Harry Potter
and...
The Curse of the
Death-Eaters
Harry's Sixth Year
"'Tis only what shall be expected
The envious people and our furious kind.
All people have been or will be rejected,
The path of life has been set and assigned."
Anthony Vellor sang around the fire of the camp. He and the other Death-Eaters camping there were outlaws, forced to stay in the cover of forest most of the time to escape being sent to Azkaban. Azkaban was and is every Death-Eaters worst nightmare. Surrounded by soul-sucking monsters called Dementors, anyone who was sent to Azkaban went mad. The dementors pulled every last happy thought from a wizard's mind. Vellor had heard of the muggles having a death sentence, which he thought was better than being sent to Azkaban, or having the Dementors' kiss performed.
"We have no crimes," grimaced Vellor, "that justly force us to stay out here, in the cold, fierce winds." The Death-eaters served Lord Voldemort, the most feared dark wizard for half a century. The majority of the wizards in Britain fear him too much to say his name. Some of his servants were forced to serve him, but most of their own free will. Many, such as Vellor and his camp, were being searched for so they could be imprisoned.
"Lord Voldemort is the one to serve, not those fools at the ministry!" cried Vellor.
"Endure to the end, Tony, endure to the end," Semforth Ew, a younger Death-Eater, spoke to Anthony Vellor in his usual soft voice.
"Why don't we sing that song of yours, that one about fate? A few of us could use some reminding that we're meant to be out here." Ew added, casting a look a Vellor.
"There is no fate," Vellor said hurriedly, "that song is poppycock!
"Then why do you sing it, and why do you think it was ever made it the first place?" Anthony Vellor was silent. A hush seemed to have come over the entire camp. Then another voice spoke. It was Gerald Hyffen.
"Do you mean to tell us that we are fated to be wanted by the ministry, fated to serve Voldemort, fated to be hated by thousands of people, fated to have flimsy tents to sleep in, fated to be here? Was I fated to trip over a rock that time I was being chased by a muggle policeman? Do I have no choice in this world?" Hyffen was screaming by the time he finished.
An argument sprang up suddenly. There was much bickering and fighting and many curses were performed. Only Ew tried to stay out of the argument. When someone approached for his answer on Hyffen's questions, he only squeaked, "Yes," and moved away. Soon after, though, the fighting finished, and the curse wounds were fixed. Everyone had decided to sit down and listen to Ew's explanation. Semforth Ew was reluctant to say much, but they eventually squeezed it out of him.
"Yes, fate is everything. If you don't like it, do something. You're all very capable of using you're magic to mess fate up. Do it if you want to. I prefer to abide with fate."
"But of course!" said Hyffen, "we shall make a spell so powerful, so evilly wondrous, that it is untraceable, un-foretellable, and un-useable by any who are not skillful wizards!" The rest of the Death-eater camp, with the exception of Ew, cheered in agreement. Semforth Ew ran into the forest and was never seen again.
2 years later
* * *
"Ooh, Harry," squealed Hermione, "We have our first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson today!"
"What's wrong with you Hermione. You've never been this excited about an Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson before," Ron questioned. Hermione scowled at Ron.
"I wasn't talking to you, you barmy old codger, I was talking to Harry. But now I'll answer your question. This is going to be the best year of Defense lessons ever!"
"And just how do you know that?" asked Harry, "Have you been using a time-turner again?"
"Heavens, no! It drove me mad. And besides, use of a time-turner has very strict usage rules." Hermione stated. Ron and Harry looked at each other. They both knew what the other was thinking. And they both said what the other did.
"How do you know this is going to be a good year?" they both blurted out. Hermione dropped her books in surprised at this, but after she stooped down to pick them up, she looked very serious.
"Don't you remember?" Hermione asked. Harry and Ron looked blankly at her. Hermione spoke again, this time with importance in her voice.
"Well, I do at least. Remember in our fourth year we had Mad-Eye Moody, er, Bartemius Crouch for our teacher?"
"How could I forget that year?" groaned Harry, "I mean, I was only almost dragon and skrewt bait, rescuing red-heads underwater, and nearly murdered. Oh, and don't forget that just because I was only nearly murdered, someone else wasn't, and..."
"Shut up Harry," said Hermione daintily, "Now, remember how Crouch taught us all those curses we weren't to learn until sixth year. Well, we're in our sixth year now! I bet we'll learn a whole bunch of curses, like the Truth Forcing Curse and the Gut-Ache Curse. Nifty to use on Malfoy, eh?"
"Since when have you actually wanted to curse Malfoy?" queried Ron.
"Since he put that Un-Comprehendible Curse on me last year. It was a night mare. I only got 120% on my quiz that day!" Hermione complained. Harry and Ron knew Hermione's attitude towards school and her marks, so they said no more. The trio walked down the hall to potions, which they, for the first time, had with the Hufflepuffs.
"Why doesn't Dumbledore just give Snape the Defense job? He'd be a lot more pleasant if he got what he wanted." whined Ron. Hermione was reciting her timetable, and Harry was reading 1001 Restorative and Life-giving Potions, just in case Snape had a pop quiz, so no one answered Ron.
Snape turned out to be in a foul mood, most likely because he didn't have his Slytherins to back him up. He did, in fact, have a pop quiz that day. Unfortunately for Harry, Snape's quiz from a book called Immensely Complicated Potions: For Skilled Wizards Only, not from 1001 Restorative and Life-giving Potions.
"No good rotten evil darn freakish warlock," Ron mumbled viciously as the three friends walked out of potions that day, "How was I supposed to know that 4 ounces of kneazle powder stirred with a wand performing the lumos spell would make an immobilizing potion?"
Hermione spoke up. "Well, Ronald, you did once have a kneazle. And I only got 94 percent." Harry gawked at her. Ron's ears turned red. Harry mumbled something like 'that's twice'. Ron blushed. Harry walked on down the hall deep in thought. Ron gazed at Hermione. Harry stared back at the two lingering students. Ron started to walk, trying not to look at Hermione. Harry sighed and sped up so as no to be late for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Back behind him, Hermione was speaking to Ron.
"I swear, Ron! Ever since Fleur Delacor left, you've been just plain weird!" Ron cleared his throat and caught up with Harry. Hermione, being dejected at being left behind, summoned Harry and Ron back to her. Never having the summoning charm used on them before, both boys were quite confused.
"Just a summoning charm. Honestly, Harry, you used it so much in the fourth year I thought you'd be familiar with it," Hermione said strictly, "Now, this is why I wanted to talk to you about. Who do you think will be our teacher this year? Haven't you two even thought about that?" Ron and Harry couldn't honestly say they had. They tried to rack their brains to think who the new teacher could be. And before they knew it, they were at the DADA classroom. Harry stopped them to address them.
"All I can think of is that after last year with Prof. Durms, we better not have another teacher like him!"
"I agree," said Ron wholeheartedly, " honestly, we didn't learn anything to deter the Dark Arts. That guy was straight out of Durmstrang!" Hermione had a comment, but she thought that you never knew who was listening in on you. The friends entered the classroom. As soon as Ron got in, his ears turned scarlet. This was the kind of red the Hogwarts Express was painted with. A young woman was sitting at the front desk, writing a message in the air. She spoke to them with a big smile.
"You're late! But that's okay!" She glanced at the class roster. "Are you Hermione, Harry, and Ron?" They all nodded, in semi-shock. "Wonderful!" said the woman, "I am Prof. Pallas. But call me Ariadne. Or Adne. I hate being called professor." She then motioned to the letters in the air, then erased them. "I was leaving this message for you. It was going to tell you that the class is meeting besides the forbidden forest. But since you're here..." She motioned to the door leading in to the hallway.
