There was a long pause after Harry had recapped his life in twenty minutes. Harry hadn't been so sure about what information was important to the men and which not, thus Harry had tried to not leave things out, but also not describe things extendedly. At the beginning Snape had given some snarky comments, but he had quickly shut up. Both men had stopped interrupting him and had stiffly listened until Harry finished.

Dumbledore stared at Harry and to Harry's confusion the man seemed to fight with tears. Why, Harry had no idea. Harry dared to glance at Snape, who had sat down on a chair against the wall. The man didn't look back, instead he stared at the floor, his expression blank.

Did Harry do something wrong? Why were the men like this?

"So, eh. What about Phemie?" Harry asked after the men didn't seem to react to his story at all. Dumbledore seemed startled for a second like he had been interrupted from a deep train of thought.

"Who?" The man asked but collected himself quickly. "Phemie. Euphemia Potter. James' daughter, of course."

Dumbledore turned to Snape. "Severus, how about we bring Harry to bed and then we make our way to the school's library?"

Severus' expression was still blank. "Yes, headmaster. I will see what I have on dimension travelling in my private library, too."

Satisfied Dumbledore nodded. "I would fetch a house-elf to show Harry to Hogwarts's guestroom. But I believe it would be best to keep his presence as discreet as possible…"

"I will show the boy to his room." Severus quickly agreed. He stood up and gestured to Harry to follow him. Harry had a thousand questions on his mind, but he didn't dare to ask any. Shyly he nodded and walked towards Snape, wondering what the men would make from what he had just told them.

"Harry," Dumbledore said before Harry could follow the teacher out of the room. "Thank you for telling us your story."

Harry nodded and blushed.

"And… I am sorry, Harry." Dumbledore continued. "Your life was supposed to be different."

Again, Harry just nodded.

First Snape seemed to rush through the corridors. Harry could barely keep up. He found himself quickly out of breath and suddenly also dizzy. He stopped for a second and leaned with one arm against the wall to catch his breath.

When Snape noticed that Harry wasn't following anymore, he turned around.

Harry expected him to get angry, but instead the man seemed… worried.

"Are you in pain?" He asked his voice so much softer than before.

"No, eh. I just needed a break. It's fine now." Harry explained between laboured breathing. He quickly pushed himself off the wall again.

"You got hit by the Cruciatus curse not too long ago. Pain and discomfort is to expected.", the professor explained.

"I'm fine." Harry repeated again. Snape gave him a doubtful glance but continued to walk down the corridor. He had slowed down to a pace, which was almost uncomfortably so.

They stopped at a big wooden door, which Snape opened with his wand.

"It's the Hogwarts' guestroom. Feel free to use anything inside of it." Snape explained. It wasn't as big of a room as one would expect in castle as huge as the school. It was rather small, the size made it seem almost homey though. There was a strong smell of old wood. Harry's tiredness hit him hard as the warmth of the room wrapped around him.

"Thanks." Harry muttered. He finally felt relieved. Sirius had been right about him going to Hogwarts. So far, the professors had been quite alright. They hadn't offered a solution, but if teachers of a wizarding school wouldn't know a way how to dimension travel, who could possibly come up with a way to bring Phemie home?

"I will leave a pain potion and dreamless potion on the table. There are clean pyjamas in the cupboard." Snape briefly informed him as he placed two vials on a round table in the middle of the room.

"Thank you." Harry answered another time before sitting down on the bed.

Snape briefly nodded and turned to the door. But then he hesitated as he was about to leave Harry alone.

"I'm sorry, Pot… Harry. I'm sorry." The man said quietly, not facing the child.

Harry blinked a few times, trying to understand what the man was apologizing for.

"What for?" Harry eventually asked.

"I…" Snape began, "I… promised your mother to protect you. A long time ago. I failed to keep my promise."

"It.. it doesn't matter." Harry answered stuttering. "Just… just find a way to bring Phemie back."

