Chapter- 11 : Betrayed Part - 5

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It should not have come as a surprise that Tilly led him to the Divination tower, but it was. Harry stared in dismay at the trap door in the ceiling with the plaque that still read 'Sybill Trelawney, Divination Teacher'.

"I thought this was the Divination classroom?" he said, half-hoping that there was another door hidden somewhere, anywhere else.

Tilly nodded. "When this is being Miss Lawny's room she is also teaching future telling there. Then Miss Lawny is being fired and horse-man is teaching fortune telling in his own classroom somewhere else."

Harry blinked. "Are you telling me Trelawney chose to teach in her living room?"

Tilly bobbed his head up and down.

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. "Something to think about at another time, I'm sure. Can you tell me how to open the door?"

Tilly tilted his head sideways and looked at him questioningly. "Master Harry is being wizard. Master Harry is using wizard spell."

Oh. Well, that was actually quite obvious. Turning away from Tilly to hide his faint blush he took aim at the trap door in the ceiling. "Alohomora."

Sure enough, with the soft creaking of protesting hinges the door opened. The end of a ladder was visible and a quick Summoning Charm had him awkwardly climbing into his new home for the future.

There was no doubt these were Trelawney's quarters as they had not yet been cleaned. A haze of incense and possibly other recreational aerosols made it hard to see the opposite wall through the smoke. It smelled like the love child of a perfume and an herb shop after setting both on fire. Otherwise, it was exactly like he remembered the Divination classroom to be: cushions, low tables and a whole host of fortune-telling paraphernalia.

The single air-freshening charm he knew wasn't strong enough to handle the sheer density of whatever was cloying the air so Harry hurried over to the windows and opened them wide. At least then he could breathe in several parts of the room. He didn't have the energy to start shooting spells around anyway, so maybe airing the room for a day or two would help.

Tilly was standing behind the teacher's desk near a door that Harry had always assumed to lead to an office but apparently led to the rest of her quarters. The elf was looking around in disdain and inwardly Harry cheered as he was sure a small army of elves would descend upon the room while he slept to make it liveable.

Behind the door was a small bedroom with a twin bed, hidden from view by an elaborately hung curtain that descended from a single point on the ceiling in billowing waves like a circus tent. It looked like an incredibly thin material, though the deep purple bordering on black did not let through any light, reminding him uncomfortably of the Veil at the Department of Mysteries. It was adorned with feathers, crystals and fur and all in all it gave the impression of what he imagined a Lethifold would look like after several successful hunts.

He shuddered. "Yeah, I'm not sleeping with that around me."

He did not feel like unravelling what mysterious way the fraud of a teacher had used to affix the thing to the ceiling. Instead he levitated the whole thing into a bundle and used a Sticking Charm to fix it up there next to the rest of the fabric. He'd vanish or cut it down tomorrow when he wasn't as bone-weary as he was now.

A quick glimpse into the bathroom showed him a toilet, sink, mirror and a small bath large enough for him to sit in with his legs straight. Harry deemed it sufficient and after thanking and shooing off a happy Tilly he let himself fall down on the bed.

Laying on his back in the privacy of his own room Harry allowed his thoughts to race unrestrained.

He had been kidnapped by people who looked like his friends but clearly weren't. Called to do their dirty work. Like a pet- no, like a tool.

He'd like to think his friends would never do such a thing, let alone drug and interrogate him afterwards.

At least he had managed to bend the truth to so he wouldn't appear even more interesting to them. He had never imagined he could be so crafty.

Of course, without the calming influence of the Draught they'd fed him it would never in a million years have worked. Fortunately he'd gotten the chance to give them a false name before Dumbledore brought out the lie detector.

He frowned. Why had that worked? He understood that his counterpart was a girl, and as such he probably didn't look much like her, but people had always told him he looked just like his father. Was his facial reconstruction so drastic that he was unrecognisable to them?

And what about 'his mother's eyes'? Did they only remind people of his mum when they were set in his father's face? Didn't his counterpart have the same eyes to remind people of?

It was only now that he could look back on it with a little distance that he realised how frail his 'secret identity' really was. There were just too many unknowns for him to be sure of anything.

He let out a sigh. Hopefully it wouldn't matter and he'd find a way out of here. He was at Hogwarts, so at least the territory was familiar, quite possibly more so than for many of his... captors. Plus, the library had all sorts of information, so maybe there was a way out to find there. He was no Hermione, but he'd been known to learn a thing or two if the need was high enough.

Well, trans-dimensional kidnapping certainly qualified.

Turning to his side Harry made himself comfortable and grabbed a pillow to snuggle. Dislodged by the movement an empty sherry bottle rolled across the mattress and came to rest against his stomach. Half-asleep already Harry curled himself around it like a teddy bear.

He really needed the comfort.

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If you're eager to delve deeper into the story, consider joining my Patreon for exclusive content and early access to new chapters

30+Advanced Chapters there.

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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