"Ah, Prof..., I mean, Ariadne, can I ask you something?" queried Hermione. The teacher answered, half laughing.
"When I first got here, I asked the same question to Albus. He told me I already had but that I could ask another." she giggled, as though it was a hilarious joke. Hermione forced a laugh. Ron went red down to his kneecaps. Harry, having heard this before, remained blank-faced. Hermione proceeded to ask her question.
"Are you a follower of You-Know-Who, a fraud of a Braggart, a You-Know-Who follower impersonating an auror, or a possible You-Know-Who follower?" Ariadne laughed hysterically. "Of course not!" she answered between titters. "So you're an werewolf?" said Ron without thinking, "Or maybe a vampire?" he said with a little more hope. This only caused Ariadne to laugh more hysterically. She was still laughing when she, Hermione, Ron, and Harry were at the edge of the forbidden forest.
"So there you are!" yelled Sarah, an American exchange student and perfectionist. She had been traded for Colin Creevey, which Harry was most happy about. That was, until he met Sarah. What was worse- she slept in the Gryffindor tower. At least she had learned to hate Draco Malfoy. Sarah did not in the least stop Ariandne's good mood. She got straight to work, though.
"This year we are going to learn about the Unforgivable Curses. Does anyone know any?" Everyone except Sarah raised their hand high in the air, with a look of either smugness of triumph on their face. The teacher was amazed!
"We learned them in the fourth year," answered Seamus Finnigan firmly. Adne did not seem as surprised as they thought she would.
"Ah-yes! Dumbledore told me about that. I'm afraid I forgot. Sarah- you will need to see me after class to learn what the rest of the class has. Do you want a precise minute?" Adne said this quite quickly, and the whole class laughed at her ending joke. Sarah was heard to mutter "no- to the second." Nevertheless, the class went on splendidly. As Hermione had predicted, the class learned about the Gut-ache curse. It was a curse so strong that the pain occasionally was worse than the Cruciatus curse. "For defense purposes only!" reminded Adne at the end of the class. She also added "And next class, we learn about the Unforgivable curses!" Hermione answered straight away. "But Ariadne.." Ariadne waved her off with a simple in her eyes like Dumbledore's. As of this, the whole class went to the Great Hall, excluding Sarah, who would not leave her desk until precisely 11:45.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione talked excitedly on their way to the Great Hall.
"What do you theant she mink?" said Ron in an awed voice, "I mean- what do you think she meant?"
"I have no idea!" exclaimed Hermione in a dismayed voice. Harry mumbled "that's three".
The three people's minds racked furiously as they ate. Although, it was hard to concentrate with Fred and George cracking jokes like "What has 40 legs, 60 eyes, 190 fangs, and an air of love among it? Hagrid with his pets." Harry smiled weekly at this joke, because only he, Hermione, and Ron knew that Hagrid had gotten a winged-horse foal. Hagrid call this wild and vicious monstrosity "his little dove", even though it looked more like a chimaera than a dove.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione finished lunch quickly. Luckily for them. this was "Rowena Ravenclaw Week", which meant you got to take more of the classes that you did best in. Their next DADA class was the next day! Thank goodness it wasn't longer, because during the time from then to the next class, the three students learned nothing. The next two classes (Transfiguration and Divination, which was Charms for Hermione) went by with much commotion but they noticed nothing of it.
In Transfiguration, McGonagall told them about Human-magi, people who could turn into any other person they personally knew. Dumbledore was the only true Human-magi that century, but You-Know -Who could turn into the first person he saw at the beggining of each year. McGonagall called Dumbledore in to show the class this amazing feat, but Harry didn't notice, even though he was standing right next to Harry's desk and making intricate wand movements.
As for Ron, he didn't even notice what happened in Divination. Trelawney had stopped telling death fortunes, but her fortunes were more misty than ever. In fact, she predicted that "a red haired man with fight a powerful evil from an unlikely source".
Hermione, for the first time in her life, did not pay attention in Charms! The class was being taught their first lesson of non-verbal magic. It included trying to force your magic out of your wand to do what you wanted it to do. This was often used when you couldn't find a proper spell.
At long last, the awaited Defense Against the Dark Arts Class came. Ron now had permanently redder skin. Well, it was permanent until the end of the year, when Adne left. Adne knew what everyone was thinking. So she got right into the lesson, even before everybody had sat down. This annoyed Sarah, because she expected that the class would have started 7 seconds later. Adne sensed this, so she started speaking right away just to annoy her.
"I'm sure you all want to know why we're learning about the Unforgivable Curses today, right?" Everyone nodded, even Sarah, despite her bad mood. "Well, it's because learning it in your fourth year was not a good idea. About the time you finished learning the Unforgivable Curses, a new one was in the making." The whole class went silent. Even Neville Longbottom, who was telling Dean Thomas about MAGIC (Magical Association for Great and Inventive Charms).
"Oh yes!" she continued (speaking like a televangelist), "another Unforgivable Curse!" It's called the Curse of the Death-Eaters. I will stop right here. If you want to know anything else, raise your hand! That's how we will continue for the rest of the class." All the students took advantage. The first question was asked by Hermione, who asked what the curse did. Adne answered Hermione by telling her that it was intended to be a curse that made all evil triumph, but turned out to be just a curse that made things undeniably evil. Ron asked what the incantation was. Adne said you needed to be stronger than you needed to be to perform Avada Kedavra, so it was no use telling him. And besides, she didn't want a certain person to know, Neville. Even Sarah asked wether or not anyone knew the precise amount of time it took to create the curse, and how it is powered (ex- mind). Upon the teacher answering that no one knew, Sarah became huffy and pouty. Harry asked what the penalty was for using it. Unlik
e the other Unforgivable Curses, the penalty was having your soul sucked out by the dementors. (As you will find out, it is good that no one can trace this curse to find out who did it.) Many other students asked questions, but they were all answered ten minutes to the end of class (much to the dismay of Sarah). Harry was quite the opposite.
"It's about time the class ended," he mumbled to everyone who would listen to him. Most people stared at him as though he had suggested they all go wrestle trolls. Some people actually started to scold him. "What are you so mad about?" asked Harry innocently, as though he didn't know what has happened. With a scowl on his face worse than any Draco Malfoy could make, Harry stormed out of the classroom. He marched all the way down the hall and up a case of stairs to Arithmancy, without looking at anything or anyone other than his shoes.
When Ron and Hermione caught up with Harry (when he had sat down at his desk) they started to speak to him. Harshly.
"What did you think you were doing, Harry? That was one of the best ruddy classes we ever had!" Ron yelled this so loud and viciously that Parvati looked weirdly at him. Hermione wasn't about to leave her opinion out of the conversation. "You were so engrossed in the lesson," she said in a voice only slightly calmer than Ron's, "How could you get mad so quickly?"
Sarah came up to Harry and spoke almost admiringly. "I know how you feel. When the class end so earl..."
"You don't know how I feel!" Harry shouted at her with outmost rage, "You Americans are so freakish!" Ron, Hermione, and Sarah realized this wasn't just an ordinary disagreement when Harry started repeating "freakish" over and over (and over!)