Snape's and Harry's eyes met. Harry thought that Snape was about to say more, but then man suddenly left the room as if looking at Harry had become unbearable.

Harry sighed and laid down on the bed. He glanced to the table with vials Snape left for him. Harry couldn't bother to get up to get them and decided that since he wasn't in pain right now it would certainly be fine later. He was incredibly exhausted though. He curled up on the big bed. Dumbledore and Snape had both apologized. What if Harry would have never run away from the Dursleys? Maybe Dumbledore would have saved him? Maybe Harry would have gotten a chance to go to school? Would have Snape really protected him? Maybe everything had been just Harry's fault, because he just been too afraid of what Vernon.

Harry woke up in pain regretting not taking the potions Snape had left him. He had started dreaming about his encounter with Voldemort. Once again, he had relived his fear of losing Phemie, his confusion and horror as Voldemort had forcefully rampaged through his memory, the despair when the curse had hit him… He had woken as the Cruciatus curse had hit him in the dream. But the pain hadn't disappeared after he had woken up. It had followed him out of his dream into reality, torturing him although his dream was over. It wasn't as bad as the actual curse, but still he could barely not suppress a scream. His spine felt someone was bending awkwardly or stabbing it with knives, although Harry was lying perfectly still in his bed.

Harry must be suffering from the side effects of the Cruciatus curse.

His bed was wet with sweat by now and Harry was quite certain, that he had a fever. Slowly he dragged himself up. He should go get some water, he decided. If he had a fever, water was certainly going to clear his head.

Harry pulled himself out of the bed with great effort and walked over to the smal bathroom attached to his room. He quickly drank a glass of water, washed his face. Just as he wanted to leave the bathroom he heard a voice. "So hungry… for so long…time to kill…"

Startled Harry swirled around trying to find the source of the voice. Was it a ghost? Phemie had told him that there were ghosts in Hogwarts.

But what if it was a real threat? What if it wasn't a normal ghost, but one that would really kill? Should he get Snape or Dumbledore?

Harry decided to follow the voice threatening to kill. He wasn't sure if he was allowed to wander through the castle, but he decided that protecting anybody in danger, was more important.

Quietly he followed the voice out of his room. It seemed that the voice came from the walls, but Harry never could exactly make out the location of the whisper. First, he was tiptoeing through the hallways, but then the voice seemed to move faster. He ran after the voice through several corridors until suddenly it disappeared. Harry was standing in front of a bathroom door. Harry gulped heavily. The voice must have come from inside of the bathroom.

Just as Harry had his hand on the doorknob of the bathroom, he could hear other voices. They were different voices than the one he had heard before. Younger voices. But Harry didn't hesitate before going in. Were there students? The ghosts Phemie had talked about? It was in the middle in the night, certainly all the students had to sleep by now.

He entered and was startled as he saw three boys in there. They had bright red hair and Harry could bet, that they were brothers. Two of them even seemed to be twins even. They were students, not ghosts. Harry recognized the school uniform.

They didn't notice Harry in the door. They were busy with mixing something in a cauldron. There was no sign of whatever had threatened to kill inside of the school.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" The younger one asked doubtfully.

"Yes, yes. We have tested it a few times in Snape's class." One of the twins answered.

"You get to test exploding potions in his class?" The youngest wondered.

"Well, it's not really an assignment. You know us, Ron. Always concerned about extra credit in class." The other twin elaborated. "And now, hide behind us. One, two, three…"

There was a loud blast and if Harry wouldn't have built up a magical shield in time a dislodged sink would have hit him.

The sinks, which had been assembled in a circle in the middle of the bathroom, were gone now. Instead they were scattered around the bathroom. Water was flooding out of a broken pipe, making the floor wet quickly.

"Did it work?" The boy called Ron asked.

"Doesn't look like it." The one of the twins commented.

"Wait, there is someone." The other twin was pointing at Harry with wide eyes.

"Oh, shit." The other said. "Kid, are you alright? Did you get hit?"

Harry wiped some dust from his glasses.

