The library was not so much a collection of books as it was a treasure trove of wisdom, information and horrible, horrible dangers. Selwin first handed him a book on transfiguration that kept changing at every turn of a page. Sometimes it would go on for five pages about fundamentals of transfiguration, then it would flip forward to a diagram of some unknown creature in a language even Lily couldn't begin to translate, then it would flip to a spell he learned in first year.
There was a divination book that would tell events happening five seconds ahead of time, if your reading was quick enough. Lily read out loud how Remus would stub his toe against the table they set between them and saw it happening in real time. Whether that was the book's doing or a prediction was anyone's guess. One herbology book written in Gaelic described species of magical plants completely unknown to any of them, before Severus remarked that the Seven-Bulbed Fern had been extinct for over 70.000 years. This was strange because it listed several uses for its roots. A Monstronomicon displayed things that hopefully they would never encounter, every chapter being more nightmarish than the last one.
But by far the most dangerous book they'd come across was what Selwin described as a "Defensive Arts Practice Book". Once opened, it would list a spell and counterspell. Exactly three minutes later it would fire the spell at the reader. Harry almost lost his arm to an elbow twisting curse, and the book remained closed for the remainder of their session.
Three careful and exhausting hours later they were all completely magically spent. Selwin called for tea, which really just appeared in front of them and they listlessly rested in silence, no one finding words adequate enough to describe what had just happened. There were still thousands of books left going by a quick calculation he had made.
"So… exams...?" Severus said.
"Yeah, bother." Harry said.
Lily snorted, and a moment after they were all stuck in an exhausted laugh, Lily's cackles growing more high pitched every breath. If the studies didn't finish them off, this did, and they departed to their dorms. Harry found no trouble sleeping that night, his dreams filled with boundless magic as they had once been when he first started at Hogwarts.
-sSsSsSsSs-
That week was especially brutal. Even if their regular studies took but a few hours every day at a maximum, the remainder of the time would be spent with Selwin testing the limits of their patience and sanity. So when Friday rolled around, Harry entered the Great Hall for breakfast slightly groggy. He didn't even notice he had sat down next to Lily by habit when the post came. A quick reaction on her part prevented the paper from dropping into her bowl of oatmeal.
When she called out to him he was instantly woken up by the surprised look in her eyes. "Harry! Take a look at this." she said, pointing at an article, sliding it over.
Darkness Retreats?
While the shadow war raged for the past year, the country had been plagued by a slew of attacks on both muggle and magical households with frightening regularity. Today however marks a one month apparent truce between the rebellious forces of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named and the established power of the Ministry. While no named sources at the Ministry have deigned to comment about this, we humble wizards and witches can only hope this might be the sign of a lasting peace.
Reactions to the truce are however, mitigated. One source in the Ministry's offices who requested anonymity had something to say on the matter. "While some may rejoice at the stopping of hostilities, this is a false victory. There is no doubt in my mind that this is but the calm before the storm and a precursor to a more concerted attack."
The frown on his face told Lily most of what she needed to know. This was not a good sign, and it did not escape either of them that the one month break coincided with the disappearance of Peter Pettigrew.
Remus joined, and an icy silence settled on them. When they studied in the Unity Dorms later, they discussed the matter briefly, but the hitch only served to raise more questions. The lack of information about Voldemort's activities was a glaring flaw in their future plans.
Harry, too tired to do anything else, absent-mindedly flipped through the seemingly useless divination book. He read how his companions flipped pages in very excruciating detail and by the time the day was over he felt positively soporific. As he drifted to sleep that evening he vaguely heard something whispered in his ear, like an auditory hallucination at the edge of sleep. Silence…
"Silence, fool!" the hissing voice resounded on the stone walls of the chamber.
"My Lord, we have worked so hard. To – to throw it all away… on a hunch!"
The palefigure twisted on its heels revealing ruby red eyes and a toothy snarl. "Just because YOU cannot see, Lucius, does not mean you can lecture me on the course of our great undertaking!"
"But it was just one boy!"
"No. Not one boy, he was our hidden asset, supposed to be a complete secret.The last… link of a chain in a long line of careful preparations. That Wormtail is dead is proof we are vulnerable." he spat out.
"I only worry our work might be lost. Apologies, My Lord, it was not my place to say."
