Voldemort Strikes Again
Harry woke up on the Sunday morning feeling worse than he had done the night before. After breaking up with Cho he had gone straight to bed. Not that it had done him any good because it was long after the others had gone to bed that he had even started to drift off.
Harry put on his glasses; the circular room came slowly into focus. The four-poster beds around the room were all empty. Harry got up and changed. He slumped down the stairs into the Gryffindor common room expecting to see it empty. But instead the loud rustle of people met his ears when he opened the door. Harry looked at his watch; it was ten thirty. Ron ran over to Harry and pulled him into the corner where Hermione sat waiting.
“What did you do that for?” Ron drilled into Harry, pushing him into the chair next to Hermione.
“Do what?” Harry asked dumbfounded.
“Dump Cho.” Hermione asked sounding like a policeman needing information.
“I didn’t want to go out with her.” Harry answered shocked,
“Why not?” Ron prompted.
“Because I, because I.” Harry stopped. He still wasn’t sure why he’d done it. “I don’t know why.”
“Well we saw her at breakfast. She was really upset Harry. She has no clue what she had done wrong.” Hermione told a dazed and confused Harry. He stood up.
“I don’t know why I did it. It just didn’t feel right. Look I need to go and find Cho.” Harry walked off leaving Ron and Hermione sat staring after him as he climbed out of the portrait hole. Harry didn't want to tell Ron and Hermione that he was scared Voldemort would come after him again but he knew he couldn't have anyone else hurt because of him.
Harry walked towards the library. He had been looking for Cho for the last hour and a half and he still hadn't found her. He was about to give up when he saw Dumbledore running down the hall towards him. Harry stopped; there was a panicked look on Dumbledore's face that Harry had never seen before.
"Harry please tell me you have seen Michele today." Dumbledore searched Harry's face, longing for Harry to tell him what he wanted to hear.
"I'm sorry sir I haven't seen her since last night at the service." Harry answered. "Is something wrong?"
Any colour in Dumbledore's face left as soon as Harry said he hadn’t seen Michele. Dumbledore gulped. A new wave of panic struck his face.
"Harry I need you to find Professor Snape and tell him he was right. Tell him nobody has seen Michele since last night and that he needs to go back as soon as possible. He'll know what you mean." Dumbledore nodded to Harry then ran off in the other direction. Harry sped off towards the dungeons. He burst through the door making Snape jump a foot off his stool.
"Yes Potter what do you want?" Snape snapped. Harry noticed that he had been looking at his arm and he had hastily covered it up.
"Professor Dumbledore wanted me to tell you that you were right, that nobody has seen Michele since last night and that you need to go back as soon as possible." Harry paused and saw the same panic that had spread across Dumbledore's face spread across Snape's "Where is Michele sir?"
"He's taken her Potter." Snape said screwing his face up. Harry didn't realise who he meant until Snape looking at his arm snapped into his head.
"Voldemort's taken Michele?" Harry asked. "But why?"
"He took her because he knows she is the one thing that Dumbledore would risk everything for." A bitterness entered Snape's voice; it was one that Harry had never heard Snape use. Not even on himself or Sirius Black.
"You're going back to Voldemort, aren't you sir?" Harry asked quietly. Snape looked up and stared into Harry's eyes.
"Yes Potter I am." He paused looking straight at his desk. "Potter I won't assume to say I was a friend of Michele's. I won't even say I know what goes on in her head but I have known that girl since she was less than a year old. I saw her every time I visited Dumbledore. I watched that girl grow up. Dumbledore has done so much for me Potter. Believed in me when nobody else would. It's time I did something for him."
"I understand sir." Harry answered quietly.
"Now Potter I suggest you go back up to your common room, I am willing to bet my life that everyone will want you to be where people can keep an eye on you. Michele disappearance means that there is a traitor in the castle, someone who everyone trusts, I've suspected it for a while. Potter I suggest you stay in as much company as you can at all times." Snape nodded and ushered Harry out of the dungeon. Harry ran back up to the common room to find Ron and Hermione. Harry had completely forgotten about finding Cho to apologise to her, all he could think about now was where Michele was and if she was ok. Harry burst into the common room and saw that Fred and George were showing Ron and Hermione a new invention of theirs.
"Ron, Hermione, I need to tell you something." Harry said urgently.
Seeing the panic in Harry's eyes, Ron and Hermione stood up and followed Harry into the boy's dormitory. Harry opened the door and checked that nobody was in the room before walking and shutting the door behind the three of them.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione asked after sitting on Ron's bed next to Ron. Harry sat on his own bed and buried his head in his hands.
"They took Michele." He said quietly, his hands still covering his face to hide the tears forming in his eyes.
"What?" Ron asked dumbfounded.
"How did they take her?" Hermione asked.
"Snape told me that he has suspected that there is a traitor in the castle for some time. That they took Michele because they know she is the only one Dumbledore would give up everything for. I suppose they took her to get Dumbledore to try and find her so Voldemort can get to him." Harry explained everything Dumbledore and Snape had said then buried his head in his hands again and thought about what he could do.
