Title: Irrumpo Ritus
Author: Chris Atola
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Dark and D. belong to Yukiru Sugisaki. Kaitou Kid (the original, who only gets a brief mention) belongs to Gosho Aoyama. I'm just borrowing the characters for a bit and will return them more or less intact when I'm done.
Warning(s): AU from Voldemort's resurrection ritual in Goblet of Fire.
Notes: This is a mixture of manga and anime canon for DNA, book-verse for yes, Wormtail'somission of the bone of the father was deliberate on my part. I was trying to come up with the best way to interfere with the ritual, and well...
As for the title - according to a couple of online English-Latin dictionaries these words individually mean "interrupt" and "ritual". I've never taken a Latin course in my life, so I have absolutely no idea whether that's correct or not. If you find yourself wincing too badly, please let me know the correct phrase so I can fix it!
This chapter references GoF pretty heavily, with lots of paraphrasing. The next chapter shouldn't be anywhere near as bad from that point of view.
Summary: What if Voldemort hadn't been resurrected in GoF? What if Harry had help in hunting down the horcruxes a bit earlier than in canon? AU from book 4 onward.
Wormtail lowered the unidentified, disturbing creature into the cauldron. It hissed as it disappeared under the water and was gone. Harry heard it hit the bottom with a quiet, dull thud.
Let it drown, Harry pleaded in his head, please let it drown. But Wormtail advanced on him with a long, thin and shiny silver dagger and uttered "Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe," as he pressed it into the crook of Harry's arm. He dug a glass phial out of his robes and used it to collect Harry's blood.
Wormtail stumbled back to the cauldron with the phial and poured its contents into the water which instantly turned a bright, burning white. Suddenly, out of the dark sky, a bolt of lightning shot into the cauldron. Wormtail squeaked as he was thrown back, and Harry blacked out for a moment.
When he regained his senses he could feel something was different. His body was moving, untying itself without his input, and standing up. I need to get Cedric and get to the portkey, he thought desperately, and was surprised to feel whoever was controlling his body comply. Most of the Death Eaters were still only semiconscious, and only a couple of them made any attempt to stop him. Whoever it was easily dodged the badly aimed curses, even with his injured leg, and had a hold on both Cedric's body and the portkey before any of the still conscious Death Eaters knew what had happened. Harry was relieved to feel the tugging sensation of the portkey activating.
Moments later he found himself slamming into the cold, hard ground, in control of himself once again. Winded and dizzy, he clutched the two things he held - Cedric and the Cup - even tighter in a desperate bid to stay conscious.
There was a deafening blast of sound and hands roughly seized his shoulders. Someone shouted his name and Harry looked directly into Dumbledore's worried eyes. "Headmaster," he gasped, "Voldemort tried to come back. Did some kind of ritual. Don't think it worked. They killed Cedric!"
The next couple of hours passed in a bit of a numb blur, Harry reflected as his Sleeping Potion took effect. The fake Moody's confession, the Veritaserum, the meeting in Dumbledore's office... Harry's vision swam as his exhaustion, aided by the potion, took him under, and he knew no more of what was happening around him. Instead he found himself in a bright white, featureless room facing a tall, purple-haired teenager with... wings? Black wings? Harry blinked in surprise and warily asked, "Who are you and where are we?"
The winged teenager smirked and said, "We're in your head. I'm the great Phantom Thief Dark Mousy!"
Harry frowned in confusion. "Who?" A momentary pause, and Harry had a sudden flash of memory. "Wait, I think one of my teachers in primary school mentioned a Phantom Thief Dark: they were discussing the latest Kaitou Kid heist. Said it reminded him of something he saw on the telly as a kid. But what are you doing in my head?"
And so Dark launched into an explanation of his own origins as one half of the Black Wings artwork, his former status as Niwa family curse - here Harry's eyes widened and he fired off a series of questions, which Dark answered to Harry's satisfaction before continuing - and the reasons behind his heists, and finally his sealing of Krad and himself in the Black Wings.
Just as Dark's explanation came to a close Harry jerked awake to find Dumbledore stepping into the Hospital Wing carrying a large, heavy-looking sack. The Headmaster walked over to Harry and deposited the sack on his bedside table. "Your winnings," he said. "There was supposed to be a presentation ceremony, but in the current climate I felt it unwise. Minerva," he continued, turning to face the others in the room, "I would like to see Hagrid in my office as soon as possible, as well as Madame Maxime if she will consent to come."
