Alright! Let's start branching out and getting to the craziness! Unfortunately, this chapter is not long, and I've left you with a bit of a cliffy. Something I really haven't done since the last fic, hahahaha!
Chapter 11: Plans and Action
Being late last time, Yaxley ensured he was the very first to arrive at the stone table within the cave where the next meeting would take place. He sat opposite of Voldemort, whose hood was raised over his crimson eyes. The Dark Lord might have been asleep, he was so still and silent. They waited until the rest of the Death Eaters filed in, taking their respective seats. It was less than two minutes before the table was full, and Voldemort lowered his hood.
"I call this meeting into order, now that those of us who need be are here," said the Dark Lord.
Bellatrix Lestrange's seat was conspicuously vacant.
"Yaxley, how fares your mission?" asked Voldemort.
"I have successfully put Ginger Hopkins under the Impirius Curse, my lord," Yaxley replied.
"Good, the entire Department of Magical Law Enforcement is now mine, then," said Voldemort, more to himself than anyone else. "For those of you who do not know, Ginger Hopkins is Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
"The Ministry could easily fall any day now, my lord," Yaxley continued as Voldemort fell silent. "It will do so under the Order's nose. I doubt they will be able to find out about Hopkins until it is too late."
Voldemort smiled. "Quite true, Yaxley, quite true. The Order of the Phoenix regrouped too late to be effective against us, which is a good thing, I should say. They will crumble for it, and for carelessness. I've finally decided to question one; you'll notice our dear Bellatrix is not present with us today."
Voldemort indicated the empty seat next to him.
"This," the Dark Lord continued, "is because I sent her to retrieve an Order member, the one she's been tailing for a while now, her last remaining sibling."
Voldemort's eyes flicked to the entrance of the chamber. The Death Eaters followed suit, and several murmured excitedly as a body floated in, followed by Bellatrix, her wand raised, a vicious smile upon her face. Waving her wand, Bellatrix set the body upon the table, she flicked it again and the body went rigged, as though invisible ropes had coiled around it, crushing its arms against its sides, and its legs together. Bellatrix then took her seat, and Voldemort glanced at the thing on the table.
It was the body of a woman, who resembled Bellatrix greatly, though she had mostly gray hair now, and a kinder face that was now screwed up in agony. It looked as though she was dead, and one might have suspected it had it not been for the slow rising and falling of her chest.
"We are joined today by Andromeda Tonks," said Voldemort quietly. "She is unconscious, it would appear, I daresay Bellatrix has been having fun."
"Much, my lord!" squeaked Bellatrix.
"And what information have you extracted from her?"
"Not much of great value, she's not the secret keeper, that much is obvious. But I believe I cracked through some of the enchantments, she was able to tell me there are no useful contacts in the Ministry for the Order, but she could not say who, no matter how much I tortured her. Rest assured, she can't take anymore."
"Then the sacking of Arthur Weasley was a wise move indeed," said Voldemort. "The Ministry shall be far easier to gain control of. Is that all you were able to get from her?"
"Yes, my lord, I crave your forgiveness, I beg you—"
"That's enough," said Voldemort sharply. Bellatrix looked hurt. "It matters not, this newfound intelligence will enable us to act quickly. Wake her up, now."
"Of course, of course—Crucio!"
Andromeda Tonks' eyes flew open, but she could not scream, it was miracle she had opened her eyes, for she was under the full body-bind curse. Bellatrix shrieked with laughter, practically feeling the agony emanating from her sister. Voldemort, however, raised his wand and stopped Andromeda's pain
"You, Andromeda Tonks," hissed Voldemort, "shall be the first of the Order to die. Not to worry, though, others shall follow you. I am close, Andromeda, so close to achieving my goal. The Ministry shall be mine, and then I shall kill Harry Potter… and begin my quest anew. It's a pity your efforts amounted to nothing, and a pity you could not give us anymore information, I would have liked it better had your death not been so useless. At least you would not have perished in vain had you given me more…. Unfortunately…"
Voldemort raised his wand, but Bellatrix spoke before he could deliver the final curse.
"Wait, my lord. This is my sister, let me kill her, please, I beg you, my lord, there could be no higher honor than to serve you and rid the world of not only one of the Order of the Phoenix, but also, rid myself of a wretch of a sister, who married a mudblood."
Voldemort looked at Bellatrix, his expression unreadable, then said quietly, "very well, Bella, you shall have your favor. Kill her now."
Andromeda's eyes flicked wildly from the Dark Lord to his servant, under the full body-bind curse she could neither move, nor talk, nor scream or beg for mercy, as Bellatrix so craved. Alas, she must be finished quickly.
Bellatrix took aim, and smiled broadly.
"Avada Kedavra!"
A flash of bright emerald, the whoosh of death, and Andromeda's eyes ceased to move, but stared blankly at the ceiling.
XxX
Felix Felicis might be liquid luck, but, as Rose so irritatingly (and helpfully) reminded Albus, luck could only get one so far. Originally, Albus had planned to simply take a swig of the potion, and enter detention. Rose had thrown him an expression that displayed a ridiculous amount of pity, and then chided him for being naïve. It was then she told him the aforementioned fact, luck can only get one so far. Albus had to have the ability to look inside the chest. Thus, Sinistra had to be distracted, and luck would then certainly prevail and keep her distracted for long enough.
Albus, had then said something to Rose: "Spoken like a true volunteer."
Reluctantly, then, Rose had agreed to serve as a distraction to Sinistra. She would also take a swig of Felix and, as luck would prevail, set Peeves off near the Astronomy Tower. Albus thought this would be a good idea, two people aided with Felix Felicis against Sinistra, she stood no chance.