Prof. Vector (Arithmancy teacher extrodinaire) was talking about how you could use numbers to grade people's feelings. Using these numbers, you could predict how a person would be acting at a later time. For the first time in Arithmancy, Ron payed attention. He was hoping to find out how long it would be until Harry was calm again. Also for the first in Arithmancy, Hermione was not paying attention. She was planning to go to the library after lunch (when they had a break until 2:00) and find out why Harry was acting so weird.
When Arithmancy was over ("Finally!" yelled Harry), Harry stormed (again) down to the Great Hall. Ron and Hermione trotted along at a great speed to catch up with him. Harry, again not looking where he was going, almost sat down at the Slytherin table. Ron quickly pulled him away.
"Did you ever think maybe I wanted to sit there?" he said as he stared Ron in the eye. He walked in a birdline to the head of the Gryffindor table, nearly knocking over Hermione as she walked briskly over to sit down. Eating his lunch quickly, Harry waved off everything anyone tried to say to him. He wasn't seen until Charms that afternoon. That explains why their was a riot in Hogsmeade right after lunch. It was reported than a skinny boy with dark hair and glasses was shooting sparks at the Hogsmeade hogs.
Ron, concerned as much about Harry as Hermione was. So he joined her as she read in the library. They checked out books such as Attitude and Actions- Explained!, and Behaviors of Beings. None seemed to help. They tried using Arithmancy to figure out how long Harry would be this way. It didn't work. In fact, it showed up as though nothing had even happened to Harry. Depressed, they both made their way around the castle to Charms. No one was there. But that made perfect sense, as the class didn't start for fifteen minutes. But where was Prof. Flitwick?
"He probably apparated somewhere," said Ron with a sure look on his face.
"Honestly Ronald!" shouted Hermione, "You've had six years! Six years to learn that no one can apparate in Hogwarts grounds! What's the matter with you? Am I the only one who's ever bothered to read Hogwarts, a History?"
"Yes. You're sounding like Harry." All the talking ceased when Prof. Flitwick walked hunchbacked over into the room. He had bruises everywhere, a bit of blood on his shin, and had torn robes. His hat was bent over as though it was tired. Hermione screamed. Ron fainted. Ariadne came rushing into the room. She couldn't speak. Then a pack of students came rushing in. Ernie MacMillan started shouting "The Chamber of Secrets is open again!" This earned him a dark stare from Justin Finch-Fletchy. In the meantime, Flitwick had fainted.
"Every stand back!" Adne tried to yell while still in shock, "I need to perform some spells!" As the crowd slowly bustled back, the DADA teacher started conjuring spells, pointing here wand first at Ron, then at Flitwick.
"Wingardium Leviosa! Ferula! Wingardium Leviosa!" Soon she had Flitwick in bandages, and both him and Ron floating in the air. Adne spoke again.
"Not to worry! I'll take these two right to the infirmary! Stay calm. Snape will brew up a potion to help George, er.. Flitwick. I'll be back in a moment to teach you Charms. Go down to the place by the Forbidden Forest." She then bumbled off with Flitwick and Ron floating behind her. The whole class went to the grounds, being sure to stay away from the Whomping Willow. When they go tot the designated place, they found Harry already their. But what was he doing? They saw flames coming from his wand. He seemed to be in bliss.
When the class neared they saw what Harry was really doing. He was frying boomslangs. Alive. Slowly.
"Harry! Stop!" Hermione, Hannah Abbot, Parvati, and even Sarah all shrieked this at the same time. Harry didn't just have a bad attitude. He was evil. Hermione shrieked again, telling Ron that she had to go talk to Adne. Bad idea. Harry started stunning a few people and shot sparks at them. He used Charms (well beyond his age level) to make thorns grow under people. He filled the grass with snakes. He even went as far to use a simplified version of the Transmorgrifan Torture. But before anyone was seriously hurt, Hermione returned, Adne about 100 meters behinds her. Before Hermione could even say anything, she was stunned. By Harry.
Adne couldn't believe what was happening. With all her might, she performed a long distance stun/pain curse. Harry was thrown to the ground. Ad soon as Adne go closer, she took the curse of and then stupefied him. Adne then performed the flying charm again and took Harry to the castle. Someone unstunned Hermione and she undid all the curses and charms Harry had performed.
Next Day
* * *
Hermione and Ron didn't expect to see Harry the next morning. They expected he would be expelled, if not at least confined to a dungeon for a week or two. But there was Harry, sitting at the Gryffindor table. All the students who has witnessed the horrors the last afternoon were sworn to secrecy. And no one dared ask Harry what had happened after Ariadne had taken him away. The only answered question they got was what had happened to Flitwick. Dumbledore made that announcement just before everybody commenced to eat.
"For all of those who want to know about Prof. Flitwick, he is fine. However, he had the Cruciatus curse performed on him. Several times." The whole of the Great Hall gasped in alarm, "Flitwick is recovering just fine in the hospital wing. Charms is canceled until Flitwick is better. That will be about two weeks,'
'I never like to leave details unfinished. Flitwick was attacked by Death-eaters who have infiltrated Hogwarts." Many people in the Great hall screamed. And yet some more fainted. Ginny Weasley and some other younger students were crying. Dumbledore, however, continued.
"The death-eaters are still in the Forbidden Forest. Hogwarts is no longer safe. Because of this, today's classes will all be Defense Against the Dark Arts. Prof. Pallas will of course be getting a raise," Snape looked unusually evil at that moment. Dumbledore said no more after that. All students hurriedly ate their breakfast and then dashed off to DADA. The Great Hall was empty in 15 minutes.
Again Prof. Pallas told the students to go outside. But this time they were to meet by the Care for Magical Creatures Hut. For as Ariadne said: "You never know what dark creatures those death-eaters might use!" This made Hagrid extremely happy. He had recently caught some Jarveys from the Forbidden Forest.
The class listened intently to the DADA/COMC split lesson. Hagrid and Ande taught them how to deter creatures like Acromantulas, Ashwinders, Billywigs, Demiguises, a few Dragons, Erklings, Dugbogs, Erumpents, Graphorns, Kelpies, Kappas, Lethifolds, Manticores, Nundos, Occamies, Quintapeds, Runespores, and Tebos. They even taught about Dementors, but no one except Harry could produce a patronus (also useful on Lethifolds). After, Adne told the students some useful and still legal curses to use if the death-eaters ever came.
Throughout the lesson, Harry acted as though he had been obliviated. And he seemed to know nothing about what had happened the previous day. Most people thought that Harry actually had been obliviated, but Lavander Brown and Parvati said the arrangements of the planets meant Harry had actually been scared into "being good". Hermione, for one of the first times, believed a prediction.
The next week passed the students by. They were all in terror. No one went around the castle alone and no one talked to Harry. Harry had not been evil for the last week, making Lavander and Parvati's prediction more believable. However, you could sometimes hear Harry making snide comments under his breath. And he disappeared once every evening. This made people even more suspicious of Harry. They avoided him as though he was a bottle of aged nitroglycerin. No one wanted to be in the same class as Harry.
Never before was everyone so focused on their studies. They could take no chances if they ever met death-eaters, or the death-eaters attacked Hogwarts. This seemed even more true since Draco Malfoy and his father seemed to have vanished from off the face of the earth. And now, Harry was not seen any more. There were no more happy joberknolls that fluttered around the grounds. The Whomping Willow actually calmed down. Hagrid's Jarveys got away, and were now loose in the castle. The school's cabbage supply died. Everyone was sure these were signs that an attack from the death-eaters was nigh. They were right. Dead right.
