Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Behind the Fog (Backup Upload) ❯ Behind the Fog (Backup Upload) 38th Chapter ( Chapter 38 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Anything you recognize is property of JK Rowling. Additionally this is not my story. I am uploading this to my own account in support of the author the story belongs to who has been struggling with hackers.

The thing I've most been dreading as a fan is that the story would be removed from the site by the hackers and the author wouldn't have access to their old chapters when the situation was eventually brought under control in the event the site moderators wouldn't be able to give the author their account back.

For anyone interested the author goes by Hancock23 on Fanfiction -dot- net. I will remove the story from my account when Hancock23 has gotten the story safely uploaded elsewhere or has been safely given their account back on Fanfiction -dot- net. Without further ado I give you a backup upload of: Behind the Fog by Hancock23.

PS: This Backup Upload contains minor edits for grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Plus some rewording/restructuring of sentences so they make better sense and flow better. Hope you don't mind me becoming something of a Beta Reader for this Backup Upload Hancock23.

Chapter 38 - Luzie Schieren

Harry was over it all! When Dumbledore had first told him about the exchange students who would be coming to Hogwarts, he had thought that he could somehow handle them and himself; but nothing was further from the truth. Nothing could have prepared him for the physical and emotional toll, of having more than forty people actively following and studying his every action. It was only two weeks since the foreign students had arrived at Hogwarts; and he was ready to pack everything he owned, grab Draco, and escape from the castle in the middle of the night. The only thing that stopped him from doing that, was that he wasn't sure that it would even work.

On the first day, he had discovered one of the Koldovstoretz students following him around in his shadow. It was only a stroke of luck that he had encountered Luna Lovegood, who for some reason could see the girl in his shadow and warned Harry about it. Harry had later found out that the girl's name is Alina Sokolov and she had the ability to merge so seamlessly with any shadow that you wouldn't know she was there unless you happened to pass by a mirror. Until that point, Harry had expected that he would need to be on the lookout for Veritaserum and other truth potions, but he was quickly disabused of that notion; because it turned out that he needed to be wary of everything.

Just when Harry had begun to panic and get paranoid about every shadow and strange behaviour, Draco had saved him. It was three days after the arrival of the students that Draco had presented him with a two-foot-long parchment and walked away without explaining to Harry how he had gotten the information. In the parchment, the Slytherin had meticulously listed the names and magic of most of the foreign students and it is then that Harry realised; that it would not be enough to avoid taking any food and drinks from people. Other than the girl who could merge with shadows, he found that all the Uagadou students were animagi; and because he did not know their animal forms, Harry could no longer afford to be comfortable around any animals.

There were also the twin girls from Mahoutokoro who used some sort of mind magic and not to mention all the male and female students who were attempting to seduce him. Not even sleep was safe for him, because he found out that there was a dream walker amongst the new arrivals. Everything was becoming too much to bear, and the only thing he could be glad about; is that none of the students had become residents of the East Tower.

The East Tower was the only safe place for Harry in the castle, but he lived in dread that someone would somehow figure out how to break the protections surrounding the tower. Harry just wanted everything to stop, but nothing in the past two weeks had given him any hope that the intrusion would soon be over.

Sighing in resignation and exhaustion, he tiredly dragged his resistant feet towards the Gryffindor table for breakfast. He must have been more out of it than he thought, because he did not see the person; before the collision happened. He was walking towards his seat one moment, and flat on the ground the next; with a girl sprawled all over him. The girl was beautiful with long dark brown hair and bright blue eyes, and he instantly recognised her as one of the exchange students. He remembered that she was a Durmstrang student who had been sorted into Hufflepuff.

"I'm so sorry." The girl said, as she quickly scrambled off him.

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry." Harry apologised, and he actually meant it. This girl was among the few exchange students who hadn't been too aggressive in trying to spy on him.

"I'm Luzie Schieren, nice to meet you." She continued, as she extended her hand for Harry to take.

Noticing that he was still on the floor, Harry got up and without thinking twice, he took her hand and regretted that thoughtless decision a second later. With her hand still clasped in his, her eyes rolled over so that only the whites could be seen and he belatedly remembered that her name and magic had been on the parchment that Draco had given him. Luzie Schieren was a powerful seer who could see into a person's future by physical contact. Although Harry quickly took back his hand once he recalled that, it was already too late and the only thing he could do was stupidly stand there and wait for her to come out of her trance.

It was useless for Harry to hope that no one had noticed the commotion because everyone was looking at them in either confusion or excitement. The Durmstrang students seemed the most excited because they knew of her ability and they hoped that she had discovered something where everyone else had failed. It was two weeks since they arrived and none of them had found out anything worthy of reporting.

Schieren came out of her trance about eight minutes after she had entered it but to Harry, it felt like he had been waiting for a lifetime. He had no idea what she had seen, but there was a complicated look on her face that made him both curious and afraid to ask what she had seen.

