Harry woke looking blearily at the hospital wing ceiling and noticed that his insides were aching and burning. There was an acrid smell of burnt flesh in his nostrils. He tried to sit up and was pushed back down. His vision was blurry and the he heard voices as if he were under water. He could faintly hear someone shuffling over and pinching his nose and pouring a ginger tasting liquid down his throat. He assumed it was Madam Pomfrey. As his vision swam in and out, he could faintly make out the outline of Professor Dumbledore. His hearing finally became clear and he heard Dumbledore tell him, “Soon, Harry, we are all in debt to you, but for now you need rest. The answers are coming soon.” Harry felt somewhat relieved and drifted back off to sleep.
Harry flew into the strange house with its black curtains. He spotted a doorway that lead to what looked like a cellar and flew into it. He flew onto a mantle with a mirror. He turned to look at himself and he’d taken the shape of an eagle. Lord Voldermort, the most evil wizard known to mankind sat in his high-backed chair, and leaned onto the desk. He was speaking to three people; Bellatrix Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy and Antonin Dolohov. Harry was surprised because he thought that Malfoy and Dolohov were in Azkaban, the wizard prison. They sat in front of their master and listened as he laid out yet another plan to defeat him. “I’ve learned that the mole we have inserted in Hogwarts is a vampire, a day walker. I don’t know how you managed to let this vital bit of information slip past you Lucius” Malfoy visually tensed. “We will have to dispose of him, I worry that if he has been able to hide that bit of information from me for this long, and there is no telling what else he has hidden. He cannot be trusted with our secrets. Now that I have placed someone that Potter is sure not to discover under the Imperious Curse, our job should be a little easier. I unfortunately cannot continue to make trips into the castle because my minion has told me that Potter went into the lake a few days ago and didn’t come out. It is likely that he found my way into the chamber. It is becoming very troublesome dealing with this boy. His urgency to defeat me is making him gain skills that I hadn’t anticipated. We will need to dispose of him soon. Time is running short.” Voldermort hissed. Lucius spoke first.
“Master, my son is not a suspected death eater, I can easily influence or force him, if necessary, him to do our bidding. The house elf Dobby is under my son’s girlfriend’s command. Let’s just make him kill Potter in his sleep. I’m sure she would be more than willing to control the elf long enough to accomplish this goal and-“
“Silence you fool! Don’t you realise that Bellatrix’s killing of her cousin has made the boy thirst for revenge? It seems that he will stop at nothing to defeat me. He is getting more and more like his meddlesome parents the older he gets.” As Voldermort shouted, the three people shrank in fear.
“He will surely be watching your son and his friends as he associates them with us. Didn’t you learn last year that you should NOT under estimate this boy? Have I taught you nothing? We will follow the plan of kidnapping his little girlfriend. That will bring him straight to us. I’ve told you that I believe them to have a mental connection. All we have to do is take her and he will come.” He simpered in his high-pitched merciless voice.
“To ensure that Dumbledore doesn’t get any ideas of sending the boy back to his aunt for protection, we will get rid of her too. Dolohov, go and get the pawn, and find Rookwood, I want him to make the trip to Little Whinging. Lucius, you will begin to research a way for me to be able to gain my access back into Potters mind. He has grown skilled in Occlumency, I must find a way back in. Bellatrix! You will take the Polyjuice potion to take on the appearance of my pawn and kidnap the girl. We have just over a month to prepare, use the Veritaserum to learn the where Potter and his friends stay during the Christmas break. We must be ready by December!” Each of the Death Eaters stood and bowed moving off to complete the task they’d been given. Harry thought wildly that he should leave before he was discovered. But Voldermort obviously couldn’t tell he was there. He decided that he should stay to see who the pawn was.
BANG! Harry sat bolt upright in his hospital bed. His vision was blurred but he quickly realised that it was because he didn’t have his glasses on. He reached for them on the bedside table pulling them on his face and looked around. Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Karlovan were glaring at Tonks who stood next to a fallen room divider. “Sorry mates, you know how clumsy I am.”
“LOOK!” Hermione gasped. Everyone turned back to a livid looking Harry,
“Oh Harry, I’m so glad you’re awake!” Ginny cried as she and jumped up and hugged his neck. Hermione came over next and hugged him tightly.
“You gave us a right scare mister!” She chastised. She stopped and looked at him. “What’s wrong?” She asked.
“Well, I was just about to find out who Voldermort was going to try to use to kidnap Ginny. He has someone under the Imperious Curse and they’re going to use that someone so that Bellatrix Lestrange can take on their appearance and kidnap her.” He croaked furiously. His throat felt scratchy and his limbs and stomach were sore but he felt much better.
