took over.

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It was so cold. He felt the icy wind tearing into his flesh and chilling his very bones. He hurt all over. The pain was unbearable and ever present. The stone beneath his body was hard and cold, and was making his body numb. His arms were aching painfully as they were chained against the wall above his head. The shackles were digging into his skin; the blood had dried long ago.

He attempted to move his legs but was only greeted with pain. It felt like his leg was broken; it was stiff with misuse. He opened his eyes and stared through the caked blood on his eyelids. He looked out to his stone prison, four walls and no window. The solid wood door had a small, barred slot at the top. He stared at it as he heard the dreaded sound of footsteps approaching.

They were drawing closer; ever closer. The steps echoed of the tonnes of stone and rock used to create this place. He waited with a rattling breath and a deep pit in his stomach. The cold was now deeper and more painful. It bit at his bones, chilling his entire body. With each footstep, a small puddle of blood at his feet rippled with the impact. He stared at the solid door and heard the footsteps stop.

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Once again, Harry jerked awake. Sunlight was streaming through the partly curtained windows and straight into his eyes. Harry reached out and clasped his wire-rimmed glasses, placing them on his face. Ron's bed was empty and the door was shut. Harry groaned as he slowly got up, scratching his head and sighing when he remembered the night before. Ron was so stubborn sometimes. Just because Harry didn't want to share his own nightmares, doesn't mean Ron could use the same excuse.

As Harry collected a clean pair of pants and a shirt, he made his way to the upstairs bathroom. The thoughts of his last nightmare were running through his mind as he turned on the tap. The hot water made all his worries wash away with the dirt and grime from the day before. All thoughts escaped him as he rinsed his long hair and marvelled at how it stayed down for once. Harry was in search of the soap, when he heard a deep, alarming growl. He quickly turned to face a slimy, bucktoothed creature that greatly resembled Gregory Goyle.

Harry yelled as the creature let of a great wail and he slipped backwards, landing on the wet floor. The showerhead was still spraying water on him as he stared up into the face of the ugly looking ghoul. As quickly as he fell, Harry scrambled from the shower and fled from the bathroom, grabbing a towel on the way. When he entered the second floor landing, there was a group of people running towards him, Remus Lupin in the lead.

"Harry! What - what happened? We he - heard you scream and - why are you all wet?" Lupin said when he had taken in Harry's dripping hair and wet torso. But all he could do was draw his towel a little tighter and just point back through the door where the ghoul was waiting in all its slimy glory. Remus and Mr Weasley looked at him strangely but walked towards the door and disappeared inside. Harry was all too aware that Tonks and Ginny could see his half-naked form and tried to pull the towel up a little. Tonks was giggling while Ron was just shot him a glare.

There was a moments silence before both Lupin and Arthur came back through the door, dripping wet and wearing surprised looks on their faces. Lupin pushed a bundle of clothes into Harry's arms and he almost lost his towel trying to get a grip on them.

"I think everyone should use the first floor bathroom from now on, just to be safe," Remus said, shaking his head like a great dog; water was flicked everywhere and Ginny tried to shield her eyes with Ron's arm. "We'll need Alastor to get that one out, or just to move it up to the attic or something. I suggest you get dressed, Harry, you'll catch a chill being all wet without any clothes on," Remus said, smirking as Harry glared at him. Harry shifted his clothes and skirted past his friends, determined to get away from their uncomfortable gazes.

Once Harry was dry and clothed, he made his way back down to the kitchen, where everyone was enjoying an early breakfast. He smiled grimly at Ginny who smiled slightly, a strange look in her eyes. Harry pulled a plate towards him and placed some sausages and eggs on it. Ron was eating in silence, occasionally giving Harry scathing looks. Ginny and Tonks were laughing over something while Lupin and Mr Weasley were discussing the next Order meeting to take place that night.

"Oh - Harry?" He pulled his head up to look at Lupin.

"Yes?" he said in a blank voice. Lupin's eyes faltered slightly before he continued. "We will have to post-pone your training to next Monday, because Kingsley was called away on Ministry business. Is that alright?" Lupin asked his voice hoarse. Harry nodded then thought of something.

"Hey, Professor -?"

"Harry, I haven't been your teacher for over two years, call me Remus." Lupin said, smiling warmly. Harry nodded.