"I need to go and tell Lupin." Harry said suddenly.
"No Harry." Hermione started. "We all know Voldemort is after you. You need to stay where people can keep an eye on you."
"Lupin needs to know that Voldemort has his daughter." Harry yelled. Hermione leaned back. She rarely saw Harry angry. "Look I'll find Dumbledore, tell him I'm going. He could probably be able to get Sirius and Lupin to come up here." Harry suggested.
Harry got up and walked from the room. He walked to Dumbledore's office and tried to remember the password.
"Liquorice?" He started, the gargoyle stayed still. "Pear Drop? Lemon Sherbet."
"Mr Potter, I think the sweet you are looking for is chocolate éclair." Harry spun around to come face to face with Dumbledore. "Now why am I so privileged that I deserve you coming and shouting sweets at my gargoyle?" Dumbledore still looked panicked but more determine than he had when Harry saw him two hours before.
"I wanted to ask if it was ok for me to go and see Sirius and Remus. I thought Remus should know about Michele." Harry explained.
"Yes, yes he should. I'm sorry but I only just accepted what has happened I had forgot about Remus. Yes you go down to the Shrieking Shack. I will accompany you down to the Whomping Willow. I am sure you can make it from there. The two of them walked as quickly as they could down to the willow. Harry grabbed the branch he usually used to prod the tree and reached forward.
"Harry wait." Dumbledore pulled out a silvery invisibility cloak from under his own cloak. "Take this, use it when you come back out from the shack." Harry nodded in thanks then touched the knot in the tree with the branch and crawled into the hole under the roots of the tree. He took one last look at Dumbledore then disappeared into the tunnel. Running along the tunnel he didn't realise how fast he was running until he stopped suddenly realising he was at the Shrieking Shack. He pulled himself out of the tunnel and saw Sirius sitting by the fire.
"Sirius." Harry said as he stood up on the hard wooden floor. Sirius turned his head immediately.
"Oh, hey Harry. I wasn't expecting you today." Sirius said quietly.
The panic in Harry’s eyes must of shown Sirius something was wrong because a few seconds later he was pushing Harry into a chair, urging him to tell him what was wrong.
“Where’s Remus?” Harry asked, noticing he wasn’t in his usual chair.
“He went to the Three Broomsticks to get a few bottles of mulled mead.” Sirius explained.
“Oh.” Harry replied. He still wasn’t sure how he was going to break this to Sirius or Remus.
“Harry what’s wrong?” Sirius asked again.
“Michele’s missing.” Harry replied.
“What?”
“Michele went missing last night. Dumbledore came up to me this morning asking if I had seen Michele since last night. I told him I hadn’t and he told me to tell Snape that she had gone. Snape has gone back to Voldemort to find out where he is hiding her. He said Voldemort took her because she is the one thing Dumbledore would risk everything for.” Harry explained. Sirius’ face twisted into shocked and angry expressions as he listened to Harry’s explanation. “How do we tell Remus?” Harry asked breaking a piercing silence between the two of them.
As though he had been called into the room Harry heard a door open and close from the hall. Harry put his head in his hands and waited.
“Let me do it.” Sirius whispered before Remus entered the room.
“Ok Sirius, mulled mead coming…” He paused as he saw Harry sitting in the chair, his head buried in his hands. “Hey Harry, what’s wrong?”
“Remus, sit down.” Sirius said tonelessly.
“What’s wrong?” Remus asked more urgently.
“He took Michele.” Sirius said quietly. Lupin’s knees gave way as he collapsed into a heap on the floor.
“He took Michele?” He repeated. His voice was shallow and his breathing was getting very fast.
“I know we thought he would go for Harry…” Harry looked up, they expected Voldemort to go for him? “But he took her to get to Dumbledore.”
Lupin put his hands over his head and started shaking his head madly back and forth.
“No, he wouldn’t have taken her, I know he wouldn’t.” He kept saying under his breath.
“Remus. We have to accept this. We need to accept it so we can figure out what to do.” Sirius told Remus as he walked over and put his arm around Remus’ shoulders.
“Hogwarts.” Lupin said suddenly looking up. “How would he get into Hogwarts. Harry would feel his scar. It can’t be him.” Even Harry could tell that Remus was taking every shot he could to pin it on anything but Voldemort. To Harry he was starting to sound like Cornelius Fudge.
“A spy.” Harry told him. “Snape said there was a spy in the castle, he said he had suspected it for a while now.”
“Well we have to get up there.” Lupin said getting to his feet.
“Are you sure Remus?” Sirius asked.
“Sirius, my daughter is missing. I may not know her that well but it is instinct that I want to find her, I need to find her.”
“Ok. We’ll go.” Sirius said standing up. “Harry come on.”
