Hogwarts: The Exemplary Wizard I Am Chapter 656: Harry's Dream - Novel Cool

Chapter 656: Harry's Dream

Chapter 656: Harry's Dream

With no opportunity to visit Sirius, Harry felt at a loose end after finishing his cake.

"So, what exactly happened?" Kyle took the chance to ask the question that had been on his mind.

From the moment he was summoned to the headmaster's office, he had been in the dark about the situation and hadn't had a chance to inquire. He had simply been whisked along by Dumbledore.

"I think... I had a dream." Harry said, looking hesitant as he spoke. "I was working on my Charms essay, and then I must have dozed off and had this very strange dream."

"In the dream, I seemed to become Voldemort..." Harry paused, as if expecting Kyle to dismiss his words as madness. "...I know it sounds insane, and you'd be justified in thinking I'm raving."

"I believe you." Kyle said, his eyes flicking to the lightning-bolt scar on Harry's forehead.

"Thanks..." Harry said, relieved. "Anyway, Voldemort gave an order to teach his 'tail' a lesson... and then... well, Voldemort used the Killing Curse to kill someone."

"Who was it?" Kyle asked. "Was it another member of the Order?"

"I don't know." Harry fiddled with his cup. "I've never seen or met the person before."

Kyle frowned. "And then?"

"Then Ron woke me up. He said I was talking in my sleep and thought I was having a nightmare... But my scar was hurting like it was on fire.

"Hermione was worried and fetched Professor McGonagall. I told her about the dream, and she didn't think it was a regular nightmare. She brought me to the headmaster's office."

Kyle nodded in understanding. "So, you heard about the plan to attack Sirius in your dream?"

"No, I didn't hear any names." Harry shook his head. "It was Professor Dumbledore. He used some sort of magic... I don't know what spell it was, but it seemed to be for sending messages. A few minutes later, Mr. Weasley found Sirius."

Harry shuddered as he recalled the events. "I'm just glad Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore believed me."

From what he had overheard in the headmaster's office, he knew that Mr. Weasley and Moody had found Sirius being tortured by the Cruciatus Curse. Any delay could have had dire consequences.

Just thinking about the possibility of Sirius dying made Harry feel as if a giant hand was squeezing his stomach, and he couldn't stop trembling.

Seeing Harry's state, Kyle didn't ask any further questions. Instead, he got up to leave the tea room, intending to buy Harry a hot cocoa from the shop. He had noticed they had some earlier.

However, just as he was about to depart, he spotted two familiar figures approaching from the direction of the stairs.

"Mr. Weasley... Tonks." Kyle waved, and the two immediately headed over.

"Kyle, is Harry with you?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"He's in there." Kyle pointed to the tea room's booth. "Is something the matter?"

"Good." Mr. Weasley said. "It's getting quite late, and I need to take you both back to Hogwarts."

"What?"

Before Kyle could say more, Harry burst out of the tea room door. "I'm not going back. Sirius is still here."

"You already visited him, didn't you?" Mr. Weasley said. "Don't forget, you have classes tomorrow. My presence here is enough.

"Besides, Kreacher, the house-elf, just arrived a moment ago."

"But..." Harry began to protest, but then saw Mr. Weasley shake his head firmly.

"That's Sirius's wish as well. I suspect he doesn't want you to see him in such a weakened state..."

"I don't care!" Harry exclaimed. "It doesn't matter what he looks like."

"Regardless, you must return." Mr. Weasley said resolutely.

Seeing Harry's stubborn expression, he lowered his voice. "Think about the Ministry. You came to St. Mungo's right after Sirius was injured. That's already suspicious enough. Fortunately, Professor Dumbledore provided a reason to cover for you, but I don't think they're entirely convinced.

"If you don't want to be questioned, it's best to return to Hogwarts now."

Harry hesitated.

"Be patient and wait a few more days." Mr. Weasley's tone softened. "Come back during the Christmas holidays. By then, everything will be fine, and you can stay as long as you like."

Harry remained silent for a few minutes before finally nodding slowly.

"Good, I knew you'd make the right choice." Mr. Weasley said with a smile. "Now, let's not waste any more time. The earlier you leave, the more time you'll have to sleep."

"How are we getting back?" Harry asked. "Are we Apparating?"