It was now night, and dinner was approaching, Albus hung his head as he walked with Rose, Hugo, and Phil to the Great Hall. He did not want to face the rest of the Gryffindor team because, after all, he had detention tonight after dinner with Sinistra, and he could not play the game. Helpfully, this would not amount to nothing, so Albus' guilt was eased slightly.
Harry Potter passed his son and his friends entering the Great Hall as he exited. He could feel their eyes upon them as he headed for the Entrance Hall. Harry ignored this feeling, and made a hasty exit out of the oak front doors, down onto the long drive. He followed it to the very border of the Hogwart's Grounds, right up to the iron game. There he drew his wand, and slashed it around gracefully while muttering complicated incantations. Once satisfied, he opened the gates, then he stood still, waiting.
Seconds later, three people apparated before him: McGonagall, Ron, and Hermione.
"You got my owl, then?" said McGonagall.
"Yes," said Harry, as that was his reason for being out there. McGonagall, Ron, and Hermione had just returned from a meeting with the Order, Neville, Malfoy, and Harry himself had stayed behind.
"Well, then, quickly to the grounds, we can talk there."
McGonagall, Ron, and Hermione proceeded through the open gates, and together they sealed them with all the proper wards and enchantments Harry had just undone. Satisfied, they began to walk toward the castle, and Harry spoke first.
"So, what's the full story, then?" he asked no one in particular.
"As best as we can guess," began Hermione immediately, "Andromeda's tail picked her up en route to the meeting. When we she didn't come for an hour after it began, Ron and I went to her house. It was just empty, no signs of struggle, nothing."
"What else?" asked Harry.
"Well, obviously we've got some people looking in to it, but I doubt we'll get that far," said McGonagall grimly. "Right now, I say we should focus on Arthur Weasley."
"Yeah," agreed Ron, "my dad is still being watched. He's sure it's an Auror, we suspect a Death Eater was tailing Andromeda Tonks. But, still…."
"It's disturbing that an Auror is trailing your dad," said Harry. "Voldemort must be influencing them, even controlling them, he might have the entire office under his control. Besierwan is probably under the Imperius Curse."
"Unfortunately, our reach in the Ministry isn't lengthy," said Hermione gravely.
"Someone needs to get Mr. and Mrs. Weasley out of the Burrow," said Harry.
"I'll do it," Ron stated. "I'm going to go back to Grimmauld Place, they might still be there, we left the meeting a bit early."
"Be careful," said Hermione as he turned back toward the gates.
"Always am," said Ron.
"Anyway," Harry interjected, "we need to get to dinner now, there's nothing we can do for Andromeda at the moment, not if Voldemort has her…. She's…."
Harry didn't speak what they all assumed.
"We should go to dinner, and then the Quidditch match," Harry finished.
"Too bad that Albus will not be playing," said Professor McGonagall rather seriously.
"Why's that?" asked Harry, curious.
"I'm not sure, but he'll be having detention with Professor Sinistra tonight, she's not a real Quidditch person anyway. I'm not sure about the replacement seeker James has found…."
XxX
Even though he could see the match commencing as he strode past the windows on his way to detention, Albus felt no guilt. In fact, he felt open… open to any and all possibilities. He could simply walk down to the Pitch right now, if he wanted, hop on any broom, and find the snitch within minutes. It somehow didn't seem so important. He felt optimistic, and even the thought of Sinistra could not mar the feeling, though he did have some doubt as to whether he'd taken enough lucky potion when he'd left the common room. Felix Felicis, however, seemed to be telling him not to worry about it.
Rose walked near him, turning a corner as he headed toward the stairs which led to the classroom in the Astronomy Tower. She would be setting off a distraction in precisely seven minutes.
Ridiculously optimistic, Albus entered Sinistra's office. She sat at her desk, writing on some piece of parchment and didn't even look up at him.
"Good evening, Professor," said Albus politely.
"It is," snapped Sinistra. "Sit, you're going to be writing lines today, again, and afterwards you're going to polish the desks, and chairs."
"Yes, Professor," said Albus, sitting down before her. She absentmindedly slipped him a blank stretch of parchment, a quill, and an ink bottle. Felix told him to begin writing. He did so, writing his instructed lines for several minutes until a loud crash sounded from somewhere below. Sinistra looked up from her work.
"What was that?" she muttered to herself, standing up.
Another loud crash sounded, following by a shriek of laughter that could only come from Peeves. Albus resisted the urge to smile.
"Damn poltergeist again!" hissed Sinistra, making her way out. She turned to Albus before leaving. "Keep up with those lines, I want to see you sitting right there when I get back!"
"Yes, Professor," said Albus as she slammed the door behind her.
Felix told him it was safe a few moments later, he stood quickly, and went around to Sinistra's side of the desk. An odd feeling crept over him, and he satisfied his urge to look in the top right door, it was empty, save for a black string that seemed to run to the edge of the drawer, and into the bottom of it. Without any reason besides Felix telling him to, Albus seized it, and pulled. The entire bottom of the drawer popped up, and underneath it lay the ever-changing magical key.
Albus picked it up, moved away from the desk, and stopped at the chest. Ducking, he inserted the key in the lock and turned. Pausing for a moment in his triumph which had come so very simply, Albus opened the black chest. It was made of stone, he noticed, black stone, obsidian.
Once the lid was fully open, Albus peered in. The smell immediately hit him, and what he saw drove all of Felix from his mind and chilled his very bone marrow.
