Chapter Seven: Pain and Misfortune
The weeks had passed rather quickly, and during those weeks everyone, Bill and Fluer, Ron and Hermoine, and even George managed to keep a lid on Harry and Ginny being engaged.
There were close times. One evening in particular when Mrs. Weasley overheard Hermoine asking Ginny if she could see her "ring".
Ginny lied to her mother, upon questioning, saying that she was thinking of getting her ears' pierced. Another time was when George asked Ron was going to propose to Hermoine, seeing as how everybody was getting married. Percy asked who he was referring to and, with a glare from Ron, George lied about Oliver Wood and Katie Bell announcing their engagement.
Harry and Ginny had been successful not to slip up. Even when she wore the ring at Harry's she immediately removed it whenever Luna, Neville, or any of their other friends came by.
Other than Harry's engagement, there really hadn't been much of anything else, extraordinary that has happened.
The Aurors were still struggling with the apprehension of the remaining Death Eaters.
Robards tried his best to encourage everyone that they were going to be successful, and to little agreement.
Even the older members seemed to feel discouraged by the lack of progress that was being made.
The Daily Prophet, as before, was thriving on its readers making their comments about how Robards was a disgrace and perhaps, due to his having captured the first two Death Eaters, that Harry should take over the Auror Department.
Everyone in the Auror's office made jokes to this and Harry wished they hadn't.
Ron and Hermoine thoughts were of the Daily Prophet's Commentators, unfortunately.
"You did catch the first pair, Harry. If it weren't for you they would've been overlooked and may have gotten away." Hermoine said, one afternoon.
Ron agreed, "After all, you were the one who defeated Vol…uh…you-know-who."
Harry smiled, "Yeah, but not without you lot. I didn't do it alone. Besides, I was lucky. If I hadn't disarmed Draco, it could've went another way."
Ginny, who was leaning against his shoulder as the four of them were sitting outside the Burrow, near the garden, shook her head.
"Harry, you give yourself little credit. How many people could have said that they evaded the most feared person not once but several times? You're a great Wizard, Harry, you really need to see it for yourself."
Harry shrugged and continued on reading the Daily Prophet until Mrs. Weasley came out and announced that it was time for lunch.
Ginny hurriedly tucked her ring that she had been wearing while they were out, away in her pants pocket as she followed the others into the house.
Easter Holiday came and to Harry's joy he was able to spend a lot of it with Ginny, now that she was free for her break.
Most of it was spent at the Burrow and with the rest of the Weasley family.
Harry's elation was only increased when Mrs. Weasley asking Ginny if she wished to have a "Graduation Celebration" that Ginny would soon be graduating from Hogwarts, had reminded him that she would soon be free from the confines of school. He soon, however, found himself muddled as he reminded himself that once school was over for Ginny, that that's when her training as a professional Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies would begin.
Harry knew that he should be preparing himself for that time by spending less time with Ginny, instead of every second he could muster.
This was difficult.
Helping Mr. Weasley with the repairing of the motorbike that had been wrecked over a year ago, harry decided to break down and ask his opinion on the matter.
"Well, Harry, its going to be difficult, that's for certain." Mr. Weasley raised his wand, muttered a few cantations, and then tapped the dented bike.
There was a sudden shudder and then the bike's dents started popping out with loud metallic clings.
"But, I'm also certain that you're going to give it your best to make it work. After all, I know you to be a very dedicated person who never lets the little things get in the way to make something happen. And I know how much you adore Ginny…I'm sure it'll all work out fine."
Harry smiled, "Thank you, Mr. Weasley."
He nodded. He then turned the handle of the bike, starting the motor. Sparks flew out from the exhaust pipe followed by a gust of black smoke that enveloped Harry.
Harry coughed loudly as Mr. Weasley quickly yelled a spell that issued the smoke away.
"Oh, dear. Well, this might take some more time."
Harry came back inside the house to wash up and found Ron and Hermoine talking and smiling.
"What's up with you two?" Harry asked as he took a towel hanging on the banister of the stairs and began dabbing his face.
