As he sunk into the Occlumency training Edward had taught him to calm down he wondered if the older boy would let him hang out at his apartment. 'I know he has plans to open a business as well as prepare for University, but I hope he and Sam still have time for me.'
While he cooled his metaphorical heels with a meditation technique, curiosity had Harry try and focus on the feeling of unease within him. Could he try and find out what the source of his disquiet was?
It was worth a shot, so Harry let his consciousness spread outwards. He checked his memories and tried to see if it was perhaps a school assignment he'd forgotten to do, but nope, that wasn't it. Neither was it any sort of forgotten birthday or important date.
It was only when Harry focused on his body did he realize that it was a pain in his scar which had been making him antsy, and he frowned heavily. The feeling was a minor throb, like an itch instead of the pervasive migraine-like sensations he'd used to get. But now, he hadn't felt like that in weeks.
'In fact, when was the last time my scar actually hurt?' Harry wondered with a frown. After some time to think, the answer came to him.
'Halloween! The last time my scar hurt, it was during Halloween!' he realized. And when a troll had showed up during that time, he'd completely forgotten about it, as he'd been focused on other things. Namely, the troll.
'Okay, so, my scar really hurt around the time the troll showed up on Halloween. Is my scar some sort of threat sensor? Can it detect when I'm in danger?' Harry wondered curiously. If so, that was a surprisingly useful ability to have. Though the fact it'd gone off twice so far while at the supposedly 'safest school in Europe' didn't fill the Boy Who Lived with much confidence or joy.
'Think, Harry! Think! When my scar hurt last time, a troll was invading the castle. So, does that mean there's another troll? Or is something bad in general about to happen?' he wondered to himself.
A thought occurred to him, and Harry rose from his seat, muttering a hasty, "Gotta use the bathroom!" to his friends before bolting out of the common room.
"Sweepy!" Harry called out after running into the boy's bathroom near the first-year dorms. A second later the House Elf he'd spoken to before appeared with a popping sound.
"Yes Mister Harry Potty?" Sweepy asked, and Harry grimaced a bit at the name. He shoved the distaste down due to it reminding him of some of Dudley's name-calling, and instead addressed the House Elf.
"Sweepy, remember when I asked you to look after the 3rdfloor corridor? The one with the big dog in it?" Harry asked quickly, and Sweepy nodded.
"Yes! We play with the puppy and give him lots of treats, as you asked!" Sweepy said proudly, and Harry grinned a bit at that before turning serious.
"Good. I need to know if there's something wrong with Fluffy and the corridor. I have… a bad feeling," Harry said. Sweepy tilted his head at that but nodded, and vanished in a pop.
A few seconds later the House Elf returned, looking frazzled. "Sweepy doesn't understand! Someone has put a nasty curse on the hallways!"
"Ah," Harry muttered. "Can you remove it?"
"Nasty curse made Hogwarts angry," Sweepy said solemnly. "But Hogwarts couldn't touch it until Mister Harry told Sweepy to look for it. House Elves will take care of it! Sweepy will also get rid of noisy thing from Fluffy's room."
"Noisy thing?" Harry asked, suddenly feeling nervous, and his scar throbbed seemingly in tune with his own concern.
"A magic harp that goes plinky-plink all on its own," Sweepy complained.
"Uh-oh," Harry muttered. Somebody – Snape perhaps? – had put some kind of enchanted instrument in Fluffy's room and had likely already snuck past him. And that curse… it sounded like it was to delay anyone to come after him.
There was also the revelation that Hogwarts was somehow alive, or something? And it didn't like the fact somebody had cursed a part of it. It also seemed like the castle, as aware as it was, couldn't do anything about the curse, though.
'Ugh, details for later!' he thought to himself with a shake of his head. Instead, he asked, "Sweepy! Is Dumbledore here right now?"
"Headmaster Dumblydore was called aways after dinner to the Ministry," Sweepy replied, which made Harry's heart sink.
"Oh, crap!" he swore. "Sweepy, get Hedwig for me, please! And something to write with!"
Sweepy nodded, and disappeared, only to reappear a few seconds later with Hedwig blinking in confusion and a quill with some parchment in hand.
Harry gratefully took it and quickly scrawled out a hasty message to Dumbledore. He didn't know if Hedwig could get to the Ministry or the headmaster in time, but it was worth a shot. He gave his beautiful bird the letter, and she let out an annoyed "Prek!"
"Sorry, girl, but it's important!" Harry apologized to her. "Can you take that to Dumbledore?"
Hedwig made a grumpy sound but nodded. Harry grinned in relief before turning back to Sweepy.
"Can you warn Professor McGonagall about this?" he asked the House Elf.
"Sweepy shall!" the magical helper declared, before vanishing one last time with Hedwig.
That done, he hurried back down to the common room.
"Ron, Neville, Hermione!" he hissed at them, causing his trio of friends to look up, as well as get the attention of the other first years. "We need to talk!"
"What about?" Hermione asked, and Harry shook his head.
"No time! Come on!" he said, urging her and the other two up to the boy's dorms. He then closed the door behind them once inside the first-year bedroom, and looked at them in turn.
"Somebody got to Fluffy," he told them, eyes narrowed. Hermione gasped, Ron blinked in surprise, and Neville shivered.
"What do you mean?" the portly boy asked.
"Somebody put an enchanted musical instrument in Fluffy's room to lull him to sleep," Harry explained, and the trio nodded as they instantly realized what was happening.
"Snape's going after the Stone!" Ron gasped.
"We have to stop him!" Neville said in agreement.
"Absolutely! We'll use my cloak to get there without being noticed," Harry nodded.
"How do you know this?" Hermione asked, which was fair.
"I got a bad feeling all of a sudden, and asked Sweepy to check," Harry explained.
"The House Elf?" Neville asked.
"Right," Harry nodded.
"What stone are you talking about?"
"What do you mean, what stone? The Philosopher's Stone, duh!" Ron said, before pausing. In fact, all four Gryffindor's went dead silent before turning around to face the door. Which was ajar, and had Dean, Seamus, Lavender, Padma, Sally-Anne, and Kellah peering through it.
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