"Uh, no. I'm fine. What are you doing?" Harry wanted to know. This certainly wasn't part of the school's curriculum.

"We…" Ron started, "We… were testing some pranks."

It looked like trouble what the boys were doing. Harry really didn't want to get involved into any trouble. Sure, Snape and Dumbledore had been nice to him. But what would they do if they would blame him for whatever the boys were doing? Some part of Harry just wanted to go back to bed. The other was still worried about that scary voice.

"Have you heard that voice?" Harry asked.

The boys blinked in confusion.

"What voice?" One of the twins asked.

Just as Harry wanted to elaborate, the pain in his back came back. His back felt like it was on fire and suddenly his legs gave in and a toppled to the floor. His forehead started burning too. That was new. His scar had never hurt before.

The brothers were quickly at his side.

"You don't look alright, mate." One of the twins said, while they helped him sit up. "You got hit by the sink, didn't you?"

"We are really sorry." The Ron added. "It's just… our sister…"

But one of the twins stopped him from talking.

"Do you need to get to the hospital wing?" One of the twins suggested "Or should we bring you to your house?"

Harry just shook his head, trying to stand up again. They helped him by pulling him by his arms gently. Then suddenly the younger one stared at the emblem on Harry's uniform.

"Who are you? You can't be in Gryffindor, I've never seen you before." The Ron was pointing at the golden lion on Harry's borrowed uniform.

"It's not my uniform." Harry tried to explain, but the three boys were glaring at him distrustfully.

"We've never seen you before." One of the twins realized. "It's not such a big school. Fred and I are quite good in remembering faces."

They took a few steps away from him. The twins drew their wand first, Ron quickly followed their example.

"Why are you wandering around in the castle at night? There is a curfew. Why are here in this bathroom of all places." The other twin asked.

"I'm not a student here," Harry tried to clarify, but that only seemed to raise their suspicion towards Harry. "And there was a voice…"

"The heir of Slytherin." One of the twins murmured. "It's genius, he sneaks in disguised as a student and opens the chamber of secrets. What did you do with our sister?"

"What? No. I'm the heir of nobody. I just had to talk to Dumbledore…" Harry began, but one of the twins threw a silent stupefy curse at him. Harry fended it of easily.

"Look," Harry started to explain again "I don't know who your sister is. My guest room is in this hallway and I woke up because my back hurt and then I heard this weird voice…"

Again, they tried to hex him, but this time the twins cursed at the same time. Harry could stop the hexes just in time.

"Where is Ginny!" Ron was shouting at him this time. He stepped closer to Harry. In his eyes was anger raging. "What have you done to her?"

"Really, I don't know what you are talking about!" Harry insisted, his forehead still throbbing in pain.

Just as one of the twins raised his wand again, the other twin stopped him. He pointed at Harry, was breathing heavily, struggling to stay on his feet.

"Maybe… maybe… we should get Dumbledore." The Ron suggested. The twins looked at each other and then nodded shortly.

"What about Ginny? We know she is somewhere here." One of the twins said. "That's what the map said."

"What about him?" The other twin argued. "He is not a student here. And he is sneaking around this bathroom."

"Because I've heard a voice!" Harry told them. "There was a voice threatening to kill. I followed it here!"

"There was no voice." One of the twins answered.

"There was!" Harry shouted at him. "It said that it wanted to kill!"

"Who are you? And what are you doing in Hogwarts?", one of the older brothers asked.

"Harry. I'm Harry." Harry answered, while adjusting his glasses, which had almost fallen of his nose in this tumult and brushed some dust from his face which was starting to itch. "I'm visiting Hogwarts just for tonight. I need Dumbledore's help with something. He knows I'm here. In the castle, I mean. I guess I'm not supposed to be here exactly, but…"

"Harry Potter…" Ron whispered first, his eyes getting wide. "Harry Potter!", he then shouted pointing at Harry. "He has the scar. The bolt shaped scar. It's Harry freaking Potter."