Ron grinned, "We've been talking about the Quidditch World Cup! It's coming up in a few days, you wanna go?"
Harry grinned too, "Are you kidding? Absolutely! It'd be great! Shall we invite Ginny?"
Ron shook his head, "Sorry, Harry. It starts when she goes back to Hogwarts."
Harry sighed and then shrugged, "Oh, well."
Hermoine gave a mischievous smile, "It's not like you're going to miss out on them with her, right? After all, after Hogwarts, she's going to be starring in a lot of them."
Harry smiled and nodded.
The three spent the day discussing whether or not the Chudley Cannons were going to be able to score a single point this game.
That evening, Harry found himself leaving the Burrow rather abruptly.
Around dinner time, Seamus appeared and had told Harry that Dweezil had gotten an anonymous tip that Mulciber had been spotted in Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley. Robards had decided to spare no one and was having all the Aurors go there and surround the entire alley.
"Sorry, Harry, but we need to get going." Seamus said, apologetically.
Harry sighed. He then turned to the others and asked them to please forgive his rather hasty leave.
Ginny gave him a quick kiss goodbye and Mrs. Weasley bid him safe journey.
Upon arrival to Diagon Alley, Harry found the entire street packed.
Harry turned to Seamus, "How long ago has he been spotted?"
Seamus looked to his watch, "Thirty minutes, or so. Dweezil says that his source is legit. Saying that he's spotted him himself. That he's arguin' with ol' Blotts, herself."
Harry nodded and followed Dean through the dense crowd to where Dweezil was.
Dweezil, whom Harry thought stuck out like a sore thumb, due to his huge build, was watching with all contentment inside the store's window.
He caught Harry and Seamus from the corner of his eye and made a small nod.
Harry and Seamus returned it and stood next to him, looking inside.
Sure enough, there was Reginald Mulciber, with his back to them, throwing his arms about in exaggeration at Blotts.
"What's he doing?" Harry asked Dweezil in a low voice.
Dweezil shrugged, "Don't rightly know. Keeps on askin her for something and if she doesn't do it he's threatening to have the few Dementors that they have to come to her home."
Seamus looked alarmed. "There are still Death Eaters out there?"
Dweezil nodded, "Even though Kingsley had them decommissioned, there are a few unaccounted for. I doubt that his threat his empty. Mulciber, after all, was one of the few that dared to put the hex on them that had them following the Dark Lord's will."
Harry nodded.
Soon, however, they looked again and Mulciber had left the area he previously was.
"Damn it!" Dweezil said outloud. He took out his wand and headed on inside, Seamus and Harry following him along in his wake.
The store itself was packed as it was outside.
Grunting, Dweezil walked around to the cashier and asked the lady if she had seen where Mulciber went.
"Sorry sir, I was with a customer." She replied.
Dweezil grunted and then stormed around to the back of the store and opened the door.
"Crucio!"
Dweezil was thrown off of the ground, twisting and writhing as he was thrown like a rag doll and then was slammed to wall of the building across from Flourish and Blotts.
Harry and Seamus dived out the door, their wands out in front of them but found no one to be in the alleyway.
Several figures appeared on the opposite ends of the alleyway as the other Aurors came into focus, running with all their might, their wands stretched out in front of them.
"Harry! Seamus! What happened? Where's Mulciber? Wasn't he-" Robards stopped when he spotted Dweezil's twisted form lying slumped up and bleeding profusely on the ground of the alleyway.
"How is he?" He asked.
Harry bent down and put two fingers to Dweezil's neck.
"He's still alive, though his pulse is weak."
Robards sighed and he turned to Proudfoot.
"Can you take him to St. Mungo's?"
Isabelle nodded and she bent down, leaned next to Dweezil, and then the two of them disapparated.
Pacing back and forth in the alleyway, Robards hands were on his face. He then stopped and kicked his foot repeatedly against the structure of the building, cursing madly.
"WE HAD HIM! WE HAD HIM! WHAT HAPPNED TO THAT BLOODY CHARM! HE SHOULDN'T HAVE HAD BEEN ABLE TO DISAPPARATE!" He stopped and breathed hard, leaning against the same building he had kicked.