"Okay, Pro - Remus. Well, you know how I'm doing this training. Well, do you think that Hermione and Ron could do it with me? I mean - they are always the one with me when I get into trouble and I thought it might be good for them to be taught to defend themselves properly?" Harry said quickly and hopefully. Remus was looking at him thoughtfully as Harry and Ron waited silently.

"I don't see if that will be a problem. I'll have to run it by Albus and Kingsley, but I think it's a good idea!" Remus said, chuckling when Harry and Ron started grinning in happiness.

"Oh - what about me?" said Ginny, a hurt look in her eyes. Harry looked back to Remus and smiled hopefully.

The old marauder only laughed and said, "Why not?"

The rest of the morning was spent in relative calm. Harry and Ron still weren't talking to each other and Ginny was left wandering between the two. At around eleven, Harry retreated to the Library to continue reading Practical Defensive Magic and its Uses Against the Dark Arts: Volume One. He only had a couple of chapters left and he wanted to finish it soon so he could move onto volume two.

Harry was on the last chapter when Ginny entered the library. Harry watched her walk towards him with a slight limp and wondered what happened.

"Hi, Ginny," he said. She smiled and sat down on a stiffed back chair opposite him.

"Hey, Harry. Why aren't you and Ron talking?" she asked. Harry drew his eyebrows in and started reading his book again.

"We just had a disagreement last night,"

"About what?" she asked. Harry sighed.

"I woke him from a nightmare he was having and asked him if he wanted to talk about it. He blew up at me because I wouldn't tell him about dreams I'm not even having!" He said angrily. The thought of it still made him fume and Ginny noticed.

"Have you been having dreams?" she asked pointedly. Harry glared at her.

"No!" But she only looked at him disbelievingly, shook her head, pulled out a book and began to read it. Harry sighed and asked, "What happened to your foot?" She looked up at him, that strange look back in her eyes.

"Oh - I tripped over before and sort of...twisted it," she said. Harry didn't believe it one bit and watched her as she turned her head back down to read. It took him a few moments to figure out what was truly wrong with her foot and it made him feel absolutely horrible. He jumped up from his chair, book skidding across the carpet, and stared at the skinny redhead in front of him. Ginny was looking at him oddly, but he continued staring at her.

"It's because of me, isn't it?" he said.

She furrowed her brow and said, "What is?"

"Your foot. It's because I led you and the others to the Ministry and got everyone hurt or killed!" Harry said painfully, fresh images of Sirius surfacing in his mind. Ginny's eyes flickered with sadness and she stood, obviously standing on both her feet as if to say it didn't hurt. "It's my entire fault!" he said again.

"No, it's not your fault!" Ginny said though her voice sounded weak.

"Yes, it is! If I had practiced Occlumency like Dumbledore and Snape said then I wouldn't have gotten that vision and dragged everyone I cared about to the Ministry! Sirius wouldn't have been killed, your ankle wouldn't be sore, Ron wouldn't have been attacked by those brains and Hermione wouldn't have been almost killed!" Harry shouted, furiously trying to stop the tears from slipping from his eyes. Ginny's mouth was hanging open and she was crying silently.

"Harry -"

"No! It was my fault, Ginny. If -" But Harry didn't get to finish his statement as Ginny had appeared in front of him and had slapped him straight across the face. Her red hair was loose and flying magically. Her brown eyes were burning with a ferocity Harry didn't know Ginny had. He stood there blankly, mouth open and his hand poised before his stinging cheek.

"Harry Potter, you are the most self-centred prat I have ever seen! You are so wrapped up in your own self-pity that you haven't even noticed how many other people were affected by Sirius's death. And if you had noticed that, you would have known that there is no one in this world, except yourself, who blames you for his death! Sure, you were reckless and stupid, but you did it to save Sirius in the first place! And you didn't drag us off with you! We wanted to come, and we wouldn't have let you go without us anyway! So stop with the Oh, it's all my fault nonsense and just get over it!" she said her eyes pleading with him to accept it. There was silence before she made a weird noise and stormed from the library.

Harry was still standing in the same spot twenty minutes later, rubbing the red mark on his cheek. "Size sure doesn't matter...," he said in disbelief, collapsing backwards onto the armchair, creating a small cloud of dust to rise.

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It was nearing two o'clock and Harry was searching for Ginny to apologize. He found her in the Lounge Room playing chess with Ron.

"Checkmate!" Ron said triumphantly while Ginny groaned.

"That's the third time in an hour! How can you keep winning?" she said, sighing. Ron grinned broadly.

"Well, I'm just a champion by nature, that's all I can say!"