Harry looked up to gaze at all of his friends. Some were looking worried, some puzzled. “Again, I’m sorry mate. But do you think that it was real or just a dream?” Tonks questioned.
“Harry, you’re supposed to be closing your mind to him so that he can’t do that.” Hermione reminded him.
“Well Hermione, I couldn’t really concentrate being that I was unconscious. But that’s not the point. He’s not in my mind. I flew into the room on the back of an eagle.” He explained.
“Ooh, that proves that I was right about your Animagi ability. We’ve really got to work on that Harry.” Hermione told him knowledgeably.
“I think you might be on to something ‘Mione. I watched Voldermort assigned Lucius Malfoy the task of researching a way to get back into my mind. I am certain that he isn’t leading me. How long have I been here?” Harry asked. “Almost a week mate. You mean to tell me that You – Know - Who is going to try to kidnap my sister?” Ron asked him.
“I think we need to get Dumbledore.” Hermione said, running out of the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey, who had come out due to the entire racket of noise that Tonks made was now ushering everyone on the other side of the divider and returning to poke and prod on his stomach, arms and legs. She spooned him a bit more of the ginger liquid and told him he was free to go. Harry jumped at the opportunity and pulled on his clothes. As he came around the divider, he spotted Karlovan who was now standing by the window looking fixedly at the forbidden forest.
“What is it?” Harry asked.
“The forest makes me homesick sometimes.” He sighed.
“Harry, Dobby is being kept in a makeshift cell until they can find out why he poisoned you.” Ginny told him feebly.
“I already know why.” Harry informed them.
“WHAT!?” all of them chorused.
“I found out in my… vision, trip, or whatever that he’s being lead by Pansy Parkinson, Voldermort talked about that too.” They all looked at him in surprise. Hermione recovered first.
“Harry, exactly what did you see? I mean, whatever it was can turn out to be very useful.” Harry looked at her and tried to remember every detail of the dream. Then he tried to project it onto the space between them all as he done many times with Ginny. It pained him horribly and the look of fear faces let him know that his efforts had been in vain.
“Harry I think you should talk to Madam Pomfrey.” Ginny suggested.
“Why?” Harry asked as Ginny went for Madame Pomfrey.
“Well Harry, you suffered quite an ordeal. It will take some time to fully gain back your magical abilities.” She explained calmly. “Meanwhile, you’ll need to rest as much as possible to gather your strength.” At that moment, Dumbledore strode into the room looking at Harry with a worried expression. He took out his wand and drew a plush wing-backed chair beside Harry’s bed and sighed quietly.
“Relax Harry. Madam Pomfrey is right, you will need to recuperate.” Harry visually relaxed and looked into the crystalline blue of his headmaster’s eyes.
“Hermione has told me that you have had another vision”, he said raising an eyebrow. Ginny rose to find Hermione, Harry grabbed her hand to beckon her back. She sat beside him and held his hand with both of hers.
“Yes Professor, I have”, Harry began. Harry went into the story about the vision that he’d had and the form he had taken to see what had been happening in Voldermort’s meeting with his three top death eaters. When he was done, Dumbledore rose from his seat and paced in front of them with his hands clasped firmly behind his back. The gesture was somehow comforting.
Ginny sighed and asked, “Do you think this was real Professor?” He stopped and looked at her with a glint of puzzlement.
“Somehow Ginny, I feel that what Harry saw might be valid. The fact is Lucius Malfoy, Antonin Dolohov and Rookwood escaped Azkaban prison just over a week ago and it was kept quiet by the Ministry to avoid any panic among the population. The only way Harry could have known that was by seeing what he saw.” Ginny gasped and glanced at Harry with her eyes full of concern.
“Well Professor, what are we going to do about his plans to kidnap Ginny? I personally don’t feel it’s safe to go back to headquarters because whoever they have under the curse is bound to know where it is and how to get there.” Harry offered. “I’m a step ahead of you”, Dumbledore reassured him. “Would the four of you please leave us to speak in private? He can meet you in the house common room after we’re done.” They all nodded. Tonks, Karlovan and Ron started towards the door. “I’ll see you guys in a bit. I need to visit Hagrid” Tonks yelled back over her shoulder. When Ginny stood to go Harry, still holding her hand, pulled her back and lightly kissed her hand before letting her go. She blushed tremendously and turned to exit the ward. Dumbledore waited until the doors closed with a soft thump behind them.