All the other Aurors starred at him in disbelief. This had to be the first time any of them had seen Robards lose it.
Robards took a deep sigh and then turned to his associates.
"Good job everyone. You arrived when should've. Let's…let's call it a day, alright?"
Unbeknownst to anyone, as everyone turned to disperse, a lone figure, hidden behind several trashcans, sniggered.
To Harry's relief, Dweezil's injuries weren't that serious and he was expected to return in a short time.
"He was lucky he wasn't killed! He really shouldn't have ran into that alley like that." Said Dean as he, Harry, Hannah, and Lavender sat in their seats back at the Ministry the next day.
Seamus shrugged, "Just bad luck."
Hannah looked at Seamus, surprised. " 'Bad luck'? Are you serious? Dean's right, Mulciber could have used the "killing curse"."
Harry knew what Dweezil did was reckless, but he knew he would have done the same thing. Dweezil didn't deserve to be treated sourly, though.
"Well, let's just be glad he's still with us." Harry agreed with Dean.
All the others nodded.
Just then, Savage emerged from a room and announced that Robards wouldn't be in and that everyone was to go about their normal investigations.
Lorna told Harry that she still hadn't heard anything about Rookwood nor McNair.
The rest of the day fell away without hope.
At the end of the day, Harry left the Ministry and went to St. Mungo's to visit Dweezil.
Dweezil, who's face was heavily bandaged, smiled as Harry came into his view.
"H-Hey, H-Harry." He said feebly.
Harry nodded and sat in an unoccupied seat next to Dweezil's bed.
"B-Bad luck, eh?"
Harry smiled, "You could call it that, yeah."
Dweezil closed his eye as his staggered breathing caught on something and he coughed fervently and hacked until he was able to breathe a little easier.
"I guess y-you're wondering why I d-did that. You know, r-run after him…"
Harry nodded. "You could've gotten killed."
Dweezil nodded. "D-Did I ever tell you why I j-joined the Aurors?"
Harry shook his head.
Dweezil sighed and then looked at Harry with determined eyes.
"M-Mulciber…he…he killed m-my wife and two girls…"
Harry's eyes went wide, "He what?"
Dweezil's eyes closed and he turned his head away.
"M-My wife and I used to live in H-Hogsmeade. Our girls were going to H-Hogwarts. They were second years, b-both in Ravenclaw. Last year, w-when Voldemort attacked the school, he killed several students when he arrived in H-Hogsmeade, just before reaching the school."
Harry starred at him in disbelief.
Dweezil continued, "I-I tried to get there b-but…"
Harry couldn't believe it. At that time he was sure that those who escaped through the porthole to the Hog's Head had safely gotten away! How could no one have told him? Here he was almost a year since it all happened and now he was finding this out.
Harry stood but found his hand being grabbed by Dweezil.
"H-Harry. Promise me, that you won't t-tell anyone. I d-don't want people to think I-I'm doing all of this for v-vindication."
Harry sighed, his thoughts going in every direction.
"I promise I won't."
Dweezil nodded and then let go of Harry's hand, closing his eyes.
Things brightened up for Harry as the Quidditch World Cup had finally came.
Arriving shortly at the Burrow to get together with Ron and Hermoine, the three then went to the all too familiar spot on the hill where the port-key lay.
The moldy old boot sat, and looked as though time had no effect on it.
All three touching it, the familiar sensation of being hurtled, blindingly, through an empty void, was soon replaced with the ground coming, at full force to their faces.
Harry, Ron, and Hermoine laughed as they got up off the ground.
After nearly four years, nothing had changed.
As before, the place was packed.
Oliver Wood was with his family as was Katie Bell with hers. Ron remarked that Oliver and Katie seemed to be very cozy together, Hermoine scoffed.
They met others as well. Cormac McLaggen was there with his very haughty looking mother. Dennis Creevey, who ran up to the three, after spotting Harry introduced the three to his parents who were almost as short as their son. Seamus and Hannah were there, which surprised Harry to see Seamus sans Dean. Viktor Krum, to the surprise of Harry, to the dislike of Ron, appeared as well. Krum also brought out a girl. This girl, who had blond hair, very thick eyebrows and had a serious look about her, was introduced as Mina, Krum's fiancée.