Harry stood up and picked up the invisibility cloak. He followed Sirius and Remus down the tunnel. They weren’t running but Harry found it extremely difficult to keep up with them without running himself. They ran all the way to Dumbledore's office and Remus banged on the door. They heard Dumbledore invite them to enter and they all walked through the door. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, the pensieve in front of him though he looked up when the entered.
"Remus, I suppose Harry has told you what has happened?" Dumbldore's voice was quiet and shallow.
"Yes he did, how did this happen Dumbledore?" Sirius answered for Remus.
"I don't know." Dumbledore closed his eyes as he spoke. "I saw her at the end of the service. I went to see if she was ok but I couldn’t get to her. I saw her walking up the stairs then I went to talk to Arthur." Dumbledore explained.
"Where would he take her?" Remus asked. "And how would he get into the castle?"
“He didn’t.” Dumbledore answered shortly. “There is a spy in the castle. They took Michele to him.”
“Snape.” Sirius growled.
“It is not Severus.” Dumbledore snapped. “When will you let this school boy grudge go?” Sirius looked guiltily at Dumbledore.
“Unfortunately I do not know who it is. Severus has risked his life for me time and time again this year, He is not working for Voldemort.” Dumbledore explained. Remus had sat down and was staring at Dumbledore.
“Do you have any idea who it is?” He asked.
“None.” Dumbledore admitted.
"We have to do something." Harry said.
"We cannot do anything." Dumbledore replied. "I have no idea who the spy is and I have no idea where he has taken her. Look Harry, go back to the common room. You should get some sleep." Dumbledore added. Harry looked from Dumbledore, to Sirius to Remus. Finally he nodded and left the room.
Checking his watch, Harry noticed it was ten to nine. He hurried back to the common room to find Ron and Hermione. He found them sitting in the corner of the common room talking quietly. Harry walked over and sat down. He explained what he had heard and what Dumbledore had said. After that nobody could think of anything to say. They sat in the common room for another hour before Harry decided he was going to bed.
Harry walked into the dorm to find it empty. He sat on his bed and stuck his hand under his pillow, pulling out the locket Sirius had given him for Christmas; Harry opened it and the picture of him mother, father and himself as a baby jumped out at him. Harry stared at it for a minute before pushing it back under his pillow. Then getting an idea Harry opened his trunk and pulled out the Marauder's Map. He touched his wand tip to the parchment and whispered…
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
Where the wand was touching, lines spread across the parchment making the map of Hogwarts. Harry searched it with his eyes, trying to see if anything was unusual. He saw Dumbledore was still in his office with Sirius and Remus. Filch was in his office, all the other teachers were doing what they usually do, apart from Snape who was not on the map. Harry assumed that he had indeed gone back to Voldemort. Harry touched the map again.
"Mischief managed." He whispered. The lines vanished and the map was blank again. Harry changed and got into bed. He lay staring up at the canopy, he knew Michele was alive, the only thing was… where?
Chapter 32
Return of a Rat.
The next day Harry checked the map as soon as he woke up. Snape was still not on the map and Dumbledore was down in the Great Hall. Harry got dressed as quickly as possible and he ran down to the Great Hall. He entered it and saw Dumbledore looked very tired. He was sitting, not touching the food that was on the plate in front of him and he was staring absently at the reddish pink sunrise. Harry walked over to Dumbledore and stood in front of him.
"Any word?" Harry asked. Dumbledore looked down at Harry; his eyes had lost the sparkle that Harry knew so well.
"None." Dumbledore answered.
The day passed slower than Harry had ever known it to. Divination was tedious. Professor TreLawney was predicting Michele's death all the way through the lesson. By the time they left Divination everyone had a different theory of where Michele was. Of course none of them knew Michele had been taken from the school, so Harry told them she was in the Hospital wing but she was very contagious so they were not letting anyone see her at the moment. Harry passed Dumbledore in the corridor on his way to Transfiguration so he told him what he had told the other Gryffindors. Dumbledore nodded and told Harry to spread this rumour. Professor McGonagall was very subdued through their Transfiguration lesson; she set them their task then sat at her desk, trying to write something. She stopped every so often and looked around the class to see everyone was working but she didn't do much other than tell the people who weren't working to do so. By the end of the lesson she was very surprised to see Hermione had failed to transform her ferret into a pair of gloves. Harry knew Hermione was too worried to work and he noticed that Professor McGonagall had noticed her distraction.
Days past and Harry still had to tell people that Michele was in the Hospital Wing. Potion lessons were cancelled. Dumbledore had told the students the Professor Snape had an emergency to attend to and they would restart Potions when he returned. Remus and Sirius were making daily visits to the castle but with no new news. Dumbledore was looking older and more tired every day. The teachers also seemed to be solemn and quiet.
Harry began studying at every free minute to take his mind off Michele. He didn't even have Quidditch to take his mind off things; Dumbledore had cancelled the matches because of what had happened. All the people on the teams were very annoyed, as they didn’t know the real reason they had been cancelled. Dumbledore had only said there were special circumstances that had made him cancel the matches.