"You know it's not you." She said in a low voice that even Harry, who was only a few feet away from her had to strain to hear. She said it in such a sure voice that Harry caught himself stealing a discrete look at Draco, who was also looking at the scene in both curiosity and trepidation.

To the International Confederation of Wizards and Dumbledore, it was logical to assume that whatever strange magic would be appearing in England would be connected to either him or Voldemort, but Harry had somehow known from the very beginning that it was not him. There was no logic or reason as to why he believed the magic was connected to Draco but he instinctively knew it. Maybe he would come to understand it later, but for now, he knew what he knew.

Harry had no idea how to react now that someone knew what he had suspected all along so he nodded his head and hoped that he had not made the wrong decision. Schieren didn't seem surprised with his answer and without saying anything more, she fell into a thoughtful silence that made Harry uncomfortable.

"Miss Schieren, perhaps you would like to talk in my office?" Headmaster Dumbledore queried, as he stood up from his seat at the teachers table; and from the corner of his eye, Harry could see some of the other foreign students shifting in their seats as if they were ready to follow the headmaster.

The Durmstrang student didn't reply to the headmaster for such a long time that Harry begun to suspect that she may not have heard him. He was about to nudge her when she seemed to have come to a decision from whatever internal monologue she had been having.

"No." She answered loudly much to the shock of everyone in the hall, especially Dumbledore and the foreign students. They had understood the headmaster's request to talk in the privacy of his office as giving her a chance to report what she had discovered so they did not understand her sudden refusal.

"I am afraid I do not understand your refusal." Dumbledore said, at a loss of how to react to the situation. He did not want to say too much and alert the Hogwarts students to what was going on. It was not yet time for them to find out the real purpose of the exchange program.

"Before we talk in your office, I would like to request a restriction spell be placed on me." Luzie said, shocking the listeners even more. The Durmstrang students were enraged that she would try to prevent herself from revealing whatever it is that she had seen in Potter's future.

"Miss Schieren, you can explain your reasons when we get to my office; and if your reasons are truly valid, I will not object to your request." Dumbledore said reasonably, but Schieren knew that the old man would find a way to pry into what she had seen, before he agreed to perform the spell.

"I am afraid that I cannot leave this hall before the spell is performed." The girl said stubbornly, and Harry could not stand the not knowing any longer.
"What is a restriction spell?" He asked both the headmaster, and the girl standing next to him.

"A restriction spell is a special spell that can only be used on seers, to prevent them from revealing their visions of the future to anybody. Not even an unbreakable vow can force a seer to reveal any futures protected by the restriction spell." Dumbledore explained, and Harry understood what the fuss was all about. If the restriction spell was placed on Luzie Schieren, she would not be able to reveal whatever future, she had seen to the International Confederation although she had taken an unbreakable vow to be truthful and forthright with whatever information she managed to gather.

"You are a seer?" Hermione asked the girl, and she could not completely manage to hide her contempt, not that she tried. Hermione's experience with Trelawney had not given her a good impression of seers.

"Yes, I am." Luzie answered proudly. "I happened to foresee Harry Potter's future when I greeted him a moment ago."

"Harry Potter is a public figure and his future has great repercussions for us all. What possible reason could there be for keeping what you saw from him, from all us really?" An Ilvermorny student named Alexander Davis who had been sorted into Gryffindor asked angrily.

"The simple reason is that the world cannot afford for the future to be changed." Luzie Schieren said, and that answer surprised everyone including Harry.
"Who are you to decide that?" The Ilvermorny boy argued, and Schieren sneered.
"I am the person who had a vision of a world-ending catastrophe in the near future." That quieted the voices that had agreed with Davis, but Dumbledore was not that easily dissuaded.
"Don't you think that telling us would be the best option to prevent that catastrophe?" Dumbledore asked.

"Professor, the future is not a book that I am able to read page by page." Schieren explained. "I saw the catastrophe and I saw that its occurrence is a foregone conclusion which was foretold centuries ago. I did not see how or why it started, but I saw a glimpse of those with the power to stop it; before the situation becomes devastating. The future must not be changed, otherwise we are all doomed."

"Surely…"

"The future is a funny thing Headmaster Dumbledore." The girl interrupted. "Any pre-emptive measures could be the ones that end up causing problems. I will not take the risk of doing something that could jeopardise the future of every living thing on this planet."

"Mr Potter must be prepared..."

"Harry Potter already knows everything he needs to know to arrive where he needs to go." The girl said assuredly, and looked at Harry cryptically.

Although Harry had begun feeling a bit flustered and uncertain from the overload of information, that one look from the seer assured him. There was no need to do anything special; all he had to do was live the way he wanted, and Draco would figure things out when it came to it.

"I understand." He said, much to the shock of everyone who knew him. Harry was not a patient kind of person; that he wasn't being pushy about this meant that he knew something that they didn't.

"Good." Schieren said and smiled at him. "Now, for the restriction spell; would you mind casting it Mr Malfoy?"

Uploader's Note: This Has Been A Backup Upload of Chapter 38 of Behind the Fog by Hancock23.