Best or worst
Harry's school life didn't go smoothly in the second half of the semester. Even though he hadn't had a single semester at Hogwarts that could be considered smooth sailing since his first year, the end of his fifth year still left him feeling exhausted.
First, the DA training was forced to stop—Umbridge, impatient to force Cho to speak, used Veritaserum. Before Dobby arrived to inform them, several DA members were overjoyed at finally summoning their formed Patronuses. The jubilant little creatures vanished amidst their master's panic, hastily fleeing the Room of Requirement, but a few were still caught by Umbridge and the annoying Investigation Team. Dumbledore, to protect them, took responsibility, declaring that the DA referred to Dumbledore's Army. This enraged Fudge, who threatened to take him back to Azkaban, forgetting that no one could make Dumbledore do something he didn't want to do, not even the Dark Lord.
Dumbledore was gone, but the students remained. An enraged Umbridge vented her anger on several students she considered leaders. Dumbledore's departure, Umbridge's succession, and the punishment of his friends plunged Harry into self-blame, and the ensuing wave of negative emotions made it difficult for him to control his mind.
To make matters worse, during the following tutoring session, his regressed Occlumency allowed Snape to easily glimpse him flying to London under the moonlight. The Potions Professor's sarcastic remarks poured onto Harry like they were free, interspersed with vicious comments about his father and godfather. Harry couldn't control his temper—frankly, he was still a little over a month shy of sixteen, and if even the thirty-six-year-old Snape couldn't control his words towards his students, it was perfectly normal for him to be unable to, as he wasn't exactly a rational person to begin with—so when Snape used Legilimency on him again, Harry fiercely drew his wand and shouted, "Protect yourself!"
Then... by the time he came to his senses, he had already been kicked out of the cellar.
Harry's muddled mind was filled with images of his father and Sirius's young faces, their faces etched with malicious smiles. Were they really such scoundrels? For a moment, Harry even thought he saw Dudley. If his father was like that, why was his mother with him? Was she forced? After all, no matter how much Snape cursed his father, he never said a bad word about his mother.
Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room looking dejected, startling his two friends who almost thought he had suffered some kind of inhuman abuse at Snape's.
One maddening thing after another happened, and Harry was mentally exhausted for days, only finding a moment of calm in Queenie's messages about mundane daily life. When he stopped focusing on controlling his mind, he began to dream frequently: dark, cold walls, seemingly endless corridors, shelves reaching to the ceiling with a musty smell, and a strange crystal ball—the very place where he had dreamt of Mr. Weasley's attack before Christmas: the Department of Mysteries. He felt like he was constantly searching for something, but when he woke up, he couldn't accurately recall the dreams; however, the dual exhaustion of body and mind was real.
Harry felt he couldn't go on like this, but his bad mood and harmless dreams made him lose control of his mind. When he was too tired, he relied more on the water of life and death that he had gotten from Madam Pomfrey.
It wasn't until after the OWLs exams that he suddenly "saw" Sirius being tortured by Voldemort with the Crucifixion Curse in the Department of Mysteries. After a brief moment of disorientation, Harry immediately tensed up and dragged Hermione and Ron towards their dormitory.
"Are you sure, Harry? We all know Bigfoot is with Q!"
“I don’t know, but I saw it, just like the last time I saw Mr. Weasley!” Harry rushed to the front.
"What? You didn't use Occlumency properly? You know the dangers of contact!"
"Never mind that for now. What if I read Voldemort's thoughts again?"
“But what if Voldemort did it on purpose?” Hermione tugged hard at Harry’s robes to stop him. “What if he let you see Bigfoot being tortured to lure you in and capture you?”
Harry still retained a sliver of reason. "So let's go verify it first."
The trio ran back to the Gryffindor tower in one breath. Harry rummaged through the trunk and pulled out the two-way mirror. "Sirius! Sirius!" he called anxiously several times, but there was no response.
Ron asked in a low voice, "What should we do?"
Harry put down the two-way mirror. "Use the Floo Net to the Ministry of Magic."
“But all the chimneys were being monitored by Umbridge.”
Hermione quickly realized, "Except for her own."
The three hurried to Umbridge's office—she hadn't moved to the headmaster's office, and regardless of the powers the Ministry of Magic had granted her, Hogwarts clearly didn't recognize her. They were caught red-handed by Umbridge, but Hermione's impromptu trickery got her into the Forbidden Forest.