Hermione and Ron were becoming very worried. They were walking with Harry everywhere he went and they were looking over their shoulder's whenever they turned a corner, expecting to see Voldemort standing behind them with his wand at the ready. Dumbledore was also checking on Harry whenever he could.
After a week Dumbledore hired Sirius as the substitute Potions teacher. Potion classes started again and Harry was pleased to know Sirius would be in the castle at all times. Remus had also moved into the castle. He needed to be on call twenty-four hours a day, so he had moved into an office with Sirius and he was helping Dumbledore get in contact with people to find Michele and Snape.
"Now the concealing potion, when thrown over something will conceal anything it is hiding." Sirius explained one double potions lesson. "You will make the concealing potion this lesson, please all line up so I can give you the ingredients that are not in your pack." Sirius sat down behind his desk and started handing out ingredients to the people in the line. Harry waited until most people had their ingredients before lining up.
"Any word?" Harry asked as he approached Sirius' desk.
"None. Dumbledore is breaking down. He doesn't want to believe Snape betrayed him. He refuses to believe it. He is waiting for him to walk through the doors. Remus and I keep telling him he is gone but he won't believe us." Sirius explained.
"How do you know he is gone?" Harry asked.
"Harry, it's been a week. Snape would have been back by now."
"He might not be able to come back." Harry said.
"Harry, we need to make plans in case he isn't coming back. We need to start searching for Voldemort, not just waiting for a man who may or may not come back."
"Yeah. I suppose." Harry said walking back to his desk. He poured his ingredients onto his desk and started pounding his beetle eyes. The lesson was quiet except for halfway through Malfoy started probing for information for the millionth time that week.
"Where's Michele Lupin, Sir?" Malfoy sneered.
"She is sick, Malfoy. Get on with your potion." Sirius answered tonelessly. He was so bored of answering that question he just had an automatic answer. Harry knew exactly how that felt. He was so used to hearing Colin Creevey say 'Hey Harry' that Harry automatically answered 'Hullo Colin.'
"But Sir. If she was sick they would let us visit her but Madam Pomfrey won't let us in there to see her, at all." Malfoy added.
"She isn't in the hospital wing anymore. Malfoy." Sirius answered tonelessly. Harry snapped his head up from his potion, when had the story changed.
"Where is she then?" Malfoy asked, it was obvious that even though he had asked this question time after time he hadn't expected a different answer, he was only doing it to annoy Sirius.
"She had to be moved from the school." Sirius answered, he wasn't looking at Malfoy, instead he was just answering, without looking up from the parchment he was writing on.
"Where to?" Harry asked. It was only then that Sirius looked up from the parchment. He stared into Harry's eyes then looked back to the parchment.
"St. Mungo's. Madam Pomfrey couldn't cure her sickness so they said she was to go there." Sirius explained.
"When is she coming back?" Malfoy asked.
"When she is better." Sirius answered tonelessly.
"Where is Professor Snape?" Malfoy continued.
"Attending to an emergency."
"What?"
"None of your business." Sirius answered. Malfoy had touched a nerve.
"Come on Sir." Malfoy begged.
"GET BACK TO YOUR POTION MALFOY!" Sirius yelled suddenly. Everyone jumped. Malfoy shuffled backwards a few steps and stared, shocked at Sirius. He never said anything after that. He just worked on his potion and tested it without making a sound.
Three weeks passed and still no news from Snape. Harry was really staring to worry. He was the only one who had seen Snape before he left to go to Voldemort. Sirius and Remus were both cursing Snape's name under their breath when his name was mentioned but although Snape hated him and they had never seen eye to eye, Harry knew, for some reason, that Snape wasn't on Voldemort's side.
One night Harry made his way up to Dumbledore's office, he stayed and talked to Dumbledore, Sirius and Remus for quite a while. They had finally made a plan to search for Michele. Dumbledore was going to send an owl to Arthur Weasley the next day and explain what had happened. Dumbledore explained to Harry how Arthur Weasley had been made Minister of Magic the week before, there had been a vote within the Ministry and at least three quarters of the officials had voted for Mr. Weasley.
After visiting Dumbledore's office Harry was making his way back to the common room. He was thinking all about breaking the news to Ron that he was the Minister's son. He pulled out the Marauder's map to check if Filch was anywhere near him he pulled out his wand and touched the map.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." He whispered. Lines spread across the parchment and Harry gasped, his eyes widened as he looked around the map. He knew that the Marauder's Map never lied, it never made a mistake, but here it showed that Dumbledore was no longer on the map, neither were Sirius or Remus and that Peter Petigrew and Professor Trelawney were standing about ten feet behind him. Harry spun around and saw two hooded figures standing ten feet away from him. Harry dropped the map and reached for his wand but he wasn't fast enough. No sooner than he had reached for his wand he heard Petigrew's voice whisper 'stupefy' and he was unconscious.