It all started when Sarah disappeared from her bed in the middle of the night. The only sign she left behind was ruffled covers, a wand dropped on the floor, and singed bed sheets.
"A lethifold got 'er," Hagrid told everyone is a hushed voice, "It was a lethifold. She's not comin' back," Even Sarah's worst enemy, Millicent Bullstrode, cried. Things didn't stops there. They got worse. Very quick. And right away.
Ospreys suddenly appeared in the castle, and tore at students skin. Ghouls savaged unsuspecting people at night. Dugbogs gnawed at the ankles of teachers. And then it got even worse. Nundos appeared outside the castle. Being the most dangerous creature ever to exist, everyone was confined to their common rooms and Great Halls. Classes were taught in common rooms. Occasionally you might stumble across bloody students in the corridors. But no one was killed. No one walked anywhere without their wand in their hand. And after the Tebo attacks, not only were the wands always held outstretched, everyone always had a spell on their mind. Only Dumbledore and Adne seemed not to be too worried. But even they were when the death-eaters came.
They stormed into the castle by the dozens. They aimed to pain. They aimed to kill. Thank goodness the students payed attention in class. At least fifty students were taken hostage. Realizing that they could not defeat (at least not yet) these well-trained students, the death-eaters treated the castle as though it was no-man's land. The upper castle was the death-eater's, the lower castle was the students and faculty's. If either of the parties crossed paths- someone got hurt. Bound under the Hippocratic Oath, Madam Pomfrey was forced to treat any death-eaters who came to be treated. But soon enough, there was bound to be a battle. And so it was. And so it happened.
On one day, the death-eaters stormed down the stairs. They started attacking. Only 2 people were killed. It was still a large loss. Injuries were severe- both to death-eaters and students. Many more people were near death. It was total chaos. It was even beyond war. You were never safe- you could always hear screams. And then they brought in the animals. The death-eaters summoned unusual creatures from the Forbidden Forest. Thankfully, the students and faculty were able to defend themselves. It was still complete war. The halls were blood stained. Then Harry showed up.
No one, not even Harry himself knew what had happened to him or where him had been. Or, that's what he and every one said. But what you really ought to know is that people were right to have avoided Harry. When he saw the death-eaters, he went made. He shot powerful curses and hexes at them. Some were even more powerful than the ones the death-eaters shot at him. The injuring of the students and faculty slowed down. The death-eaters were losing a dozen people to injuries every 10 seconds. And then Harry really exploded. He saw Ron hit in the leg with a (of all spells) severing charm. As proved by Harry's mother, when a friend or someone you love is in danger, your own powers increase. And Harry's did. He started using Avada Kedavra.
In 5 seconds, 5 of the enemy no longer "were". They were dead. Harry's fellow students were shocked. But in a way- happy. Harry kept shooting his curses. This attack was more than 100 times worse than Harry's previous attack in Charms. Suddenly, Hermione had a wonderful thought. She thought, 'This is a perfect time to attack the death-eaters- while they're surprised.' She racked her brain to think of what spell she could use. She couldn't think of one. Not one she had ever used. Then a thought came to her. 'Point your wand at the death-eaters. Then just thinks what you want to happen.'
Hermione couldn't figure out where that thought had come from. She didn't know if anyone had ever told her- the thought just came. So that's just what she did. She pointed her wand at a skinny death-eater ('A challenging target') and thought 'Make him feel tangled. As though he's in a net. And vines, that he can't get out of.' To Hermione's great surprise, it worked! The death-eater started wiggling as though he was fighting each of an Acromantula's legs. Hermione called over to Ron, who was trying to climb up it the infirmary. With much trouble, she pulled him back and told him what to do. Ron was a bit skeptical.
"All I have to do is think what I want them to do?" Hermione replied with enthusiasm.
"Right. Point your wand at them and think they're captured. It works, Ron, it works!" Reluctant and dodging spell, Ron did as Hermione had told him. And to his great surprise, it worked. Ron and Hermione spread the word, and very soon, the Hogwarts student and faculty side were winning. In only a few minutes, EVERY death eater had been restrained.
Harry had stopped killing after Hermione had captured the first death-eater. For the first time in quite a while, a good thought went through Harry's head:
'I don't need to do this. Hermione has a new way of winning! And besides, this is wrong. I could end up in Azkaban. Or maybe I could miss and get one of my friends.' Many more thoughts similar to this went through his head. A few seconds later, Harry became the first person in history to fight the Curse of the Death-Eaters.
About 5 days later
* * *
Soon enough, the whole school was back to normal. Almost. Except for the small number of dead students and damages to the castle, everything could be lived with. Harry had been check over by Madam Pomfrey, who spread the news: Harry had been held under the Curse of The Death-eaters. As for Harry- he personally apologized to everyone he injured and hurt, emotionally or physically. Within two months, no one even talked about the infiltration of the death-eaters. Except Harry. After thinking it over, he resolved to go talk to Dumbledore.
After his Muggle Studies class, he went up to visit Dumbledore. After finally shouting "Fizzing Whizzbees!", the gargoyle guarding the office jumped aside. Harry talked with Dumbledore for more than 3 hours. He talked about how he didn't know how the curse was set on him, how sorry he was, how he didn't remember a lot of things that happened, and more. Dumbledore listened for the best part. The talked ended like this:
"But Dumbledore!" said Harry, confused, "Every year, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher always has something to do with what happens. Why not this year?" Dumbledore's answer was short: "She has been involved, Harry. She was a Double-Agent for us. She told the death-eaters that now was the time to come to Hogwarts. They trusted her, because they knew her under a different name. She disguised herself as a man, and joined the Death-eaters under the name Semforth Ew. She is an unregistered Human-magi."
Harry was in shock. "Why Dumbledore? Why did she tell them to come here?"
"Don't you understand, Harry?" questioned Dumbledore, "I put the curse on you to help you. Without evil to fight, no one can fight it. Nor can they experience new things. And they can't realize what they can. What you showed when fighting that curse was something most wizards could not do. It takes a lot of power to stop the curse, even after you realize something terrible (like death) has happened because of it. Now you know how special you are. Now you know that you have a high magical ability, Harry. This has prepared you for the final battle. You are ready." Dumbledore said the sentence in a proud voice, with no hesitation or worries.
"But most of all, Harry," Dumbledore spoke in a wavering voice, "Because the death-eaters fought you, they have fought evil. It is like they have fought themselves. At the final battle, we..., I mean you will be victorious." Dumbledore finished on the verge of tears. There were some things about Dumbledore that Harry would never understand.
T H E
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Authors Note to the Readers: I really hope you like my story. I started writing it a year (for my own website) ago but then stopped. Then I suddenly "picked it up out of my files" and started writing again. In this story I put more emphasis and feeling into it than I have ever put into a story before. I tried to model after the touching, heart rendering stories, and almost-could-be-real-Harry Potter-books by Gypsy (harrypotterrealm.com) and one about Harry when he was grown-up by someone called either Slytherin Dragon or Firebolt Nyx at alohomora.com.
If you do not think this story is full of emotions like I tried to make it, well, then.... I guess I'll never be like Gypsy. However, this is my first COMPLETED Fan Fiction.
Oh yeah- in case you didn't notice- all the stuff that happened in between Harry, Hermione, and Ron's first and second divination classes applies to the story. Dumbledore set the curse on Harry during Transfiguration. Ron really did fight an evil power from an unlikely source (Dumbledore). And when Hermione's suddenly thought to help fight by just trying to get her magic to do something, that was her mind telling her what she had learned, but didn't know, from her first Charms class.
and...