Professor McGonagall nodded wordlessly and left.
"Poppy," Dumbledore addressed Madam Pomfrey, "Would you kindly go down to Professor Moody's office, where I believe you'll find a very distressed house-elf by the name of Winky? If you would do what you can for her and take her to the kitchens, where I think Dobby will look after her for us."
"Very well," said a very startled Madam Pomfrey, and left.
After ensuring that the door was shut and that Pomfrey's footsteps had faded away Dumbledore spoke again. "Now, I believe it's time for two of our number to recognise each other for what they are. Sirius - please resume your usual form."
Harry and Dark watched as Mrs. Weasley and Professor Snape each expressed shock over the true identity of the black dog that until then had been sitting on the floor. Who's that, Dark asked Harry, referring to Sirius.
That's Sirius Black, my godfather. He was framed for my parents' murder when I was a baby. He escaped from prison last year and hasn't been cleared yet: that's why I don't live with him, Harry replied, slightly distractedly.
Snape and Sirius reluctantly shook hands and Dumbledore continued, "Sirius, I need you to set off immediately. Gather up the old crowd, and lie low at Lupin's for a while - I will contact you there."
"But..." Harry started to say: he really did not want Sirius to go away again so soon. After all, he hardly got to see the man.
"You'll see me again soon," Sirius told him, "I promise. But I have to do what I can - you understand, don't you?"
"Yeah," Harry responded, "Yeah, of course I do."
Sirius grasped his hand for a moment before nodding to Dumbledore, transforming back into a dog and running across the room to the door. He pressed the handle down with a paw and was gone.
"I must go downstairs," Dumbledore announced, "I must see the Diggorys. Drink the rest of your potion, Harry. I will see all of you later."
Harry fell back against his pillows as Dumbledore left. Neither Mrs. Weasley, Ron nor Hermione spoke for a long moment, and Harry felt no inclination to break the silence. Finally Mrs. Weasley said, "You need to take your potion, Harry. Try and think of something else for a while. Think of what you'll buy with your winnings!"
"I don't want the money. Somebody, anybody else can have it. It should've been Cedric's." The horror and tears he had been fighting on and off all evening finally caught up with him, and his eyes started to tear up. Harry stubbornly looked up at the ceiling. Dark remained tactfully silent.
"It wasn't your fault, Harry," Mrs. Weasley told him.
"It was my idea for him to take the Cup with me," Harry insisted.
Harry felt a funny lump in his throat, and wished Ron would look away. Out of the blue, he felt someone's arms wrap around him. Mrs Weasley was hugging him. I've never been hugged before, Harry noted silently. The full weight of the night's events came crashing down on him as Mrs. Weasley held him close. Everything he had seen that night spun in his head until it became unbearable, and he fought the howl of misery building up inside him.
They were startled apart by a loud slamming noise. Hermione was standing by the window with a death grip on something small.
"Sorry," she whispered.
Mrs. Weasley wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and said, "Your potion, Harry." He picked up the goblet containing the rest of his potion and downed it in one gulp, and was instantly swept off to sleep.
He remembered hardly anything from the week after the Third Task, Harry reflected as he loaded his things into the train compartment Hermione, Ron and he had claimed. Of the few things he did remember, his meeting with Cedric's parents had been the most difficult. They had been relieved to learn that Cedric barely knew what hit him, and had told Harry to keep the money, in spite of his protests.
When Hermione pulled out a copy of the Daily Prophet and pointed out the complete and utter lack of Rita Skeeter's rubbish, Ron expressed disbelief. "How can that rotten woman stay quiet?" he asked.
"Oh, Rita won't be writing anything at all in the near future. Not unless she want me to spill the beans on her! I found out how she's been getting all those interviews," Hermione announced.
"How was she doing it?" Harry asked immediately.
"And how did you find out?" Ron added.
"Well, it was really you who gave me the idea, Harry," Hermione started.
"Me?" Harry asked, surprised, "How did I do that?"
"Bugging," said Hermione happily.