A snarl twisted to a hollow smile and a clawed hand rested on Lucius' shoulder. "Right, to know your place. Now, tell Bellatrix to enter. I have need of her for the ritual."
"My Lord..." he answered with some hesitation, and left the chamber, echoes following him.
As soon as he left a woman with dark eyes and a twisted smile entered. "My Darkest of Lords wishes my services?" she said with almost a giggle.
"Yes. Yes, Bella. It is time, you must find the girl." he said, turning and walking deeper into the chamber. "I had hoped it would be… unnecessary. However, nebulous forces beyond my grasp are conspiring against me. I can feel it... in my bones... inching closer."
Dim light of tepid torches illuminated a great maw built into the stone. Its features showed a smoothness brought about only by the sands of time, but the magnificence and awe of it were still apparent.
"My Lord," she said with some smugness, "are you really sure it has to be that one? A muggle girl? Of all people?"
"Yes! The essence of its meaning escapes me, but it has to be her. The ritual is very… specific… about this. To find another one… would be most difficult. To find one with the gift, I don't think is possible."
"As my Lord commands, then." she answered with a pouty grin, and skipped off to the exit.
"Soon, beast. Soon you shall be in my thrall." he whispered into the empty room.
Harry awoke with a start, covered in sweat. His breath was quick and his heart felt like it was going to jump right out of his chest. A hand went to his scar, it didn't hurt, of course it didn't hurt, the horcrux within it had been banished before he ever got here. He knew nightmares, of every shape and make, and this was not a nightmare. This was real, as real as his visions at the start of his 4th year had been, except more vivid, not as confusing, and he had to believe his occlumency was now good enough to prevent Voldemort from drilling into his mind. It was 4 O'clock and he couldn't sleep any more.
He had time to mull things over. Not the meaning, because his mind was in a daze, but what to tell the rest of them. He couldn't say he had dreams before, so maybe he could tell them it was because of their reading. For all he knew it could be the truth. He sat with the Slytherin table at breakfast. It seemed they were in as much of a daze as he was. Nathan muttered things under his breath looking over his reading. Luci had taken to reciting different plants rhythmically in turn to drill the knowledge into her head. Regulus was simply cramming over a potions book and seemed to be going about a spoonful per two pages, leaving his porridge cold and clumpy.
Thankful for the silence, he excused himself to wait for the others. He asked Selwin for privacy when he got there, telling him he would knock at the bookcase if he needed him. His foot was nervously thumping when they met him. There was no need to say "I need to talk."
"I had a dream… some kind of… vision, about Voldemort."
Remus and Severus exchanged glances while Lily worriedly looked at him.
"He was talking to someone. He said he knew Wormtail died, but didn't seem to know how."
Remus shot up. "Peter, Wormtail is Peter. James call – used to call him that."
"It's just a dream, right? Did you know that was his nickname before that?" Severus asked.
"I – I might have overheard it. I'm not sure." With a heavy sigh he continued. "I also saw… Bellatrix Lestrange. They were in this dark, old chamber. He said they needed a girl… for a… a ritual. Apparently she's pretty important, but just a muggle. He was talking about binding some kind of beast to his will. I wouldn't mention it if it was just a dream. It felt real, not dream real, like a film – that's moving pictures, a muggle thing, Lily knows what I'm talking about."
"I know what a film is." Remus said glumly.
"Look. Even if it's somehow… what are we calling this, a premonition?" Severus said.
"It's not a premonition! Either it has already happened or just did." Harry said.
"Whatever it is, what does that mean for us? Does this lead him back to us?"
"No." Harry said rubbing his forehead. "No, it's like the papers said. He's retreated, and I have no idea what he's trying to do. But it doesn't sound good. I know this doesn't give us much to work with… but I didn't want to hide it and have it come back to bite us in the arse."
"If he's well protected," Lily said, "and I assume he is, it will be near impossible for us to find him. And I don't know if we have much of a shot at stopping him if we don't know where to look."
"Maybe we should talk to Keldran. He said his door was open for a reason." Remus said.
Harry sighed. His body felt heavy and his mind clouded. "I guess that's what we'll do."
Together they went to the 7th floor. Harry wondered how many more of those trips they'd have to take, chasing their tails. But he wouldn't complain about the time he'd spent here. No, compared to some other years this was a blissful existence. It was with some guilt he admitted that the three friends before him were more important to him than anyone else had ever been. Except for maybe the memory of family, and that was just a distant dream.