The Curse of the
Death-Eaters
Harry's Sixth Year
"'Tis only what shall be expected
The envious people and our furious kind.
All people have been or will be rejected,
The path of life has been set and assigned."
Anthony Vellor sang around the fire of the camp. He and the other Death-Eaters camping there were outlaws, forced to stay in the cover of forest most of the time to escape being sent to Azkaban. Azkaban was and is every Death-Eaters worst nightmare. Surrounded by soul-sucking monsters called Dementors, anyone who was sent to Azkaban went mad. The dementors pulled every last happy thought from a wizard's mind. Vellor had heard of the muggles having a death sentence, which he thought was better than being sent to Azkaban, or having the Dementors' kiss performed.
"We have no crimes," grimaced Vellor, "that justly force us to stay out here, in the cold, fierce winds." The Death-eaters served Lord Voldemort, the most feared dark wizard for half a century. The majority of the wizards in Britain fear him too much to say his name. Some of his servants were forced to serve him, but most of their own free will. Many, such as Vellor and his camp, were being searched for so they could be imprisoned.
"Lord Voldemort is the one to serve, not those fools at the ministry!" cried Vellor.
"Endure to the end, Tony, endure to the end," Semforth Ew, a younger Death-Eater, spoke to Anthony Vellor in his usual soft voice.
"Why don't we sing that song of yours, that one about fate? A few of us could use some reminding that we're meant to be out here." Ew added, casting a look a Vellor.
"There is no fate," Vellor said hurriedly, "that song is poppycock!
"Then why do you sing it, and why do you think it was ever made it the first place?" Anthony Vellor was silent. A hush seemed to have come over the entire camp. Then another voice spoke. It was Gerald Hyffen.
"Do you mean to tell us that we are fated to be wanted by the ministry, fated to serve Voldemort, fated to be hated by thousands of people, fated to have flimsy tents to sleep in, fated to be here? Was I fated to trip over a rock that time I was being chased by a muggle policeman? Do I have no choice in this world?" Hyffen was screaming by the time he finished.
An argument sprang up suddenly. There was much bickering and fighting and many curses were performed. Only Ew tried to stay out of the argument. When someone approached for his answer on Hyffen's questions, he only squeaked, "Yes," and moved away. Soon after, though, the fighting finished, and the curse wounds were fixed. Everyone had decided to sit down and listen to Ew's explanation. Semforth Ew was reluctant to say much, but they eventually squeezed it out of him.
"Yes, fate is everything. If you don't like it, do something. You're all very capable of using you're magic to mess fate up. Do it if you want to. I prefer to abide with fate."
"But of course!" said Hyffen, "we shall make a spell so powerful, so evilly wondrous, that it is untraceable, un-foretellable, and un-useable by any who are not skillful wizards!" The rest of the Death-eater camp, with the exception of Ew, cheered in agreement. Semforth Ew ran into the forest and was never seen again.
2 years later
* * *
"Ooh, Harry," squealed Hermione, "We have our first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson today!"
"What's wrong with you Hermione. You've never been this excited about an Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson before," Ron questioned. Hermione scowled at Ron.
"I wasn't talking to you, you barmy old codger, I was talking to Harry. But now I'll answer your question. This is going to be the best year of Defense lessons ever!"
"And just how do you know that?" asked Harry, "Have you been using a time-turner again?"
"Heavens, no! It drove me mad. And besides, use of a time-turner has very strict usage rules." Hermione stated. Ron and Harry looked at each other. They both knew what the other was thinking. And they both said what the other did.
"How do you know this is going to be a good year?" they both blurted out. Hermione dropped her books in surprised at this, but after she stooped down to pick them up, she looked very serious.
"Don't you remember?" Hermione asked. Harry and Ron looked blankly at her. Hermione spoke again, this time with importance in her voice.
"Well, I do at least. Remember in our fourth year we had Mad-Eye Moody, er, Bartemius Crouch for our teacher?"
"How could I forget that year?" groaned Harry, "I mean, I was only almost dragon and skrewt bait, rescuing red-heads underwater, and nearly murdered. Oh, and don't forget that just because I was only nearly murdered, someone else wasn't, and..."
"Shut up Harry," said Hermione daintily, "Now, remember how Crouch taught us all those curses we weren't to learn until sixth year. Well, we're in our sixth year now! I bet we'll learn a whole bunch of curses, like the Truth Forcing Curse and the Gut-Ache Curse. Nifty to use on Malfoy, eh?"
"Since when have you actually wanted to curse Malfoy?" queried Ron.
"Since he put that Un-Comprehendible Curse on me last year. It was a night mare. I only got 120% on my quiz that day!" Hermione complained. Harry and Ron knew Hermione's attitude towards school and her marks, so they said no more. The trio walked down the hall to potions, which they, for the first time, had with the Hufflepuffs.
"Why doesn't Dumbledore just give Snape the Defense job? He'd be a lot more pleasant if he got what he wanted." whined Ron. Hermione was reciting her timetable, and Harry was reading 1001 Restorative and Life-giving Potions, just in case Snape had a pop quiz, so no one answered Ron.
Snape turned out to be in a foul mood, most likely because he didn't have his Slytherins to back him up. He did, in fact, have a pop quiz that day. Unfortunately for Harry, Snape's quiz from a book called Immensely Complicated Potions: For Skilled Wizards Only, not from 1001 Restorative and Life-giving Potions.
"No good rotten evil darn freakish warlock," Ron mumbled viciously as the three friends walked out of potions that day, "How was I supposed to know that 4 ounces of kneazle powder stirred with a wand performing the lumos spell would make an immobilizing potion?"
Hermione spoke up. "Well, Ronald, you did once have a kneazle. And I only got 94 percent." Harry gawked at her. Ron's ears turned red. Harry mumbled something like 'that's twice'. Ron blushed. Harry walked on down the hall deep in thought. Ron gazed at Hermione. Harry stared back at the two lingering students. Ron started to walk, trying not to look at Hermione. Harry sighed and sped up so as no to be late for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Back behind him, Hermione was speaking to Ron.
"I swear, Ron! Ever since Fleur Delacor left, you've been just plain weird!" Ron cleared his throat and caught up with Harry. Hermione, being dejected at being left behind, summoned Harry and Ron back to her. Never having the summoning charm used on them before, both boys were quite confused.
"Just a summoning charm. Honestly, Harry, you used it so much in the fourth year I thought you'd be familiar with it," Hermione said strictly, "Now, this is why I wanted to talk to you about. Who do you think will be our teacher this year? Haven't you two even thought about that?" Ron and Harry couldn't honestly say they had. They tried to rack their brains to think who the new teacher could be. And before they knew it, they were at the DADA classroom. Harry stopped them to address them.
"All I can think of is that after last year with Prof. Durms, we better not have another teacher like him!"
"I agree," said Ron wholeheartedly, " honestly, we didn't learn anything to deter the Dark Arts. That guy was straight out of Durmstrang!" Hermione had a comment, but she thought that you never knew who was listening in on you. The friends entered the classroom. As soon as Ron got in, his ears turned scarlet. This was the kind of red the Hogwarts Express was painted with. A young woman was sitting at the front desk, writing a message in the air. She spoke to them with a big smile.
"You're late! But that's okay!" She glanced at the class roster. "Are you Hermione, Harry, and Ron?" They all nodded, in semi-shock. "Wonderful!" said the woman, "I am Prof. Pallas. But call me Ariadne. Or Adne. I hate being called professor." She then motioned to the letters in the air, then erased them. "I was leaving this message for you. It was going to tell you that the class is meeting besides the forbidden forest. But since you're here..." She motioned to the door leading in to the hallway.