Chapter 33
The Death Meeting
When Harry woke he was in a dark room. He couldn't see anything around him but he could hear something stirring from the other side of the room. Harry struggled against the bonds around him as he tried to yell for help but only a muffled sound came from his bound mouth. Harry struggled to look behind him but the room was so dark he couldn't see a thing around him. Another struggling noise came from the other side of the room, Harry knew he wasn't alone. He yelled a muffled hello and another muffled sound came from in front of him. Harry tried to move his mouth out of the gag that was tied around it but it was tied to tightly. Suddenly he heard a spell come from behind him and all the binds fell off.
Harry pulled all the ropes from around him and he moved away from the pillar he was tied to. Harry searched his pockets for his wand but it wasn't there. Just as he was about to say something another spell came from behind him and an old rusty chandelier was lit with candles above him.
Harry was finally able to see the room. It was a large round room, white marble floor and grey stone walls. It was dark and an evil presence lurked in every crack it could find. Harry looked around fully. There were four other pillars in a circle around the room and tied to every one of them was a figure facing the middle of the room. Harry recognised the figures tied to the pillars almost immediately. On Harry's left was Michele, she looked weak and pale. She was still in the dress Harry had seen her in at Fudge's Memorial, she was still unconscious. On Harry's right was Sirius, his black hair was falling over his face. He was unconscious. Next to Michele, also unconscious was Remus Lupin. Harry's attention was then drawn to Dumbledore who was tied almost opposite to Harry; he was fighting with all his might to free himself from the bonds that held him to the pillar.
Harry rushed over to Dumbledore to help him with the ropes but then more lights came on around them and Harry saw that they were surrounded by hundreds of death eaters. Each had their wand at the ready and was poised to strike. Harry backed into the middle of the room. He could hear his mother screaming in his head. The dementors were in the room as well. He could see them standing around the walls of the room. The screaming grew louder and louder as Harry fell to the floor. His mother's voice screaming in his head and his scar now searing with pain. Harry couldn't protect himself. Couldn't make them disappear, he couldn't even send a patronus as he didn't have his wand. Then it stopped. As quickly as the screaming came, it went. With a wisp of smoke and a bang of a door the screaming had stopped but his scar still seared with pain.
A high cold laughter came from somewhere in front of Harry, a cold laughter that sent shivers down Harry's spine. Dumbledore was standing still now. His face distorted with hatred as Voldemort passed him and made his way towards Harry.
"So, I meet the famous Harry Potter once again. What is this our fifth meeting? And I have still failed to kill you." His cold red eyes stared down on Harry as he spoke. Harry felt a surge of power and he stood up, his scar was pounding with pain but it didn't seem to be taking so much of Harry's attention, all his attention was now on Voldemort who was pacing in front of him.
"You weren't strong enough." Harry breathed. Voldemort cocked his head to the side but still stared at Harry.
"For once you are right Harry Potter. I wasn't strong enough to defeat the protection curse your mother lay upon you the day you were born. I wasn't strong enough to defeat you when I was spirit and I wasn't strong enough to defeat you as a sixteen year old boy. And even I wasn't expecting Priori Incantatem. But now Harry Potter, we will fight, on my terms and I am now strong enough to kill you now." Voldemort's voice drilled into Harry as he listened. He could now no longer feel his scar searing into his head. But he could only feel the hatred that was running through his blood.
"So Harry Potter. I know you and your little friends are always there to save the day, to figure out how Voldemort was getting into the castle. What do you make of this now Harry Potter? How did I get into the castle this year?" Voldemort's voice was filled with amusement. He knew that Harry had no chance of defeating him without anyone to help him, with so many of Voldemort's supporters around him and without his wand.
"I don't know." Harry answered guiltily.
"Well, let's say it was someone you know and you trust. Who do you trust Harry Potter?" Harry's eyes flickered around the room. Apart from Hagrid, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ron and Hermione everyone he trusted was tied to a pillar. Except…
"Snape." Harry hissed. Harry never trusted Snape before but since Michele's disappearance he had trusted Snape was on their side.
"Severus… No. I knew Severus for the traitor he was from the start. I knew nobody would trust him within the castle, except foolish Dumbledore. He always trusted Severus." Voldemort was now standing still, leaning on the pillar Dumbledore was tied to, almost teasing him. Suddenly the image came into his head that was the last one before he fell unconscious, two hooded figures. He knew one was Petigrew and the map said the other was…
"TreLawney." Harry uttered his eyes wide from disbelief.
"Correct. Your Divination teacher is my faithful servant. You don't know how many times she came to me begging for me to let her kill you in her divination classes but I refused. I wanted to be the one to kill you." Harry saw Dumbledore's eyes wide with anger. His twinkling blue eyes were now a burning red. Hatred was searing through every part of Dumbledore's face as he listened to Voldemort.
"Why take Michele?" Harry asked. "Everyone knew you wanted me. Why go for Michele? I could have been taken from the castle that night." Harry asked.
"Well Harry, I think we should have everyone listen to this don't you?" Voldemort smiled a sick twisted smile. He pointed his wand at Michele.