Harry smiled as he watched Ginny roll her eyes at her older brother. She raised an eyebrow when she spotted him hovering in the doorway. "Hello, Harry, come to say something?" she asked lightly. Harry smiled and ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, look, I'm sorry -" he began.

But Ginny cut him off with, "For what?" she asked, smiling cheekily. Harry sighed.

"For being a self-centred prat who is blind to other people's feelings. Happy?" he said while Ginny laughed.

"Greatly."

Ron was watching the reaction with confusion, so Harry turned to him and said, "Ron, I - I'm sorry for last night and I know I shouldn't have kept prodding for you to tell me the dream. I know I don't like it when people do that," Harry said uncomfortably. He didn't like fighting with Ron and hated admitting he was wrong. But he felt that he needed to apologize. He didn't want another like the one before. Ron was watching him silently before he nodded.

"It's okay, mate, I was being a prat as well. So -" Ron said, face red, "What do you want to do?"

"I heard Remus say there was an attic in here somewhere. Do you want to go look for it before Moody puts that ghoul up there?" Harry asked excitedly. Ron's eyes lit up and Ginny grinned widely.

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"Are you sure it's this way?" asked Ginny about an hour later. They had been wandering around the fourth floor in search of stairs leading to the attic when Ron had accidentally knocked candelabra that opened a secret passage. It had led them to the fifth floor. The walls up at this part of the house were mouldy and partially collapsed. The ceiling looked lumpy and the floor was bare and cracked.

"I don't know, I've never been up here before!" Harry answered, entering another hallway full of old clothes and loose parchment. Ron was sticking closely to Harry, his eyes darting around in search of spiders or any magical items. Ginny had wanted to inspect every room, saying there could be things worth finding in every room. But the only things they had found was a cupboard full of Doxys.

They had been walking around for about two hours, searching for the entrance to the attic, when Ron stopped and shushed them. "Do you hear that?" he asked, placing a hand to his ear. Harry strained his hearing and could just make out the mumblings of talk in the distance. He threw a confused look to Ron and ushered them to follow him. Harry had his wand out and was pointing it in front of him as the talking got louder.

"- did you hear about that ghoul?" The phrase echoed down the hall, causing Harry to freeze. It sounded like it had come from the third door up, so he made hand gestures to get the others to understand. Ginny nodded while Ron was looking at him strangely.

Harry rolled his eyes and whispered, "Follow me!"

They were in front of a closed door, behind which it sounded like there was a one - sided conversation going on. "Yes, I am fine. Did you hear about that ghoul? My favourite colour is olive -" Harry raised his eyebrow at the others and nodded, holding his wand tightly and gripping the cold door handle.

"On the count of three. One...two...three!" Harry pushed open the door and jumped forward with both Ron and Ginny at his side. They had entered a run-down bathroom. The floor was tiled with black and white checkers with some missing and the walls were peeling and green. There was a single window that was broken on the sidewall, where the sunlight was shining through. The conversation has stopped when they entered and it took them a while to figure out what happened to it. There was a bathtub against the wall, beneath a great hole in the ceiling where ants were building a nest.

Harry let his hand fall and stepped forward curiously, looking into the large, porcelain tub. Inside it, no bigger than a cat, was a rattish looking creature with long shaggy hair. It looked to have been lounging in the bottom of the bathtub, munching on ants when they had burst in. It looked up at Harry with peculiar blue eyes and said, "Fancy a kipper?"

Harry was so taken back that he answered, "No, not really." Ron and Ginny were staring at the creature with interest and watching Harry's confused expression.

"It's a Jarvey," said Ginny knowledgably.

"A what?" said Harry, still shocked to find that the creature had talked back to him.

"Did you hear about that ghoul?" said the Jarvey in an incredibly loud drawl.

"A Jarvey. They can say simple phrases but can't talk fluently. Watch," Ginny stepped forward with the Jarvey's great blue eyes on her.

"What's your name?" she asked clearly. The creature looked up at her with a withering look.

"Eggbert Swiss Legola Frankfurt." Harry, Ron and Ginny all stood too shocked to move. The Jarvey seemed to smirk through the many layers of matted hair and said, "I once knew a man called Simon."

"That's nice," Ron mumbled, looking at the ferret-like creature with distaste. "You know, it kind of looks like Malfoy when he was a ferret, except he was white and didn't have that much hair."

Harry grinned at the thought of the Amazing Bouncing Ferret and ignored the Jarvey when it shouted, "My favourite colour is olive."