"Ah, Prof..., I mean, Ariadne, can I ask you something?" queried Hermione. The teacher answered, half laughing.
"When I first got here, I asked the same question to Albus. He told me I already had but that I could ask another." she giggled, as though it was a hilarious joke. Hermione forced a laugh. Ron went red down to his kneecaps. Harry, having heard this before, remained blank-faced. Hermione proceeded to ask her question.
"Are you a follower of You-Know-Who, a fraud of a Braggart, a You-Know-Who follower impersonating an auror, or a possible You-Know-Who follower?" Ariadne laughed hysterically. "Of course not!" she answered between titters. "So you're an werewolf?" said Ron without thinking, "Or maybe a vampire?" he said with a little more hope. This only caused Ariadne to laugh more hysterically. She was still laughing when she, Hermione, Ron, and Harry were at the edge of the forbidden forest.
"So there you are!" yelled Sarah, an American exchange student and perfectionist. She had been traded for Colin Creevey, which Harry was most happy about. That was, until he met Sarah. What was worse- she slept in the Gryffindor tower. At least she had learned to hate Draco Malfoy. Sarah did not in the least stop Ariandne's good mood. She got straight to work, though.
"This year we are going to learn about the Unforgivable Curses. Does anyone know any?" Everyone except Sarah raised their hand high in the air, with a look of either smugness of triumph on their face. The teacher was amazed!
"We learned them in the fourth year," answered Seamus Finnigan firmly. Adne did not seem as surprised as they thought she would.
"Ah-yes! Dumbledore told me about that. I'm afraid I forgot. Sarah- you will need to see me after class to learn what the rest of the class has. Do you want a precise minute?" Adne said this quite quickly, and the whole class laughed at her ending joke. Sarah was heard to mutter "no- to the second." Nevertheless, the class went on splendidly. As Hermione had predicted, the class learned about the Gut-ache curse. It was a curse so strong that the pain occasionally was worse than the Cruciatus curse. "For defense purposes only!" reminded Adne at the end of the class. She also added "And next class, we learn about the Unforgivable curses!" Hermione answered straight away. "But Ariadne.." Ariadne waved her off with a simple in her eyes like Dumbledore's. As of this, the whole class went to the Great Hall, excluding Sarah, who would not leave her desk until precisely 11:45.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione talked excitedly on their way to the Great Hall.
"What do you theant she mink?" said Ron in an awed voice, "I mean- what do you think she meant?"
"I have no idea!" exclaimed Hermione in a dismayed voice. Harry mumbled "that's three".
The three people's minds racked furiously as they ate. Although, it was hard to concentrate with Fred and George cracking jokes like "What has 40 legs, 60 eyes, 190 fangs, and an air of love among it? Hagrid with his pets." Harry smiled weekly at this joke, because only he, Hermione, and Ron knew that Hagrid had gotten a winged-horse foal. Hagrid call this wild and vicious monstrosity "his little dove", even though it looked more like a chimaera than a dove.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione finished lunch quickly. Luckily for them. this was "Rowena Ravenclaw Week", which meant you got to take more of the classes that you did best in. Their next DADA class was the next day! Thank goodness it wasn't longer, because during the time from then to the next class, the three students learned nothing. The next two classes (Transfiguration and Divination, which was Charms for Hermione) went by with much commotion but they noticed nothing of it.
In Transfiguration, McGonagall told them about Human-magi, people who could turn into any other person they personally knew. Dumbledore was the only true Human-magi that century, but You-Know -Who could turn into the first person he saw at the beggining of each year. McGonagall called Dumbledore in to show the class this amazing feat, but Harry didn't notice, even though he was standing right next to Harry's desk and making intricate wand movements.
As for Ron, he didn't even notice what happened in Divination. Trelawney had stopped telling death fortunes, but her fortunes were more misty than ever. In fact, she predicted that "a red haired man with fight a powerful evil from an unlikely source".
Hermione, for the first time in her life, did not pay attention in Charms! The class was being taught their first lesson of non-verbal magic. It included trying to force your magic out of your wand to do what you wanted it to do. This was often used when you couldn't find a proper spell.
At long last, the awaited Defense Against the Dark Arts Class came. Ron now had permanently redder skin. Well, it was permanent until the end of the year, when Adne left. Adne knew what everyone was thinking. So she got right into the lesson, even before everybody had sat down. This annoyed Sarah, because she expected that the class would have started 7 seconds later. Adne sensed this, so she started speaking right away just to annoy her.
"I'm sure you all want to know why we're learning about the Unforgivable Curses today, right?" Everyone nodded, even Sarah, despite her bad mood. "Well, it's because learning it in your fourth year was not a good idea. About the time you finished learning the Unforgivable Curses, a new one was in the making." The whole class went silent. Even Neville Longbottom, who was telling Dean Thomas about MAGIC (Magical Association for Great and Inventive Charms).
"Oh yes!" she continued (speaking like a televangelist), "another Unforgivable Curse!" It's called the Curse of the Death-Eaters. I will stop right here. If you want to know anything else, raise your hand! That's how we will continue for the rest of the class." All the students took advantage. The first question was asked by Hermione, who asked what the curse did. Adne answered Hermione by telling her that it was intended to be a curse that made all evil triumph, but turned out to be just a curse that made things undeniably evil. Ron asked what the incantation was. Adne said you needed to be stronger than you needed to be to perform Avada Kedavra, so it was no use telling him. And besides, she didn't want a certain person to know, Neville. Even Sarah asked wether or not anyone knew the precise amount of time it took to create the curse, and how it is powered (ex- mind). Upon the teacher answering that no one knew, Sarah became huffy and pouty. Harry asked what the penalty was for using it. Unlik
e the other Unforgivable Curses, the penalty was having your soul sucked out by the dementors. (As you will find out, it is good that no one can trace this curse to find out who did it.) Many other students asked questions, but they were all answered ten minutes to the end of class (much to the dismay of Sarah). Harry was quite the opposite.
"It's about time the class ended," he mumbled to everyone who would listen to him. Most people stared at him as though he had suggested they all go wrestle trolls. Some people actually started to scold him. "What are you so mad about?" asked Harry innocently, as though he didn't know what has happened. With a scowl on his face worse than any Draco Malfoy could make, Harry stormed out of the classroom. He marched all the way down the hall and up a case of stairs to Arithmancy, without looking at anything or anyone other than his shoes.
When Ron and Hermione caught up with Harry (when he had sat down at his desk) they started to speak to him. Harshly.
"What did you think you were doing, Harry? That was one of the best ruddy classes we ever had!" Ron yelled this so loud and viciously that Parvati looked weirdly at him. Hermione wasn't about to leave her opinion out of the conversation. "You were so engrossed in the lesson," she said in a voice only slightly calmer than Ron's, "How could you get mad so quickly?"
Sarah came up to Harry and spoke almost admiringly. "I know how you feel. When the class end so earl..."
"You don't know how I feel!" Harry shouted at her with outmost rage, "You Americans are so freakish!" Ron, Hermione, and Sarah realized this wasn't just an ordinary disagreement when Harry started repeating "freakish" over and over (and over!)