"Enervate." He whispered. Michele blinked; she pulled up her head and stared with shocked horror around the room. Voldemort then enervated Sirius and Remus then he called to two Death eaters.
"Bring him in." He ordered. The death eaters nodded and left the room, a few seconds later the dragged in an unconscious Snape. They tied him to the pillar then one whispered enervate before returning to the side of the room. Snape opened his eyes and looked nervously around him.
"Severus, so nice you could join us." Voldemort hissed. Snape tried to speak but his mouth was gagged so only a murmur issued from his mouth.
"Now Harry, you wanted to know why I took Michele." Voldemort started. Harry didn't speak, he didn't think he could.
"Well, a long time ago a teacher of mine named Albus Dumbledore suspected me of not being the bright brilliant student everyone else believed me to be. This annoyed me. I wanted nobody to know that Tom Riddle was the same person as the terrible Lord Voldemort I was about to present to the public. I found where Dumbledore lived; I wanted him to hate me more than anyone else as I had hated him in my school years. Dumbledore was now headmaster of the school and I knew the mudbloods would be taking over so I paid him a visit to his home. Of course this was before I had many followers and before the wizarding public even knew I existed. I wanted to come into the wizarding world with power. Something the public would already be afraid of." Voldemort was pacing in front of Harry, telling his story.
"I found Dumbledore in his home, a perfect little household. Mother, father and daughter. Dumbledore being the perfect father to an angelic little girl. Well I knew it would never cause him enough pain if I killed the girl, everyone knew he was crazy about the little baby girl, but everyone also knew that Albus Dumbledore would never love anyone like he loved Flora Dumbledore." Harry stared unknowing at Voldemort. Harry had always known that Dumbledore was the only person that Voldemort was scared of but he had never even heard of this Flora that Voldemort was talking about. Harry looked to Dumbledore and saw Dumbledore was almost crying with anger and pain. He remembered instantly the first day of school when Fred and George had been talking.
"Dumbledore isn't married Harry" Fred's voice echoed in Harry's mind.
“How do you know that? Have we ever asked him about his personal life?” George voice now echoed around Harry's spinning mind.
"So I did what anyone would do if they wanted to cause pain." Voldemort's voice now filled Harry's ears once again. "I took away the one thing he would miss the most." Voldemort's voice was showing pride that he had caused this pain.
"You killed her?" Harry asked. Though he already knew the answer.
"Of course I did." Voldemort answered lazily. "But that wasn’t enough now. That wasn’t fresh enough in Dumbledore’s mind, I then learned from a faithful death eater that he was married to Dumbledore’s daughter. He told me he was in the perfect position to give me something Dumbledore would hate to lose, his granddaughter. Although that failed the first time I knew that if I wanted to show Dumbledore I was strong again I must get this girl from right beneath his clutches so he would know there was no way to stop me. And I was right wasn’t I? He knows I am more powerful than he is now. And now Harry Potter, I will take the one thing the Wizarding world can't live without... hope. You are their hope Harry Potter. As long as you keep defeating me they will always believe there is a chance. When you are out of the equation I will win." Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry and was about to strike when four voices came from the side of the room making every wand from every death eater fly towards them even Voldemort's wand soared across the room and into the hand of a death eater leaving it's master staring disbelievingly after it.
Chapter 34
The Four Strangers
Every head spun to these strangers who stood holding their wands at the ready. One picked up a box and the four of them put all the wands they were holding into a box. Then one of the strangers sealed the box so a blue shield formed around it then gave it to another to hold. Everyone stepped back as the strangers walked further into the room. One held the box tight to their chest while two others made sure nobody was moving while the remaining stranger walked to the middle of the room and removed the bonds holding the five hostages to the pillars. Voldemort stood, unable to believe what he was seeing. He had no control without his wand as every charm, curse or spell he wanted to do required a wand, his wand. The stranger who was releasing the hostages was also handing each their own wand. The stranger was pausing for a moment before each hostage after giving them their wand and Harry noticed that as the stranger talked each person’s eyes widened in surprise. Then finally the stranger walked towards Harry, they paused for a moment before handing him his wand and whispering in a voice Harry knew very well.
“Hey, Harry.” Hermione whispered. Her voice not above breathing, and Harry knew only he had heard her. His eyes widened in surprise as looked back at Hermione behind the black mask that was covering her face.
“Get out of here. We can’t take on Voldemort and all the death eaters alone, get out.” Hermione breathed. She then backed towards the door and flicked her wand making them fly open. The others walked towards the door and waited. Voldemort was about to do something when Dumbledore pointed his wand straight at him.
“Never come near my family. Never come near the school.” He pushed Harry out of the door and slammed it shut. He then performed a complex spell and the same blue shield that had covered the box now covered door and spread down the wall.
“What is that?” Harry asked as he stared at the blue shield.
“It is a stopper.” Dumbledore answered. He didn’t look at Harry, he only stared at the door.