"Congratulations, Viktor!" Hermoine squealed, giving Krum a hug. Both Min and Ron looked displeased by this.
Harry just shook his hand.
The three, later, found their seats and sat down just as the Sweetwater Stars had appeared on the field, their mascots, to no surprise were stars that shot out of the end of their brooms, all to rise in the air and to signify their start-up line of players.
The Chudley Cannons' mascots, were no surprises, either, with an exception. The tiny little cannon balls, being their mascots, had legs and they made the oddest of squeaking sounds ass they hoisted themselves in the glowing cannons on the field. Once fired, the cannon balls made a high pitch wail and then bursted into bright red colors that showered a veil of different colors, and within the veils you could see the players.
Kingsley Shacklebolt appeared, a wand raised to his throat as he announced, magically, "Welcome, everybody, to this year's Quidditch World Cup! I know you're excited as I am, to see these two teams perform today. Now, without further or do, let the games commence!" A spark flew from his wand that exploded in the air.
Unfortunately, the Cannons' unfortunate luck seemed to continue as they trailed 387 to the Sweetwater's 599.
Hermoine cheered loudly as one of their players shot a goal.
Both Harry and Ron smiled.
Then something odd occurred.
Harry's smile disappeared as he looked up and saw from the sky, the stars, slowly disappearing.
Ron seemed to notice this too, as well as Hermoine.
"Oh no…" Ron let out in a groan.
"Dementors? I thought Kingsley-" Hermoine began, but was cut off as a large number of people screamed and began to get up from their seats, running wildly, while several people pointed shakily at the sky.
Soon enough, dark, hooded forms began floating around the top of the arena; the air growing immensely cold.
Harry took out his wand and looked to Ron and Hermoine, who, as Harry, took out their wands as well.
Jets of green light were seen on the field and Harry could tell that Death Eaters had joined the fray.
Harry jumped over seats as he made his way closer to the bottom, pausing only to dodge a spell aimed at him or send one himself at the horde moving their way to the stands.
As the shouting of people and their scurrying to avoid being hit happened all around him, Harry thought he could hear Ron and Hermoine calling after him, but he neither paused nor did he look back; determined to meet the onslaught head on.
Then, it happened. Harry felt something-sharp stick into his back causing his whole body to go stiff and then he felt as if all the energy, all the air, in himself left his body.
A pain came with it. A pain so indescribable, Harry found it mind-numbingly excruciating that he was having trouble focusing.
Harry found the Earth spinning at an incredible rate, his vision becoming blurry, and the weight of the unknown crushing his frail form to the seats of the stands.
Harry awoke with his vision blurry again, only this time he knew it was because his glasses weren't on his face.
Looking from right to left, he found them on a nightstand.
Placing them back on himself, he found himself in a bed amongst a number of beds in a long corridor, which looked vaguely familiar.
It hit him. He was at St. Mungo's. He also discovered he wasn't alone.
Sitting in a chair, most of her body slumped over with her head and arms resting on his torso; Ginny was sleeping.
Harry smiled and made to reach over and stroke the back of her head, only to immediately pull himself back as he experienced a sharp pain coming from his back.
A nurse, walking while pushing a trolley of medical herbs, took notice of Harry's attempt and rushed over.
"Now, now, Mr. Potter, don't do anything to upset the bandages." She took Harry's pulse and then went to the cart and poured Harry some sort of liquid.
Harry reached behind himself and felt around. Surely enough, he felt the gauze and dried flakes of blood that had emitted from his skin.
"How did it happen?" He asked her.
"You got stabbed, Mr. Potter. Punctured the back of your lung, they did." She replied as she handed him the liquid.
Harry took a sip from the drink and as he had expected, it was awful. Just like skele-grow.
"How long have I been here?" He asked, wincing as he took another sip.
"Three weeks. She sees you every evening." The healer-witch said, pointing to Ginny.