Prof. Vector (Arithmancy teacher extrodinaire) was talking about how you could use numbers to grade people's feelings. Using these numbers, you could predict how a person would be acting at a later time. For the first time in Arithmancy, Ron payed attention. He was hoping to find out how long it would be until Harry was calm again. Also for the first in Arithmancy, Hermione was not paying attention. She was planning to go to the library after lunch (when they had a break until 2:00) and find out why Harry was acting so weird.
When Arithmancy was over ("Finally!" yelled Harry), Harry stormed (again) down to the Great Hall. Ron and Hermione trotted along at a great speed to catch up with him. Harry, again not looking where he was going, almost sat down at the Slytherin table. Ron quickly pulled him away.
"Did you ever think maybe I wanted to sit there?" he said as he stared Ron in the eye. He walked in a birdline to the head of the Gryffindor table, nearly knocking over Hermione as she walked briskly over to sit down. Eating his lunch quickly, Harry waved off everything anyone tried to say to him. He wasn't seen until Charms that afternoon. That explains why their was a riot in Hogsmeade right after lunch. It was reported than a skinny boy with dark hair and glasses was shooting sparks at the Hogsmeade hogs.
Ron, concerned as much about Harry as Hermione was. So he joined her as she read in the library. They checked out books such as Attitude and Actions- Explained!, and Behaviors of Beings. None seemed to help. They tried using Arithmancy to figure out how long Harry would be this way. It didn't work. In fact, it showed up as though nothing had even happened to Harry. Depressed, they both made their way around the castle to Charms. No one was there. But that made perfect sense, as the class didn't start for fifteen minutes. But where was Prof. Flitwick?
"He probably apparated somewhere," said Ron with a sure look on his face.
"Honestly Ronald!" shouted Hermione, "You've had six years! Six years to learn that no one can apparate in Hogwarts grounds! What's the matter with you? Am I the only one who's ever bothered to read Hogwarts, a History?"
"Yes. You're sounding like Harry." All the talking ceased when Prof. Flitwick walked hunchbacked over into the room. He had bruises everywhere, a bit of blood on his shin, and had torn robes. His hat was bent over as though it was tired. Hermione screamed. Ron fainted. Ariadne came rushing into the room. She couldn't speak. Then a pack of students came rushing in. Ernie MacMillan started shouting "The Chamber of Secrets is open again!" This earned him a dark stare from Justin Finch-Fletchy. In the meantime, Flitwick had fainted.
"Every stand back!" Adne tried to yell while still in shock, "I need to perform some spells!" As the crowd slowly bustled back, the DADA teacher started conjuring spells, pointing here wand first at Ron, then at Flitwick.
"Wingardium Leviosa! Ferula! Wingardium Leviosa!" Soon she had Flitwick in bandages, and both him and Ron floating in the air. Adne spoke again.
"Not to worry! I'll take these two right to the infirmary! Stay calm. Snape will brew up a potion to help George, er.. Flitwick. I'll be back in a moment to teach you Charms. Go down to the place by the Forbidden Forest." She then bumbled off with Flitwick and Ron floating behind her. The whole class went to the grounds, being sure to stay away from the Whomping Willow. When they go tot the designated place, they found Harry already their. But what was he doing? They saw flames coming from his wand. He seemed to be in bliss.
When the class neared they saw what Harry was really doing. He was frying boomslangs. Alive. Slowly.
"Harry! Stop!" Hermione, Hannah Abbot, Parvati, and even Sarah all shrieked this at the same time. Harry didn't just have a bad attitude. He was evil. Hermione shrieked again, telling Ron that she had to go talk to Adne. Bad idea. Harry started stunning a few people and shot sparks at them. He used Charms (well beyond his age level) to make thorns grow under people. He filled the grass with snakes. He even went as far to use a simplified version of the Transmorgrifan Torture. But before anyone was seriously hurt, Hermione returned, Adne about 100 meters behinds her. Before Hermione could even say anything, she was stunned. By Harry.
Adne couldn't believe what was happening. With all her might, she performed a long distance stun/pain curse. Harry was thrown to the ground. Ad soon as Adne go closer, she took the curse of and then stupefied him. Adne then performed the flying charm again and took Harry to the castle. Someone unstunned Hermione and she undid all the curses and charms Harry had performed.
Next Day
* * *
Hermione and Ron didn't expect to see Harry the next morning. They expected he would be expelled, if not at least confined to a dungeon for a week or two. But there was Harry, sitting at the Gryffindor table. All the students who has witnessed the horrors the last afternoon were sworn to secrecy. And no one dared ask Harry what had happened after Ariadne had taken him away. The only answered question they got was what had happened to Flitwick. Dumbledore made that announcement just before everybody commenced to eat.
"For all of those who want to know about Prof. Flitwick, he is fine. However, he had the Cruciatus curse performed on him. Several times." The whole of the Great Hall gasped in alarm, "Flitwick is recovering just fine in the hospital wing. Charms is canceled until Flitwick is better. That will be about two weeks,'
'I never like to leave details unfinished. Flitwick was attacked by Death-eaters who have infiltrated Hogwarts." Many people in the Great hall screamed. And yet some more fainted. Ginny Weasley and some other younger students were crying. Dumbledore, however, continued.
"The death-eaters are still in the Forbidden Forest. Hogwarts is no longer safe. Because of this, today's classes will all be Defense Against the Dark Arts. Prof. Pallas will of course be getting a raise," Snape looked unusually evil at that moment. Dumbledore said no more after that. All students hurriedly ate their breakfast and then dashed off to DADA. The Great Hall was empty in 15 minutes.
Again Prof. Pallas told the students to go outside. But this time they were to meet by the Care for Magical Creatures Hut. For as Ariadne said: "You never know what dark creatures those death-eaters might use!" This made Hagrid extremely happy. He had recently caught some Jarveys from the Forbidden Forest.
The class listened intently to the DADA/COMC split lesson. Hagrid and Ande taught them how to deter creatures like Acromantulas, Ashwinders, Billywigs, Demiguises, a few Dragons, Erklings, Dugbogs, Erumpents, Graphorns, Kelpies, Kappas, Lethifolds, Manticores, Nundos, Occamies, Quintapeds, Runespores, and Tebos. They even taught about Dementors, but no one except Harry could produce a patronus (also useful on Lethifolds). After, Adne told the students some useful and still legal curses to use if the death-eaters ever came.
Throughout the lesson, Harry acted as though he had been obliviated. And he seemed to know nothing about what had happened the previous day. Most people thought that Harry actually had been obliviated, but Lavander Brown and Parvati said the arrangements of the planets meant Harry had actually been scared into "being good". Hermione, for one of the first times, believed a prediction.
The next week passed the students by. They were all in terror. No one went around the castle alone and no one talked to Harry. Harry had not been evil for the last week, making Lavander and Parvati's prediction more believable. However, you could sometimes hear Harry making snide comments under his breath. And he disappeared once every evening. This made people even more suspicious of Harry. They avoided him as though he was a bottle of aged nitroglycerin. No one wanted to be in the same class as Harry.
Never before was everyone so focused on their studies. They could take no chances if they ever met death-eaters, or the death-eaters attacked Hogwarts. This seemed even more true since Draco Malfoy and his father seemed to have vanished from off the face of the earth. And now, Harry was not seen any more. There were no more happy joberknolls that fluttered around the grounds. The Whomping Willow actually calmed down. Hagrid's Jarveys got away, and were now loose in the castle. The school's cabbage supply died. Everyone was sure these were signs that an attack from the death-eaters was nigh. They were right. Dead right.