"Yes, that's the quickest way." Mr. Weasley said. "But we'll have to go outside first. Like Hogwarts, Apparating is prohibited within St. Mungo's."

"Wait a moment..." Harry said. "But we Apparated here.

"...Tonks, you take the lead. If you spot anyone from the Ministry, let us know."

Tonks didn't seem to be in a good mood, which could be seen from her straw-like, bright orange hair.

However, after hearing Mr. Weasley's words, she nodded and started walking ahead.

"Alright, let's go." Mr. Weasley waved his hand, and Kyle and Harry followed suit.

Assuming that the Ministry officials were all with Dumbledore, the group didn't linger and quickly made their way from the sixth-floor tea room to the first-floor waiting room, and then outside to a department store displaying a "Temporarily Closed for Renovations" sign.

"The coast is clear," Mr. Weasley looked around, "Hurry up, Tonks."

As he finished speaking, he grabbed Harry's arm and disappeared from the spot.

Watching this, Kyle instinctively recalled the time he had been taken by the phoenix using Disapparating, and his stomach began to churn once more.

"Why don't I do it myself?" Kyle suggested to Tonks, "I can also Disapparate."

"I know, but just in case, it's better not to," Tonks shook her head, "It's illegal for underage wizards to use Disapparating, and if someone from the Ministry sees you, you'll be in trouble."

"But I'm in my sixth year now." Kyle tried to argue, "I should be fine."

"Even so, you have to wait until after the Christmas break when you've passed your Apparition test." Tonks grabbed Kyle's arm, "Get ready."

There was another crisp sound.

When Kyle opened his eyes again, he found himself at the entrance of Zonko's Joke Shop.

As Disapparating was prohibited at Hogwarts, Tonks could only bring him this far, just like with Harry and Mr. Weasley.

It was already 2 a.m., and Hogsmeade was quiet, with all the shops closed. The pointed rooftops were bathed in a silvery-white moonlight, creating a peaceful and beautiful scene, a stark contrast to the bustling daytime atmosphere.

The group walked along the usual path towards Hogwarts.

Tonks was curious about Harry's ability to dream about Voldemort. Back at St. Mungo's, she had refrained from asking due to the risk of eavesdroppers, but now she finally had the chance.

"You don't have any seer blood in your family, do you?" she asked inquisitively, "Or any famous prophets among your ancestors..."

"No," Harry replied, "And I don't think this was a prophecy either."

"That's true." Tonks mused, "After all, you didn't see the future but rather something that was happening in the present, which is distinct from a prophecy... How peculiar. Do you have some sort of special talent?"

There were always a few lucky individuals in the wizarding world who were born different from other wizards, and Tonks herself was a Metamorphmagus.

She could change her appearance at will, a skill that was incredibly difficult for others to master, but came naturally to her.

She wondered if Harry possessed a similar gift.

"I don't know," Harry said, not wanting to discuss the topic further.

The truth was, in his dream, he had become Voldemort.

Just recalling that experience made Harry feel ill, and if this was considered a talent, he would rather do without it.

Fortunately, they had now reached the school gates.

Mr. Weasley stopped walking and didn't proceed any further.

"From here on, you'll be safe," he said, "We can't stay away from St. Mungo's for too long, so we need to get back quickly. See you during the Christmas holidays."

"Goodbye."

After Kyle and Harry walked through the school gates, Mr. Weasley and Tonks Disapparated.

The school was as quiet as Hogsmeade, and the two made their way across the grounds, climbing the stone steps to the oak front door of the castle.

The door was closed, but that wasn't a problem for Kyle, who easily opened it with a flick of his wand.

"Over here, Mrs. Norris..."

Filch's voice rang out from upstairs, sounding uncomfortably loud in the quiet castle.

"Drat, it's Filch..." Harry anxiously looked up, "Do you think he'll realize we're not in our dormitory?"

"Don't worry, Filch can't check who's in their beds," Kyle said, "He's probably just doing his regular night patrol... Do you have your Invisibility Cloak with you?"

"No," Harry shook his head.

He had been taken straight from his bed to the headmaster's office, and in his haste, he had grabbed the first robe he could find. There was no chance he had his Invisibility Cloak.

"What about the Disguise Spell? Do you know it?" Kyle asked, "It would have the same effect."

"What spell?" Harry blinked.

"Never mind, forget I mentioned it." Kyle said, "How about this, just follow me, and I'll take you back to the Gryffindor common room."