Harry smiled and wished he could arouse Ginny to talk to her.
"You're expected to make a full-recovery within a couple of days. Rest up, till then." She went back to her trolley and began pushing it down the hall.
Harry watched her leave and then looked at Ginny who was stirring.
Smiling, and wishing not to disrupt her, just being grateful that she was here with him, Harry took his glasses off and laid his head against his pillow, allowing sleep to take over once more.
Harry awoke the next day. Ginny was gone but was replaced by Ron, Hermoine, and George.
"Hey, he's up!" George said outloud.
Hermoine beamed and Ron slapped Harry's knee.
"Ron! Don't hit him!" Hermoine scowled.
"Hey mate! Glad to see you're still with us." Ron said, turning away from Hermoine's glare.
Hermoine sighed, "You see, harry. You got-"
"Stabbed." Harry finished for her, "Yeah, I know. I woke up yesterday and the nurse told me."
"Did you see who did it?" Asked George.
Harry laughed but winced as he felt the pain in his back. "Kind of hard when you're not facing them."
Ron chuckled but stopped when Hermoine sent him another glare.
She then sighed, "You're lucky that Hannah and Seamus were there to catch you and apparate you here, Harry. Otherwise those Death Eaters would have finished the job."
"Did you guys take care of them and the Dementors?" Harry asked, looking between the two of them.
"Here's the funny bit, after you fell, they sort of…left." Ron said.
"What?"
Hermoine nodded, "Several of us sent our spells and patronous' after them but they didn't stick around long. It was really odd."
Harry thought wildly as possibilities of this news went spiraling in every direction. He then sighed.
"Did we catch anyone?"
"Yes, we did." Said a familiar voice.
Harry turned and saw Robards, Savage, Lorna, and Proudfoot walking towards him.
Ron and Hermoine immediately stood up and walked over to the side to allow Robards and the others room to stand next to Harry's bed.
Lorna smiled, "Hey, partner. Glad to see you around. Pretty scary moment, huh?"
Harry nodded.
"We caught some of them, Harry." Savage said, "Mulciber, Travers, and Selwyn. Travers is the one who stabbed you."
"Ron managed to knock the dagger from his hand before he could do more harm." Hermoine added.
Harry looked to Ron, gratitude in his eyes.
Ron smiled and shook his head, "Think nothing of it, mate. Consider this a long over-due way of me paying you back for saving my sorry self so many times."
"We've decided to hold off his arraignment until you've gotten better. That way you'll be there, Harry." Robards said.
Harry nodded, "Thank you. I would like to be there."
"Did you get it?" Yaxley asked, anxiously.
Rookwood, along with Rowley and McNair, entered the cave; McNair smiling.
"Absolutely." He held out the silver dagger, the blood on it glittering in the moonlight.
Rowley, however, looked ragged and put off.
"They got three of us, Yaxley. How long must we wait until you tell us what this little "plan" of yours is?"
Yaxley stood and walked over to Rowley, the large, blond, Death Eater taller than he was. Yaxley sneered.
"Are you saying you want to be in charge? Have us run around like some filthy muggle babes, too scared to do anything? I know that's what you'd have us do, Rowley."
Rowley scoffed and walked away and leaned against the wall.
Yaxley looked at him for another moment and then directed his attention to the other two.
"We're dying out there. Those blood-traitors, along with Potter, are taking us down. We either have to run and wait to be caught, fight them and perish, or…" He bent down and picked up one of the decaying books off of the ground. "Fight back with brilliance."
No one spoke, all of the three men waiting for Yaxley to speak again.
"We need two more items and then you'll all see…" Setting the book down, Yaxley walked to the cave's entrance and looked out at he night's sky.
"The day the Dark Lord fell again, was a terrible day. Struck down by the same boy who got him the first time. We'll never be graced with his presence again." Yaxley turned back to the others, a smile spreading across his face. "So, we're going to get revenge. And the best way to get revenge, is to improvise."
To be continued…
A/N: I'd like to give a shout out to Tsarluxia who's been gracious enough to help me out with my ideas for this story.