It all started when Sarah disappeared from her bed in the middle of the night. The only sign she left behind was ruffled covers, a wand dropped on the floor, and singed bed sheets.
"A lethifold got 'er," Hagrid told everyone is a hushed voice, "It was a lethifold. She's not comin' back," Even Sarah's worst enemy, Millicent Bullstrode, cried. Things didn't stops there. They got worse. Very quick. And right away.
Ospreys suddenly appeared in the castle, and tore at students skin. Ghouls savaged unsuspecting people at night. Dugbogs gnawed at the ankles of teachers. And then it got even worse. Nundos appeared outside the castle. Being the most dangerous creature ever to exist, everyone was confined to their common rooms and Great Halls. Classes were taught in common rooms. Occasionally you might stumble across bloody students in the corridors. But no one was killed. No one walked anywhere without their wand in their hand. And after the Tebo attacks, not only were the wands always held outstretched, everyone always had a spell on their mind. Only Dumbledore and Adne seemed not to be too worried. But even they were when the death-eaters came.
They stormed into the castle by the dozens. They aimed to pain. They aimed to kill. Thank goodness the students payed attention in class. At least fifty students were taken hostage. Realizing that they could not defeat (at least not yet) these well-trained students, the death-eaters treated the castle as though it was no-man's land. The upper castle was the death-eater's, the lower castle was the students and faculty's. If either of the parties crossed paths- someone got hurt. Bound under the Hippocratic Oath, Madam Pomfrey was forced to treat any death-eaters who came to be treated. But soon enough, there was bound to be a battle. And so it was. And so it happened.
On one day, the death-eaters stormed down the stairs. They started attacking. Only 2 people were killed. It was still a large loss. Injuries were severe- both to death-eaters and students. Many more people were near death. It was total chaos. It was even beyond war. You were never safe- you could always hear screams. And then they brought in the animals. The death-eaters summoned unusual creatures from the Forbidden Forest. Thankfully, the students and faculty were able to defend themselves. It was still complete war. The halls were blood stained. Then Harry showed up.
No one, not even Harry himself knew what had happened to him or where him had been. Or, that's what he and every one said. But what you really ought to know is that people were right to have avoided Harry. When he saw the death-eaters, he went made. He shot powerful curses and hexes at them. Some were even more powerful than the ones the death-eaters shot at him. The injuring of the students and faculty slowed down. The death-eaters were losing a dozen people to injuries every 10 seconds. And then Harry really exploded. He saw Ron hit in the leg with a (of all spells) severing charm. As proved by Harry's mother, when a friend or someone you love is in danger, your own powers increase. And Harry's did. He started using Avada Kedavra.
In 5 seconds, 5 of the enemy no longer "were". They were dead. Harry's fellow students were shocked. But in a way- happy. Harry kept shooting his curses. This attack was more than 100 times worse than Harry's previous attack in Charms. Suddenly, Hermione had a wonderful thought. She thought, 'This is a perfect time to attack the death-eaters- while they're surprised.' She racked her brain to think of what spell she could use. She couldn't think of one. Not one she had ever used. Then a thought came to her. 'Point your wand at the death-eaters. Then just thinks what you want to happen.'
Hermione couldn't figure out where that thought had come from. She didn't know if anyone had ever told her- the thought just came. So that's just what she did. She pointed her wand at a skinny death-eater ('A challenging target') and thought 'Make him feel tangled. As though he's in a net. And vines, that he can't get out of.' To Hermione's great surprise, it worked! The death-eater started wiggling as though he was fighting each of an Acromantula's legs. Hermione called over to Ron, who was trying to climb up it the infirmary. With much trouble, she pulled him back and told him what to do. Ron was a bit skeptical.
"All I have to do is think what I want them to do?" Hermione replied with enthusiasm.
"Right. Point your wand at them and think they're captured. It works, Ron, it works!" Reluctant and dodging spell, Ron did as Hermione had told him. And to his great surprise, it worked. Ron and Hermione spread the word, and very soon, the Hogwarts student and faculty side were winning. In only a few minutes, EVERY death eater had been restrained.
Harry had stopped killing after Hermione had captured the first death-eater. For the first time in quite a while, a good thought went through Harry's head:
'I don't need to do this. Hermione has a new way of winning! And besides, this is wrong. I could end up in Azkaban. Or maybe I could miss and get one of my friends.' Many more thoughts similar to this went through his head. A few seconds later, Harry became the first person in history to fight the Curse of the Death-Eaters.
About 5 days later
* * *
Soon enough, the whole school was back to normal. Almost. Except for the small number of dead students and damages to the castle, everything could be lived with. Harry had been check over by Madam Pomfrey, who spread the news: Harry had been held under the Curse of The Death-eaters. As for Harry- he personally apologized to everyone he injured and hurt, emotionally or physically. Within two months, no one even talked about the infiltration of the death-eaters. Except Harry. After thinking it over, he resolved to go talk to Dumbledore.
After his Muggle Studies class, he went up to visit Dumbledore. After finally shouting "Fizzing Whizzbees!", the gargoyle guarding the office jumped aside. Harry talked with Dumbledore for more than 3 hours. He talked about how he didn't know how the curse was set on him, how sorry he was, how he didn't remember a lot of things that happened, and more. Dumbledore listened for the best part. The talked ended like this:
"But Dumbledore!" said Harry, confused, "Every year, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher always has something to do with what happens. Why not this year?" Dumbledore's answer was short: "She has been involved, Harry. She was a Double-Agent for us. She told the death-eaters that now was the time to come to Hogwarts. They trusted her, because they knew her under a different name. She disguised herself as a man, and joined the Death-eaters under the name Semforth Ew. She is an unregistered Human-magi."
Harry was in shock. "Why Dumbledore? Why did she tell them to come here?"
"Don't you understand, Harry?" questioned Dumbledore, "I put the curse on you to help you. Without evil to fight, no one can fight it. Nor can they experience new things. And they can't realize what they can. What you showed when fighting that curse was something most wizards could not do. It takes a lot of power to stop the curse, even after you realize something terrible (like death) has happened because of it. Now you know how special you are. Now you know that you have a high magical ability, Harry. This has prepared you for the final battle. You are ready." Dumbledore said the sentence in a proud voice, with no hesitation or worries.
"But most of all, Harry," Dumbledore spoke in a wavering voice, "Because the death-eaters fought you, they have fought evil. It is like they have fought themselves. At the final battle, we..., I mean you will be victorious." Dumbledore finished on the verge of tears. There were some things about Dumbledore that Harry would never understand.
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Authors Note to the Readers: I really hope you like my story. I started writing it a year (for my own website) ago but then stopped. Then I suddenly "picked it up out of my files" and started writing again. In this story I put more emphasis and feeling into it than I have ever put into a story before. I tried to model after the touching, heart rendering stories, and almost-could-be-real-Harry Potter-books by Gypsy (harrypotterrealm.com) and one about Harry when he was grown-up by someone called either Slytherin Dragon or Firebolt Nyx at alohomora.com.
If you do not think this story is full of emotions like I tried to make it, well, then.... I guess I'll never be like Gypsy. However, this is my first COMPLETED Fan Fiction.
Oh yeah- in case you didn't notice- all the stuff that happened in between Harry, Hermione, and Ron's first and second divination classes applies to the story. Dumbledore set the curse on Harry during Transfiguration. Ron really did fight an evil power from an unlikely source (Dumbledore). And when Hermione's suddenly thought to help fight by just trying to get her magic to do something, that was her mind telling her what she had learned, but didn't know, from her first Charms class.