The Four Swords of Hogwarts

Chapter 10: Awakened

Harry peered around the door, gazing into the Hospital Wing. There were now eight students in comas, still unexplained and unmentioned by the staff. Even worse, it was rumoured that those who had fallen into comas earliest were growing weaker...slowly dying. He couldn't believe the professors and headmaster were hiding it, pretending it wasn't happening, as though the rest of the student body wouldn't notice their classmates collapsing and never returning.

He jumped, startled at the nearby window suddenly cracking with a loud echo. He sighed as he stared at the crack. Windows breaking had become the newest occurrence to indicate something failing inside Hogwarts. The castle was getting ready to collapse around them, it seemed.

Everything afflicting the castle and its residents had just been continuing and, clearly, worsening. Alongside the newly broken windows were mostly still paintings, cracked stone everywhere, candles that struggled to stay lit and floating, and torches that were extinguishing themselves around the castle. Conditions among the students were no better. In addition to the devastating comas, the hate was continuing and there were now visible signs that many students were experiencing numerous headache-inducing visions. The visions were no longer restricted to only a couple of them.

He wanted an explanation for it all, was desperate for one. He was tired of the uncertainty and confusion. He wanted to know the what, the how, the why...the who. He felt convinced Voldemort had to be behind it all, but none of the other questions were answered. He could answer one question with a theory, but never all of them.

He, Ron, and Hermione had been researching Mind Magic and the history of Hogwarts for weeks with little success. There was very little recorded about either topic, particularly about Hogwarts, at least in the texts they had access to. They needed details about Hogwarts' construction, design, and magical system, but there was next to nothing with such details.

Harry found himself getting discouraged. There was so much they didn't know. They were missing something important.

He sighed, rubbing his forehead in response to his developing stress headache. He turned away from the infirmary and made his way to the Grand Staircase to go and meet Ron and Hermione in the library for yet another research session. As he was walking up one flight of stairs, a rumble suddenly shook the castle, making Harry stumble and have to grab the railing to stay standing. It wasn't the first time such a thing had happened; it had been a common occurrence like everything else. It still made Harry and the other students on the stairs look around and hesitate to continue moving on the stairs.

After a minute or two, they all deemed it safe to continue on. Harry stepped onto a staircase with a couple others and waited as it started moving to its other connecting landing. They were about halfway when the castle shook again, only this time, it didn't stop. Harry and the others with him held onto the railing, attempting to stay upright. As the shaking continued, it got more violent and a deafening groan echoed. Dust and even tiny bits of stone began to rain down from the high ceiling.

Then, all of a sudden, they were falling. The second year Slytherin and fifth year Hufflepuff with him grasped the railing as hard as possible, shutting their eyes and screaming. Other students on the staircase were also gasping and crying out as they watched, unable to do anything.

The stairs they were on had cracked and crumbled away from the landing they were connected to and they were plummeting. Harry waited for the crash, unsure what to do. It wasn't as long as expected before they were jostled violently by the impact. The crash whipped him around, making him smack his head painfully against the stone railing.

His head was pounding, ears ringing, and vision blurred when he heard muffled screaming. He thought it was from all the watching students, but, when he was finally able to see again, he realized the young Slytherin had been thrown from the stairs in the crash and was now dangling off the edge, screaming for help.