"Shall we move on and try and find the attic while we still have daylight left?" Ginny said absently, running a finger across the filthy porcelain tub.

"Yeah, let's go."

"Yes, I am fine. Would you like to see Uranus, I hear it's quite good this time of year?" said the Jarvey to Harry, jumping from the bathtub to follow them to the door.

"I'd rather not, thanks." Harry said to it, blocking its exit from the room.

"I once met a man named Simon." It said as Harry shut the door before it could get out.

"That thing would get annoying after a while," said Ron as they were walking along the hallway and the Jarvey shouted, "C IS FOR CHEESE!"

"Yeah, I reckon it would too. Say, does that gas lamp look more tilted than the others?" Harry said as they paused in the middle of the hall.

Ginny nodded and said, "Yes, it does." So she reached up and pulled on the metal frame of the lamp. There sounded a small click in the roof above them and part of the ceiling fell down to reveal an old, wooden staircase.

Ron looked at Harry and grinned, saying, "After you!"

Harry smiled, testing the first step to see if it was stable. After it didn't collapse, he continued up the rest of the way, Ginny directly behind him and Ron bringing up the rear. The first thing that greeted him when he stuck his head up at the top of the stairs was the smell of damp and musty books. Harry coughed in disgust and held a hand to his mouth as Ginny climbed up after him, her face twisted in agony.

"Merlin, that stinks!" she exclaimed, pulling her shirt up over her mouth. Harry nodded, inspecting the room. The roof slanted to one side which made the space on the left side smaller than that on the right. Harry had to bow his head to keep it from brushing the ceiling. When Ron appeared, he almost choked on the stench and hit his head on the roof.

"Ow - who makes the roof on an angle, honestly?" Ron said, rubbing his forehead. Harry laughed nasally, trying not too breathe in too much of the rotten air. There were boxes of junk littered across the floor, as well as some of the old portraits from downstairs. Luckily, though, it looked like they had been put under the Silencing Charm as their painted mouths were moving but no sounds were being released. Their tiny beaded eyes glared at Harry as he smiled at them, turning their portraits over to face the wooden floor.

There wasn't much up there, except for some old books with bloodstains and rolls of parchment written in text they couldn't understand. Ginny told them to gather as many of the rolled pieces of parchment as they could carry, as they might be useful for the order. So they began depositing all the things they wished to keep, back down to the fifth floor.

Harry was crouching in a corner, looking through a box of old sheets of parchment. Most of them were ripped or faded, but one had been inconspicuously stashed into a long pipe for safekeeping. Harry sat in the middle of the attic floor and unwrapped the sheet of large parchment. Harry stared at it for a second before calling Ron and Ginny over.

"What is it?" asked Ginny, sitting down beside Harry. It was a large, fully detailed map of Azkaban Fortress. It showed the main lookout posts, the patrolling areas, how high the walls were and even how deep the water was. All this was written in curly black writing and stamped with the Black Family Crest. But, in places over it, someone had written in deep red ink.

On the front side of the map, they had written: drainpipe leading out, fifty feet to water, able to climb. And in another place, at one of the lookout posts it said: Main Tower leading to bottom cells, access through patrol doors.

"It looks like someone was planning to break in, look here: Patrol change, weakest time. How would they get a map like this?" said Ron in disbelief. Harry shook his head in confusion.

"I have no idea."

"Well, we better get back down; Lupin might have a heart-attack if Harry's gone for too long,"

"Yeah, he might think the ghoul has gotten him again -"

"I am right here, you know!" Harry said in defence, while Ron and Ginny laughed.

Harry would have found it much easier to use magic to levitate the scrolls down to the bottom floor. His hands were full after Ginny had loaded them with parchment and books, and Ron wasn't looking much better. The girl herself only had two long scrolls and was looking quite smug with her accomplishment. They were walking back towards the hidden staircase when Harry heard someone say, "Eggbert Swiss Legola Frankfurt." He groaned as he looked down at the shaggy ferret.

It was standing by Harry's feet on the floorboards, almost on top of a raised board. "What are you doing out? I thought I locked you in the bathroom." Harry said, feeling foolish talking to the small beast. Ron and Ginny were standing down the stairs a little, both looking up at him expectantly.

"I'm coming," Harry said, about to step around the Jarvey. But the talkative creature went to follow him and stepped on the loose board. Harry froze when he heard a soft click and felt the floor vanish beneath him.