“What does it do?”
“It stops anything passing through it until it is stopped. Only the person who said the spell can break it before it wears off. It also stops people apparating.” Dumbledore explained.
“So they can catch Voldemort?” Harry asked, the hope in his voice showing clearly.
“Yes. Is the ministry get here fast enough they will be able to catch Voldemort and every supporter in that room. But I am very weak Harry, Voldemort drained Sirius’, Remus’ and my power in there. The barrier will not last long.”
Dumbledore followed the strangers down the hall and out into the cold night air. They walked quite a way before stopping at an old shoe.
“Hurry, hurry.” Michele called. She was holding the shoe along with Remus, Sirius, Snape and the four strangers.
Harry helped Dumbledore who was now very weak towards the group of people. They both touched the shoe and Harry felt the pull behind his navel. They were pulled through the air and back towards Hogwarts.
As his feet touched the floor Harry’s knee buckled and he fell to the ground though he noticed he was not the only one to do so. He looked up and saw they were just outside the gates to Hogwarts. The strangers helped them up and they made their way to the castle. The strangers headed towards the Hospital Wing though Dumbledore stopped them.
“My Office.” He said quietly. They all followed him up towards his office. He said the password and they all followed him into the circular room. Dumbledore sat in his chair then conjured nine chairs so everybody could have a seat. Harry noticed that one of the strangers still had the box clutched to their chest.
“First, I would like to know who our other heroes are.” Dumbledore said leaning forward slightly. Hermione unveiled herself. Her face was brilliantly pink and she was shaking slightly.
“Hermione, you were amazing. Those spells you performed were complex and I have never seen anybody perform them under such pressured circumstances.” Dumbledore paused, smiling at Hermione before turning to the next stranger who pulled off their cloak and mask without letting go of the box.
Ron’s red hair showed suddenly over a white shaking face. Dumbledore smiled and turned to the next stranger who pulled off his mask to show the same red hair but an older face. Fred stared back at Dumbledore, his face half in amusement, half in shock of what he had done. Dumbledore then turned to the last stranger who hesitated for a long time.
“Oh, come on. They are going to find out it was you some time.” Fred said trying to grab the mask. The stranger pulled back but then pulled off his mask. A pointed nosed, white skinned, blonde haired boy stared back at Harry as he looked into his eyes.
“This doesn’t mean I like you.” Malfoy drawled as he pulled off his cloak.
“Of course.” Harry answered. It was taking every muscle in his face not to smile.
“So you four finally put aside your differences?” Sirius asked. His face twisted into a smile.
“No. We just all wanted to save the people we care about.” Fred answered.
“So how did you do that?” Michele asked. “What happened?”
“First, did you know what was going on?” Remus asked Michele.
“Yes.” She answered. “Professor TreLawney told me she wanted to talk to me about Divination. We walked down the grounds and we were talking about me being a seer. Then out of nowhere a short man came towards up. He was masked but I knew who it was. It was Wormtail.” Remus’ face twisted into anger and hatred, as did Sirius’ “Well they stunned me then when I woke up I was in the place we were tonight. I was awake most of the time. Voldemort telling me his plans for all of you. Then he said that the plan would be done today. Then he stupefied me. The next thing I knew you were all there.” Michele explained.
“Ok. Now, How did our heroes do what they did tonight?” Dumbledore asked.
Hermione started to explain the story, the others didn’t seem able to speak that much.
“Well, Ron and I were trying to find Harry when we met Fred in the hallway. He said he was looking for George. So we all walked together. That was when we saw Malfoy.” Hermione pulled the Marauder’s map out from her pocket and put it Dumbledore’s desk. “He had this in his hand and he was staring at it with a shocked expression.”
“Of course I knew what it was.” Fred jumped in. “We grabbed it off Malfoy and saw Harry being dragged down the grounds by TreLawney and Petigrew. We followed them but we met Hagrid on the way down. He tried to stop us going so we told him what had happened. He gave us the old boot and he turned it into a portkey for us so that only when 10 people were touching it, it would transport us back here. So the four of us set off following TreLawney and Petigrew. It was hard at first because we couldn't see them too well through the night. Soon we came to a ruin and we saw them enter. We saw four death eaters were standing outside, we assumed they were security guards. So we hid in the bushes near by and stunned them. We stole their robes, their masks and their wands.” Fred explained.
“Yes. So we put them on and snuck into the meeting. We saw everything. We didn’t act to soon as we wanted to know everything Voldemort had to say. We knew that we needed to act at the right time so we waited then on my signal we all used the death eaters wands and yelled expelliarmus. I think even we were surprised how well it worked before I realised that Voldemort gave his servants a lot of power so some of that power would be in their wands.” Hermione explained. “We had found your wands in that box.” Hermione added pointing to the box Ron had clutched in his lap. “It was in a room off from the room you were in.”
“Hermione broke the spell on it then she put your wands in her pocket and took the box with her. None of us thought we would need it but Hermione said we needed it so we took it with us.” Ron explained.
