Author's Note: Aii! I haven't updated in forever. I've had tests, and then and evil Odyssey paper along with the school musical that ended up taking up every free moment of my life for the past few months. So all of my writing has been done in classes, which is really icky, but oh well. I know y'all don't want crappy excuses so I'll just leave it at that I'm really really sorry!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. It belongs to JK Rowling and a bunch of other people who have money. I don't have money, so please don't sue me.
All Alone Amidst the Crowd
Draco had originally thought that his mission was terribly romantic and heroic, but after four days of avoiding dark wizards, dragons, werewolves and other such beasties, he was less than excited. He continued to trudge along though. He was approaching the fire caves where this sorceress that he was meant to be saving was rumored to be located.
As evening approached, he decided to make camp about a mile away from his destination and get an early start into the caves in the morning. He really didn't want to have to deal with all those creatures of the night one found in highly magical areas. He smirked to himself, wondering what Potter was doing right now. Probably sitting in class, being a good boy like always. In Draco's opinion, Potter was a coward. Had it been him who could bring the downfall of Voldemort at the sacrifice of himself, well he would be gone already. To Hell with what Dumbledore wanted and commanded, it would mean the saving of humanity and, quite frankly, that meant more to him than some old man's cries. Draco was about to fall asleep when he caught, out of his peripheral vision, a dark, shadowed thing coming towards him. It was vaguely in the size and shape of a large man, but something about it didn't bode well with Draco.
He pulled out his wand and aimed it straight at the figure, "Stop!" he shouted, then, under his breath, he whispered, "Lumos." The tip of his wand lit up slightly to reveal a man with long shaggy black hair and tattered clothes, "Who are you?"
"If you keep making so much noise you will awaken all the dark wizards who have been following every step of your journey," said a raspy voice. The man came towards Draco until his was but a foot away, he thenbent over and whispered, "I'm a friend, and, for now, you will just have to believe me. I dare not speak my name out here. Follow me. Be quick, and make not a sound."
The dark man lept off, lightly and soundlessly, into the woods. Draco followed him closely trying to make as little sound as possible. They continued to travel swiftly deeper and deeper into the forest. It was getting steadily darker, so Draco withdrew his wand, but before he could even whisper, "Lumos," the dark man grabbed his wand.
"If you try to cast light, I will break it." Draco's eyes widened and he carefully placed his wand back into his robes. They continued to travel soundlessly until they reached a cottage. It was quite a strange sight in the dark forest. It looked like a cozy little home with a cobblestone walkway and a chimney with a welcoming stream of smoke coming out of it.
Draco headed to the door and tried to open it, but the dark man grabbed his arm and pulled him to one of the wooden walls. The man whispered something that Draco could not hear and the wall opened into a hallway. The man grabbed a lantern and proceeded down the hallway. Draco followed him until they reached a sitting room that was furnished with large, comfortable-looking armchairs and a cushiony sofa. On a deep navy blue armchair with a silver star pattern on it sat a man who looked very familiar to Draco.
"P-Professor Lupin?" He stammered, quite shocked by finding this man in a cottage where a strange man had led him.
"Good to know that you remember me Draco. I don't believe you've met Sirius."
"Sirius Black?" Draco's pale face turned as white as a ghost. He suddenly realized that he had been led into a trap. This was Sirius Black, Voldemort's right-hand man, and a werewolf. It was obvious in Draco's mind that this would be the end of him, "You're going to kill me now, aren't you?"
"Stupid boy," said Sirius in a low growl as he sat himself on a blood-red armchair, "We're on your side. If you don't want to believe us, you can leave, but I'll have you know that no less than ten Death Eaters were following you, ready to kill if you got anywhere near their Sorceress."
"Draco," said Lupin calmly as he shot Sirius a look, "we have been in hiding here for a very long time. This location is a secret that is held by our Secret-Keeper, Harry Potter. Sirius is an animagus and he goes into town in that disguise to get news. He's well liked by the Death Eaters as his form is of a Grim, the great dog of death. He's the one who found out about the Sorceress and sent the news to Dumbledore. Now, stay here for the night. Tomorrow, I will show you a secret and unfollowable path to where the Sorceress waits."
"Mr. Potter? Mr. Potter!" McGonagall's calls for his attention echoed around the classroom unheeded by the boy. Hermione nudged him in the ribs and his attention finally turned to the Professor who looked quite unhappy, "Nice of you to join us Mr. Potter. Now, can you please tell me how a new spell is created."
Harry's mind had been wandering, but thankfully this had been a large part of his battle training over the summer, "Spells are more of a mental process than a spoken process. The most sure way is to take latin roots of what is being done and string them together. Or one can take a similar spell and simply concentrate on what it is that they're trying to do."
"Very good Mr. Potter, but next time, do try not to doze off in my class." Her mouth was set in a very thin line and she looked very disturbed my Harry's lack of attention, "Alright, class dismissed. Finnigan, Granger, Patil, and Thomas please report to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom to work on your project. Potter, you are to report to Professor Snape in his office. Everyone else, to the Quidditch Field for training, I will accompany you."
Harry exited the classroom and made his way to Snape's office. He wondered what the Professor could possibly want with him. He figured it had something to do with the mission he was supposed to be going on soon, but who knew. Last time he had been called into Snape's office it was because he hadn't reported to dinner, which had caused "Panic and Uproar." Snape had lectured him about how he needed to be aware of all the precautions surrounding him and how he couldn't be so careless. Harry had apologized profusely and then was dismissed to the secret meeting chamber where he spoke to Sirius and Lupin once a week.
Finally he reached the door of Snape's office. He knocked three times and whispered the password, "Vraihéros." He entered the room and found not only Snape but also Arthur Weasley and Dumbledore in there frowning. They all looked so solemn, but none quite so much as Mr. Weasley who looked at Harry as though he were looking at his son. Even though they had no blood-ties, to some extent this was true. Percy had joined the ranks of Voldemort and Ron, well Ron was like walking death with his silence.
"What's happened?" Harry whispered. Only something big would bring this.
It was Mr. Weasley who spoke, "I'm sorry Harry." He stepped forward and place hid hand on the boy's shoulder, "But Hagrid…Hagrid was found and attacked by a group of Death Eaters. They used the Cruciatus Curse on him. He'll live, but the Cruciatus Curse, it does things to the brain. Nobody can take that much pain…"
Harry turned white. A shaky hand raised to his face. He couldn't cry anymore. He just stood there all alone, even in the midst of people.