"You'll take me back?" Harry suddenly realized something, "Oh, I almost forgot, you have an Invisibility Cloak too..."

"No, we won't need that."

The Hufflepuff common room was very close to the entrance hall, and Kyle could easily have returned there without taking the risk of accompanying Harry upstairs.

This way, even if they were caught, Filch could only catch one of them.

But before Harry could say anything more, Kyle had already started climbing the stairs.

Harry's heart immediately jumped to his throat. Based on his previous night-time adventures, he was certain that Filch would spot them if Kyle continued up the stairs so blatantly. In that case, neither of them would be able to escape.

Harry wanted to catch up and remind Kyle, but just as he had climbed halfway up the stairs, Kyle had already reached the second floor.

At the same time, his worst fear came true.

"Aha, I caught you!"

A dim oil lamp moved quickly from the other end of the corridor and soon approached the stairs.

Harry only needed to look up to see Filch's smug face behind the lamp.

"It's me, Filch,"

Just as Harry hesitated about what to do, he suddenly heard Kyle's calm voice, as if he were greeting Filch, without a hint of the panic that came with being caught during a nighttime stroll.

Of course, Kyle wasn't panicking because he had privileges.

"Is that you?"

After recognizing Kyle's face, Filch's expression immediately turned disappointed. "What are you doing here?"

"Of course, I'm here to look for suspicious individuals, just like you," Kyle replied calmly. "This is a task assigned to us by Professor Umbridge, and I'm sure it's best to complete it as soon as possible."

Filch fell silent, as he had to obey Kyle's command in this matter.

This made Filch very uncomfortable, so he had been avoiding direct contact with Kyle lately.

Now that Kyle had brought this up, Filch wanted to leave immediately.

So did Mrs. Norris.

Ever since she saw Kyle, her fur stood on end, her body tensed, and her ears folded back, as if bracing for an enemy.

Soon, Filch noticed this as well.

"What's wrong, Mrs. Norris?"

The response was a sharp howl, along with the sound of claws scraping against the floor.

Kyle guessed what might be bothering Mrs. Norris—it was probably the scent of the snake monster.

An hour earlier, when he had taken the snake monster out of the box, he had inevitably picked up its scent on his body.

While wizards might find it hard to detect such a scent, animals were much more sensitive to it, and Mrs. Norris likely smelled it on him.

Of course, even if he knew the reason, Kyle wouldn't tell Filch.

"I think Mrs. Norris must have discovered something. You can take her to the tower to investigate, and I'll handle things here."

"I don't need you to tell me what to do," Filch said, his face turning uglier. He glared at Kyle for another minute before turning away with a cold face.

"Let's go, Mrs. Norris."

The dim oil lamp gradually moved away, and Kyle waved his hand behind him as he continued upstairs.

At the turn of the stairs, Harry was stunned by this turn of events, standing dumbfounded in place.

He never expected that Kyle would so casually defuse a crisis. He even felt so dazed that he thought it was daytime for a moment, but the bright moonlight in the corridor constantly reminded him that it was indeed curfew time.

It wasn't until the footsteps had faded that he snapped out of his daze and hurried after Kyle.

They climbed all the way up to the eighth floor, past the Fat Lady's portrait, without another encounter with Filch.

"How did you do that?" Harry couldn't help but ask. "Filch didn't punish you."

"Because I have special privileges," Kyle replied, turning back. "To catch you guys from the DA, I'm allowed to move freely within the castle at any time, including during curfew. Do you know the password?"

"Yeah, I know," Harry said. "Fennel Fudge."

"The Fat Lady certainly has... um, unique taste," Kyle muttered.

"Thank you for the compliment, but I prefer marmalade," the Fat Lady's voice came from the portrait.

Harry wanted to say something more, but at that moment, the portrait had already opened upon hearing the password, revealing the passage behind it.

"Harry, is that you?" came the voices of Hermione and Ron from the passage.

"It's me," Harry said.

"Okay, you'd better get back now," Kyle glanced at him and said, "If you have a dream like today's again, remember to tell Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall immediately.

"Also, if Umbridge asks about it tomorrow, just tell her that the Headmaster informed you that Sirius was sent to St. Mungo's, and don't say anything else, especially not about your dream."

"I know," Harry said.

...

(End of Chapter)

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