“Well you know the rest.” Malfoy added as the silence overwhelmed them all.
Dumbledore smiled and nodded. They all sat in silence for a while before Remus made a suggestion.
“Dumbledore, I think all these kids need to go to the hospital wing. They need to at least have some chocolate.”
“Yes, yes. Come on. I think we could all do with some hot chocolate.” He smiled and looked at Michele. “Marshmallows too I think.” Michele beamed and followed the stream to the door.
Chapter 35
New Life.
The next few weeks before the holidays passed like lightning. That night Michele was told the rumour that had been spread around the school about her disappearance and she was to keep that story. The next day the only people to find out what really happened were the teachers and George Weasley, who was incredible annoyed that they had gone and annoyed Voldemort without him. Malfoy was now being civilised towards them, though he wouldn’t be in front of the other Slytherins. Snape was also being a lot nicer to Harry, Hermione, Ron and the other Gryffindors. Dumbledore sent them news through Michele that the Ministry hadn’t got to the ruins fast enough and that Voldemort and the supporters had all got away, though all the ministry officials knew that Professor TreLawney was a death eater and they were all after her for arrest.
Near the end of term the Fifth years took their O.W.Ls and the seventh years took their N.E.W.Ts. Harry found the exams tough but he believed he did ok. Hermione came out of every exam worrying about the smallest things, Ron came out ashen and tired and Michele came out very confused, asking them questions about things they knew she knew.
At the Leaving feast Dumbledore made his leaving speech. He told them all that although Voldemort was back they had survived the year and they could survive anything thrown at them, even if it was thrown with a heavy metal object. Harry was sure that was his way to get the humour from the day. Harry was getting more and more nervous about leaving school. Sirius told him he had got his old house back and they could move in there. Remus was also going to be staying with them. Michele made plans to visit Remus over the holidays, and Ron and Hermione both said they would come and visit.
“So what do you think Sirius’ house looks like?” Ron asked Harry as they sat playing exploding snap on the train. Pig was hooting consistantly, Hedwig was sleeping with her head under her wing and Crookshanks was curled up on the chair next to Hermione.
“No idea.” Harry replied.
“I think it will be a small cottage with a lot of dogs.” Michele answered.
“No. It will be a mansion.” Ron protested.
“How would a man only just proven innocent get a mansion?” Hermione asked.
“Well he might be loaded.” Ron answered.
“I don’t know.” Harry said. “Hey when are you guys coming to visit?”
“I don’t know. But I want you all to come and see grandfather’s house. It is amazing” Michele told them.
“Well, umm, How comfortable would you be staying with your headmaster?” Ron asked.
“Good point. But you still have to at least visit.” Michele insisted.
The rest of the journey passed quickly. They joked around and played exploding snap. Half way through the journey Fred and George came into the compartment with a new invention. It was a box that when touched would put the same protective charm over itself that Hermione put over the box with the wands in it and then only when the same person touched it the shield removed itself.
“Hey what happened to those wands?” Harry asked suddenly
“Oh, Grandfather destroyed them.” Michele answered.
“So does this mean that we can know who is a death eater?” Ron asked.
“No of course it doesn’t” Fred answered.
“Actually it does.” Michele smiled at Fred who smiled sarcastically back. “Whichever grown wizard doesn’t have a wand must have been at that meeting. And plus Grandfather had a meeting with Mr Olivander and they noted every wand in that collection.” Michele explained.
Harry climbed off the train at platform nine and three quarters. Sirius and Remus were standing waiting for them at the platform. Mr and Mrs Weasley were also waiting on the platform to pick up their children. Mr and Mrs Weasley were ecstatic to see all of them, as she knew what had happened the night Harry was kidnapped. They all pushed their trolleys towards the cars. Sirius had rented a nice blue car so they didn’t have to get a taxi and Mr Weasley had brought a new car when he became Minister of Magic. Harry pushed his trunk into the boot of the car then helped Michele get hers into the boot next to his own.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like us to give Michele a lift to Dumbledore’s? It’s on our way.” Mrs Weasley asked.
“No it’s ok.” Remus assured her. “You’ve got enough in your car anyway.”
“Ok. Well Harry dear, you must come and visit us over the holidays.” Mrs Weasley fussed.
“I will Mrs. Weasley.” Harry smiled.
“You two as well dears.” Mrs Weasley said rounding on Michele and Hermione. Mr and Mrs Granger were waiting by a white car for Hermione to say her goodbyes.
“See you soon Harry.” She said hugging Harry.
“Yeah.” Harry replied. Harry saw Hermione say goodbye to Michele then kiss Ron quickly before running off and getting into the back of her parents car.
“See you soon Harry.” Ron yelled out the window as the Weasley’s car pulled out of the parking space and drove off.
“You two ready then?” Sirius asked, leaning on the car.
“Yep, let’s go.” Michele answered. She climbed into the car. Harry climbed into the other side and they sped off towards a new life.