"But I thought those didn't work at Hogwarts," Harry protested.
"Oh, not electronic bugs," Hermione amended in a trembling voice, "You see, Rita Skeeter is an unregistered Animagus: she can turn into," here she pulled out a little glass jar, "A beetle."
"Surely you're joking," Ron protested, "She can't be...!"
"Oh yes, she is!" Hermione exclaimed and held out the jar for the boys to see. There, sitting on top of a few leaves, was a large, shiny beetle. "I caught her in the hospital wing. Look very closely, and you'll see the markings around her antennae are just like her horrible glasses."
"There was a beetle on the statue the night Hagrid told Madame Maxime about his mum!" Harry realised.
"Exactly, and I've seen beetles somewhere near every event Rita reported on," Hermione agreed. "She's been buzzing around all year eavesdropping and then writing about what she heard."
"So Malfoy was holding her when we saw him under that tree," Ron caught on.
"And that's how she got those interviews with the Slytherins: they knew about her," Hermione added. "I told her I'd let her out when we get to London. I've put an Unbreakable Charm on the jar, so she can't transform. And she's to keep her quill to herself for a whole year - see if she can't stop telling horrible lies about people." Smiling serenely, Hermione stuffed the jar back in her bag.
Half an hour later the Weasley twins stopped by, and Harry had a thought. "So, are you going to tell us? Who were you blackmailing?"
"Ludo Bagman," the twins chorused. "Stupid git," Fred added. "Remember the bet we had at the World Cup? About how Ireland would win, but Krum would get the Snitch?"
"Yeah," Harry and Ron said in unison.
"Well, the git paid us in leprechaun gold he'd caught from the Irish mascots. It had vanished the next morning," George continued. "We thought he'd made a mistake and wrote him, but he ignored the letter. Even made ecxuses to get away when we cornered him at Hogwarts. Turns out he hasn't got two galleons to rub together, after he made a bet with the goblins and lost. Still wasn't enough to cover his debts, so he made a run for it after the third task." He heaved a great sigh and asked, "Exploding Snap, anyone?"
The rest of the journey passed pleasantly, and Harry wished it would take all summer so he could avoid spending it at the Dursleys', but all too soon the train pulled into King's Cross station. Ron and Hermione grabbed their trunks and left, but Harry stayed put.
"Fred, George... wait a moment." As the twins turned Harry opened his trunk, pulled out his Triwizard winnings and pushed it toward them. "I want you to have this. Take it, I don't want it."
"What?" Fred asked, flabbergasted.
"You're mental," George said, trying to push the money back to Harry.
"No, I'm not. Take it, it's for the joke shop," Harry insisted.
"He is mental," Fred gasped.
"Listen," Harry said, "If you don't take it, I'm throwing it away. I don't need or want it. But I reckon we'll all want a few good jokes before long."
"Harry," George protested weakly as he picked up the bag and weighed it in his hands, "There's got to be a thousand galleons in here!"
"Yeah," Harry grinned, "Think of all the canary creams you could make with that." When Fred looked like he was about to protest again, Harry continued. "Look, take it or I'll hex you. I learned some good ones this year. Just do me a favour and get Ron some new robes, and tell him they're from you." He left the compartment before the twins could say another word, pulling his trunk and Hedwig in her cage behind him. He could feel Dark radiating bemusement in the back of his head.
Uncle Vernon was waiting on the other side of the barrier with Mrs. Weasley standing nearby. She grabbed him in a quick hug and whispered, "I think Dumbledore will let you come and stay with us later in the summer, Harry. Keep in touch."
"Bye, Harry," Ron said, patting him on the shoulder.
"See you, Harry," said Hermione and did something Harry didn't expect and that she had never done before: she kissed him on the cheek.
"Harry... thanks," George muttered and Fred nodded emphatically in agreement.
Harry winked at them before following Uncle Vernon out to the car.
Opinions? Corrections? Feel like poking holes? I'd love to hear about it! Thanks for reading. I don't know when the next chapter will be up – this one sat on my hard-drive for nearly a month while I tried to work out how to write Dark's introduction. I couldn't find any canon examples of Dark introducing himself to someone without that someone already having at least heard of him, so I finally threw up my hands and included the Kaitou Kid mention just to move the story along.