They had already been delayed for a long time, and it was completely dark when they came out of the Forbidden Forest.
Harry and Hermione encountered Ron and his group, who had escaped, on the covered bridge leading to the castle. Umbridge's fireplace had been sealed off, and at Luna's suggestion, they returned together to the Forbidden Forest to search for Thestrals.
Just as they were about to enter the Forbidden Forest, Harry's phone vibrated. At that moment, his mind was completely focused on rescuing Sirius, and he didn't have the extra thought to maintain his public image or hide Queenie from his friends. He instinctively answered the phone, "Queenie? What's wrong?"
Queenie's panicked voice on the other end of the phone made him unconsciously slow his pace. "Harry! Bigfoot turned into Sirius! Sirius is a dog! Bigfoot is a cannibal! No, Sirius is a cannibal! I swear I saw a cannibal!"
Dog Demon? What does that mean?
"Varied--"
etc--
"Queenie, tell me slowly, did you see Sirius?"
Yes, I—
Before Queenie could finish speaking, a rustling sound came from the other end of the phone. When Harry heard the voice again, it was someone else on the other end – Sirius, whom they were rushing to rescue.
“Hey Harry, don’t worry, someone was trying to cause trouble, but I got there just in time. Queenie is unharmed! Uh, wait, she seems to have bruised her ankle.” His tone was completely unlike what one would expect after suffering the Crucifixion Curse.
Harry had already stopped walking. Neville wanted to ask what was wrong, but Hermione shushed him.
"Sirius, are you alright?"
"Of course, they're just two Death Eater lackeys. What could possibly happen to them?"
Harry held the phone in both hands. "I saw footage of you being tortured by Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries this evening. He kept making you fetch something for him... It seems Hermione was right, he was cheating, that despicable man!"
"What did you say?" Sirius frowned, his tone serious. He held his phone in his left hand and waved his wand in the air a few times with his right, binding the two people on the ground together. "Listen, Harry, find a way to the Shrieking Shack. Someone will come to pick you up in a bit. See you at the old house."
"Wait, Sirius, let me say one more thing to Queenie!"
Sirius thoughtfully handed the phone to Queenie's ear.
Queenie, are you alright?
"I...no...this..."
“Darling, I know you have many questions, but please follow Sirius first, okay? He's not a dog demon, and he would never hurt you.” His tone was cautious, almost pleading. “Trust me, okay?”
Sirius hung up the phone, intending to return it to Queenie, but then he paused and stuffed the phone back into his pocket. "Let me borrow it for a bit. This thing is really convenient. Now—" He put away the wooden stick, picked up the two strange men with one hand—no, the strangest of all was Sirius. The two adult men seemed to weigh less than a book in his hands. "I'll take you back to the old house."
It sounds like they're taking her to some vampire's lair.
Queenie swore that if Harry hadn't told her to go with the dog demon first, she would have screamed louder than any heroine in a horror movie.
The call ended, and the tense atmosphere finally eased for a moment.
Hermione spoke first, "Is Sirius alright?"
Harry shook his head. "He's with Queenie, and Queenie ran into Death Eaters."
Hermione and Ron both gasped.
“Sirius saved her in time, but he—well—got exposed.” Harry had thought he would eventually tell Queenie everything, but he didn’t expect it to happen so suddenly. What’s worse, he didn’t even confess voluntarily; being forced to know often makes things more complicated. Within minutes, his concern had shifted from Sirius’s life to his own.
“Well, on the bright side, at least you don’t have to try to hide it from Queenie for two more years,” Hermione comforted her.
“Or—” Ron assured Merlin he wasn’t thinking too much when he said that, sometimes those sentences just popped out of his head as if they had a life of their own, “On the worst-case scenario, this could be the last time we meet, right? If I were Queenie, I’d be furious.”
Harry, "..."
Hermione, “…” If you don’t know how to comfort someone, keeping quiet is a kind of wisdom, and Ron clearly lacks that.
Harry turned his helpless gaze to the one who was still clear-headed. "What should I do?"
Hermione took a breath. "Well, the most important thing is honesty. I mean, from now on, don't lie anymore. As for the current situation, perhaps—"
The three, who had been ignored since Harry answered the phone, exchanged glances. Ginny, speaking on behalf of the group, asked, "Could someone tell us who Queenie is?"
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