Severus paced before the wall as Harry rubbed his eyes. He seemed to stop and turn back after some time. "It's not showing itself."
With a hint of frustration, Harry stepped forward. "Let me try."
He paced, imagined the study, the door with the golden handle as he had done before. But nothing was happening. This wasn't normal. "Damn it."
"See? I've done this before… I couldn't find Keldran the day after Pettigrew disappeared either."
"What the hell does that mean?" Remus asked.
"We'd have to ask him, wouldn't we?" Lily said. "And it seems that's not happening."
"What if he knows something he's not letting on?!" Remus snarled back.
"Nobody knows where Pettigrew disappeared to." Severus interjected.
"HE DIED! He didn't just disappear, and I'd appreciate it if you realized that!"
"Yes, well it's not my fault, is it?"
"Maybe it's his fault, maybe it –"
"SHUT UP!" Harry yelled. "What the hell are you doing shouting in an open school hallway about things that we can't answer to?!"
Remus looked down with a grimace. Severus just showed a blank face and Lily gave a look of shame like it was her fault this was happening.
"Sorry… Sorry, I just – I'm tired and I'm sick of losing time pointlessly discussing things. We don't have much time left, I know it. I'm going back to the dorms, I'm going to try and figure out how to work that library before it's too late."
He left with a buzzing in his ears, and slowed his pace as he heard footsteps follow behind him. Remus caught up to him. After a minute or two he seemed to have found the words to speak. "I hope you understand… I just lost a good friend… and he probably betrayed me in the end."
"It's fine. I get that. I lost a fair few friends myself… We're allowed to get angry sometimes."
Harry always thought friendship was a fragile and elusive thing. Maybe it had been his time with the Dursleys, where people would ignore him because he was strange and a target for bullying. Maybe it was because people looked at him like a celebrity for most of his later life. Maybe it was because one of his best friends had deserted him more times he cared to admit. He was glad to be proven wrong. Remus bore no grudge, Severus showed no scorn, Lily had regained her smile. Perhaps it was a good thing he'd taken this second chance, or he might never have known friendship could be such a sturdy thing.
Selwin knew nothing of Keldran's disappearance. After every book he fished out for them to try, Harry felt grateful for the others being there with him. They worked late into the night, taking advantage of the confusion of looming exams that left prefects and teachers busy and clueless.
And that night something truly magical happened, something that shook something in his core. Lily told Severus and Remus to go ahead, asking Harry to stay for a while. Both of them smiled back with encouragement before disappearing through the painting. Something whispering in his head had convinced him there should have been jealousy or anger there instead, but there wasn't.
He hadn't realized how much he needed to be alone with her for even a moment. Lily had that power to rejuvenate his spirit by just being there for him. In any other destination in time, matching Riddle would be a suicide mission. If he hadn't ended up here he'd have died alone. After their brief tyrst, they left to their respective dorms, and Harry drifted into a still and dreamless sleep.
-sSsSsSsSs-
They tried the Room of Requirement several more times. But it seemed whatever was happening kept it closed. Lily, Severus and Remus had fully accepted Harry's point of view that time spent arguing was time wasted. It seemed Remus had honed in pretty heavily on the self-changing transfiguration tome, as well as another one that required quite precise transfiguration itself to reveal its secrets. There were more surprising things, that the man who changes into a wolf would be interested in change.
Three days after Keldran's disappearance Lily had found a book on runic wards that Harry would have had trouble even deciphering, as well as two translation references. Severus had a few alchemical and potions references as well as an anecdotal book on wand-lore that annoyingly sung its contents like one of those battery powered birthday cards Dudley got every year. Harry had found an almanac on jinxes and counterspells that he read through hoping one day to be brave enough to open the spellslinging spellbook again. He also kept the divining divination book aside. Maybe he'd have another helpful dream if he kept reading it.
Luci had informed the entire team that practice would resume on the 18th of April as their classes did. While practice was necessary, Harry knew this was nothing but a formality. Hufflepuff had lost a beater and a seeker last year and those who were filling in lacked experience. They could win the match even if he wasn't there. But this wasn't about the perfect record, it was about Luci and Darcy graduating next year, and their school quidditch careers coming to an end. The promise of the Quidditch Cup and the following celebration was a good way for Harry to keep his mind off graver things.