A little startled Harry stepped back. Sirius had told him that he was famous, but would people recognize him just because of the scar?

"It can't be." One of the twins said, looking as startled as Harry was. "Last year, when Harry Potter didn't come to attend Hogwarts, Dumbledore had to make an official statement that Harry Potter is missing…"

"I was missing." Harry explained. "Look, it's a long story. But there was something threatening to kill…"

"Why would you follow a voice, that wants to kill?" The other twin asked doubtfully.

"Because it could be dangerous!" Harry said, but the twin just raised a brow at him.

"We should bring him to Dumbledore." One of the twins reasoned. "He could really be Harry Potter, or just an imposter."

"We will get into trouble." Ron countered. "They will know that we outside of the tower after curfew and that we basically destroyed a bathroom."

"We are not going to risks anyone's safety, because we are afraid of lost points, detention and a howler from mum, Ron."

Ron just pressed his lips together and nodded.

"Come on, Harry. Let's walk to Dumbledore's office and see if he confirms your story." The twins tried to grab Harry's forearms, but Harry quickly got away from them.

"Please, no. I will be in trouble." Harry answered. Snape and Dumbledore certainly hadn't wanted Harry to wander around the castle without permission. He didn't know the men and what they would do if he disobeyed him. He needed them to be on his good side. He needed their help for Phemie.

"You are not going to be in more trouble than we are, mate." Ron tried to calm him, but Harry was not convinced. He wasn't a student at this school. And if Dumbledore and Snape wouldn't help him, Harry would have nowhere else to go.

"I… I can help you… You wanted to blast through something, right? That's what you tested here? I'm good at blasting things." Harry stuttered. "With magic. I'm good with it."

The twins shared a look, while Ron glanced at him slightly confused.

"We wanted to blast through the bathroom floor under the sink. We believe that our sister is somewhere there." One of the twins explained. "But our exploding potion failed. I don't see how you could do it."

"He is Harry freaking Potter. The boy who lived." The other twin said. "Let him try"

Harry took out Sirius' wand, his eyes fixed onto the bathroom floor. The other children looked slightly more afraid, when he saw the wand, but they didn't try to take it from him.

"Under where the sinks were?" Harry asked.

"Uh, yes." Ron answered.

Harry stepped closer to the floor and stepped on it slightly. He could feel that there was something beneath the floor. He stepped away from it again. Harry was exhausted, but he still had enough energy to try to make the floor explode.

"If I help you, you will not tell Dumbledore that I sneaked out of the guest room?" Harry wanted to know another time.

"We have a deal." The twins answered in unison.

Harry nodded and with swift movement of the wand he made the floor explode. The sinks shattered into even smaller pieces and bathroom floor tiles flew around in the bathroom. Dust clouded the room and the boys started to cough heavily.

As the dust had settled, they glanced at the middle of the floor. Most of the tiles were gone shattered into pieces, but Harry had just uncovered a stone floor.

"There is nothing." Ron was the first to say something.

"But she was there! She was in the bathroom on the map and then she was gone!" One of the twins said, his voice getting hysterical. "She has to be here!"

Harry crouched down at the floor and touched it. He could definitely feel, that there was something. But even he doubted he could blast through a stone floor as tired as he was right now.

"What should we do?" One of the brothers asked. The boys started a heated discussion.

Harry wasn't listening anymore. A piece of metal had caught his attention. There was a small snake engraved into it. On the backside there was something written on it. It wasn't the alphabet Sirius and James had taught him tough. But to Harry's surprise he could read the letters, he had never seen before. He went with one finger over the skilfully written engraving.

"Open.", he read.

Hi!

Thank you for all your lovely reviews! I'm sorry for updating much later than promised. I know how it feels, when you are waiting for a story to update and you never know when there is another chapter coming or if the author had simply abandoned the story.

But you know how life is... I'm currently writing my Master-thesis and I believe you all understand that this is more important.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'm sorry about leaving you hanging at a cliff again!