HARRY POTTER Book 4: Chapter 15
Chapter 15
BEAUXBATONS & DURMSTRANG
Harry wakes up early the next morning. He has a clear plan in his head. He gets dressed quietly in the early morning light. Ron is still asleep.
Harry leaves the dormitory and goes down to the common room. It is empty and quiet. He finds a piece of parchment paper on the table. His Divination homework is still there. Harry sits down and writes a short letter:
Dear Sirius,
I think I imagined my scar hurting. I was half asleep when I wrote to you. There is no reason to come back. Everything is fine here. Don’t worry about me. My head feels normal.
Harry
When he finishes, Harry folds the letter. He walks out through the fat lady painting and walks through the castle. Peeves appears on the fourth floor and tries to push a large vase onto him, but Harry runs past. At last, he reaches the Owlery at the top of West Tower.
The Owlery is cold and windy. There is no glass in the windows. The floor is covered with straw, feathers, owl poop and the old bones of rats and mice. Hundreds of owls sit on wooden beams high above him. Most of them are asleep. A few watch Harry with bright yellow eyes.
Harry sees Hedwig sitting between two brown owls. He walks toward her. He slips a little on the dirty floor. Hedwig does not look at him. She turns her back and shows her tail to him. She is still angry about last night. Harry tries to wake her, but she moves away. Finally, Harry sighs. “Maybe you’re too tired,” Harry says. “I can ask Ron if I can use his owl instead.”
At once, Hedwig sticks out her leg. Harry smiles and ties the letter to it. “Just find him, girl,” Harry says quietly. “Before the dementors find him.” Hedwig bites his finger gently, then she hoots softly. She flies out into the sunrise. Harry watches her until she disappears. He feels worried again.
At breakfast, Harry tells Ron and Hermione what he did. “That was a lie,” Hermione says sharply. “You know your scar really hurt.” “So what?” Harry says. “I’m not letting him go back to Azkaban because of me.” Hermione opens her mouth to argue, but Ron interrupts. “Forget it,” Ron says. Hermione looks unhappy, but she stays quiet.
Over the next two weeks, Harry tries not to think about Sirius. He watches the owls arrive every morning at breakfast. He hopes Hedwig will appear. At night, he imagines Sirius being caught by dementors. Harry misses Quidditch. Training used to help him forget his worries. Schoolwork becomes harder. Moody’s lessons are especially difficult.
One day, Moody clears the desks from the room. “I’m going to put the Imperius Curse on each of you,” Moody says. Hermione looks worried. “But that curse is illegal,” she says. Moody’s blue eye turns to her. “Dumbledore wants you to know how it feels,” Moody says. “If you don’t like it, you can leave.” Hermione’s face turns red. “I didn’t mean that,” she says quickly. She stays.
One by one, students walk into the center of the room. Under the curse, they do strange things. Dean jumps and sings. Lavender moves like an animal. Neville does movements he could never do before. Then Moody growls, “Potter.” Harry steps forward. Moody points his wand. “Imperio.”
Suddenly, everything feels light and calm. Harry feels happy. He hears Moody’s voice far away. “Jump onto the desk.” Harry bends his knees. Another thought appears in his head. “Why?” “Jump.” “No,” Harry thinks. “I don’t want to.” “Jump. NOW!”
Harry jumps and stops at the same time. He crashes into the desk. Pain shoots through his legs. Moody laughs. “That’s it,” he says. “He fought it. He fought against the curse.” Moody makes him repeat the curse many times. He wants the other children to see how to defend against it. Later, Harry walks out of class slowly. His knees hurt. “He talks like we’ll be attacked any second,” Harry says. Ron nods. “He’s mad,” he says. “But he knows things.”
Homework increases in every class. McGonagall warns them about future exams. Snape makes them study antidotes. Hagrid makes them visit the skrewts more often. One evening, students crowd the entrance hall. Ron reads a large sign. “Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrive Friday evening.” Harry smiles. “There is no Potions class at the end of the day.”
The whole castle changes. Teachers look tense. The halls are cleaned. Filch watches everyone closely. The children talk only of the Triwizard Tournament. They want to know how the school will pick their champion. On Friday morning, banners hang in the Great Hall.
Students line up outside the castle at sunset. The air is cold. The forest is dark. Suddenly, something moves in the sky. A huge blue carriage flies toward them. The carriage is as big as a house! Twelve horses with wings pull it. Each horse is as big as an elephant! The carriage lands with a loud crash.