“Harry, you are aware that you were born in Godric’s Hollow am I correct?” “Yes,” he answered, wondering where this was headed. “Well, the house that you lived in with your parents was destroyed by Voldermort. But the land was still unplottable therefore I thought it might be wise to rebuild the house just as your parents had it at the same location. The house will serve as the Order headquarters until you turn seventeen and then it will be up to you to decide whether or not we can still use it. I will assign Dobby to be your house elf once he has been restored to normalcy. I’d like to hear if you have any objections to this plan.” Dumbledore said finishing the layout of this spectacular plan.
“Of course I don’t”, Harry said hurriedly. “And is that where all of us will be staying over the holiday’s?” he asked, starting to feel excited about the prospects of staying in the house that he lived in with his parents. “Yes, I believe that is best. Mrs. Weasley will of course come to stay with you all as she feels that supervision is necessary. Not to mention how worried she is about you.” Dumbledore finished smirking at him. “Dumbledore, where will Remus be staying?” He had to know that he would be out of the way of danger as well. He was the last remaining Marauder and one of his mother’s best friends. He felt closer to him probably because of the connection he shared with his parents. “Remus is opting to stay at Grimmauld Place. Honestly, he doesn’t have anyplace else to go and Sirius did leave him The Noble House of Black. Why do you ask?” “Well, I’d like for him to live at Godric’s Hollow. At least until the war is over. Do you think you could ask- wait, no, I’ll ask him. May I use your two-way mirror? I wouldn’t want Hedwig to be intercepted.” “You may, but didn’t Sirius give you one of the mirrors?” “Yes, but when he – died, I smashed it. It’s still in the bottom of my trunk.” “Harry, you do know the spell to repair things do you not? If you repair it, it will still work.” He informed him, looking over the rims of his half-moon spectacles. Unbelievably, Harry hadn’t even considered repairing the mirror. He just left the shard in the bottom of his trunk as an occasional reminder that he needed to be careful, wise and to try not to play the hero all the time.
Dumbledore smiled and nodded at him in an understanding sort of way, but he couldn’t resist a pun at the present time. “If you’re sure you won’t need my mirror, I need to finish a few things that I’d been doing when Hermione came for me. Remember to see Ginny. Let her know what the plan is telepathically once you’ve regained your strength. Oh, and by the way, you two make a lovely couple.” He said as his eyes glistened proudly. Harry just smiled and started towards the common room. He was glad that it was Saturday and he wouldn’t have to be alone in what he was planning to do. What he needed was a good fierce game of Quidditch. He knew that it was only one week until the first match of the season, so he felt that this bit of practice would tell him what they needed to get better for the game. These were the same sentiments he would relay to the others when he got to the common room. Alicia Spinnet was still insistent upon giving the position of captain to Ron, but Harry hoped she would be able to stick it out until after the first game at least.
When he arrived in Gryffindor tower, he saw Ginny and Hermione sitting in their usual places in front of the fire. They looked up and Hermione motioned for him to come over and join them. “Ron’s out on the Quidditch pitch. We wanted to talk to you. No matter what happens we’re in this together. I don’t want you trying to do this all alone. He doesn’t know that we know his plan. We just have to be careful of what we do and say around people.” Ginny said imploringly. Harry had got past the ‘not wanting people to help him’ phase, but he still felt somewhat apprehensive about Voldermort’s current plan none the less. He voiced this to them and they relaxed a bit.
“Well, it is good to hear that you feel that way. I think things will turn out okay. We just have to stick together and work the clues.” Hermione urged.
“Where did Karlovan go?” Harry asked.
“He went with Tonks to see Hagrid. Are we going to practice a bit?” Ginny asked. “Yeah, I wanted to. I don’t feel so bad anymore. I’d just like to get in the air for a while before we have our homework session tonight” he told them. “Me too, I’ll go change and get my broom.” Ginny said rising to go up to the girls dormitories.
Harry turned to Hermione. “Would you happen to know any spells or potions that could help me to bring back my abilities faster?” he asked her. “No Harry, I don’t. You’ll just have get some rest and wait it out even though we could get you some apple cider with cinnamon sticks. You see cinnamon and cayenne enhance the powers of talismans, amulets and some potions. I’m sure you wouldn’t want any cayenne but maybe the cinnamon can help you. Other than that, I don’t know any quick fixes.” She stated looking at him apologetically. Just then, Ginny bounded down the stairs. “Okay, I’m ready.” She told him, they set out of the portrait hole to go to the pitch leaving Hermione behind her tower of schoolbooks trying not to worry about the green eyed young man that eluded her thoughts nightly.
Back
Home
Forward
