Disclaimer: As usual, owned by Rowling and Whedon and, sadly, not by me.
Author's Notes: Forgive me for the lateness of this chapter. My life has been, to quote Xander, one big crazy whirligig of fun lately. And that's in the sarcastic sense. Its funny how some days the story just seems to rush out of me with almost no effort on my part and then on other days, its like pulling teeth to write two paragraphs. I definitely feel sympathy for Rowling!
Reviewer Responses at the bottom.
Chapter Ten – In the tongues of snakes and demons
Harry hadn't said anything to the others, but when Dumbledore had given them the assignment to look through the Black library for information on the Phasma Directus potion, Harry had believed it was simply busy work; something simple and easy to keep them occupied. "Come on," he'd scoffed to himself, as he had made his way with the others back upstairs after the Order meeting, "As if there's any way he hasn't already searched that library from top to bottom." It was only his attempt to keep a handle on his temper and be treated as one of the "grown ups" that had kept him from calling the Old Man on it.
He'd continued to believe it was a bogus assignment, right up until the morning came and he and the others walked into the library. The room was dark, with the heavy curtains pulled across the window and the only light coming from the doorway. However, Harry could tell the room was huge. Ok, the Hogwarts library was larger, by far, but for a personal home library, it was truly enormous. The size of the room wasn't what caused Harry to change his mind about the truth behind their assignment, however. That came from the fact that the room, what they could see of it in the darkness, was trashed. There were far more books lying on the floor and on tables and chairs than there were on the shelves.
Since the restrictions on underage magic forbade them from performing magic, they'd had to retreat back out and try to find some lights. After quite a bit of arguing with Mrs. Weasley about the need for them to enter the library, which Hermione had finally ended by politely and firmly reminding the woman that this was their assignment for the Order, they finally managed to wrest some candles from her and head back into the cavernous room.
The light from the candles just made the mess of the room worse. They'd had to pick their way carefully across the room and each of them had had to stand at different points in the room, as there was nowhere big enough for all of them to stand together. Hermione, muttering to herself about "wretched treatment of books," made her way over to the curtains and worked to open them in order to let a little more light in the room. She was lucky, really, as there were no creatures hanging about in the curtains as there had been in other rooms they'd worked in. It seemed even the myriad of beings that had invaded the other parts of the house, which they'd spent most of their summer clearing out had avoided this room.
When the curtains were finally opened, Hermione turned back to the group, and for a few moments there was silence as each of them took in the mess that they would have to go through.
"Bloody hell! What a mess!" Ron spoke up, breaking the silence.
Hermione briefly considered admonishing him for swearing but decided it really fit the situation. She felt like using a few choice words herself.
Harry was shaking his head his disbelief. He wasn't even sure where to begin. "How the hell does Dumbledore expect us to find anything in this room? It'll take us the entire month we have left before school starts just to put it back in order!"
From the way Ginny's jaw was set, she agreed. Hermione sighed, "So, it will take longer than we thought. But, there are four of us and we have plenty of reason to get it done quickly." With that, Hermione did what she did best. She organized them into action. She set each of them to work on a section, giving suggestions on the best way to set up what they were doing and reminding them to keep an eye out for books that might contain information on either the Phasma Directus ("Hmm, either astral travel or other dimensions, I should think") or on the Veil ("I'm not even sure what that would be under. Mysterious deaths, travels beyond the worlds? Just keep an eye out"). Ron and Harry couldn't help exchanging grins over Hermione. The girl was certainly in her element. Then all of them set to work with a dedication and fervor that would have surprised most of their teachers. Well, except Hermione's of course; this was how hard she always worked.
Four hours, seven bit fingers, and numerous blood-curdling screams later, they had actually made a dent on the mess.
"It's a small one," Ginny said, "But it is a dent."
They had actually managed to clear out one whole section, putting the books in order as they went, as Hermione had insisted they'd only get confused as to what they had already looked through later. Any book that looked as if it might in any way have information on either Phasmus Directus or the Veil was set on a nearby cleared off table to be gone through later.
"Well, I for one need a break," Ron spoke up. "And some food. I'm bloody starved!"
"Ron!" Hermione said, sending an admonishing glare his way but then sighing. "You are right, though. We could use a break and it is lunch time. Perhaps after we eat we can come back and begin looking through some of these books; see if we can't get some research done."
The others were agreeable to this plan and began to make their way out of the room. Harry was at the back and decided to stick his candle in a nearby candle holder, as it wasn't really needed anymore. As he sat the candle in the holder, however he felt an indention on the bottom of the holder. Bending down to look at it, he found a small snake, much like the one on the sink in Myrtle's bathroom, engraved in the silver at the bottom of the holder.
Harry immediately looked for his friends, but they had already left the room. He knew he should go and get them, but then, he didn't even know if he had found anything yet.
Taking a deep breath, he decided to try using his skills as a Parselmouth first, see if it did anything. If not, then he wouldn't feel silly for having called his friends back for nothing. He let out the breath and with it came the hissing sounds of Parseltounge.
He truly wasn't surprised when the bookcase to the right of the holder slid open, like a scene from an old Muggle movie he'd managed a glimpse of once a long while ago.
Once again he paused, thinking he should really call for his friends. "But, you still haven't really found anything," a voice inside him reasoned. "Why call them in here just to find an old, probably empty passage way?"
It was odd, really. For a moment he stood in the doorway of the passage, greatly conflicted, two sides of his mind arguing with each other as to whether he should call his friends or simply check it out himself. The voice that cautioned him to contact his friends sounded strangely like Dumbledore, which in the end is what decided him. "Look what listening to him has gotten me so far," Harry thought bitterly. "One missing or possibly dead godfather."
With that thought he moved into the passageway, taking the candle he had placed in the holder with him.
It wasn't a very long passage way. Only a few meters really, and then it ended in a dark room. "Damn, what I wouldn't give to be able to do a "Lumos" right..." he trailed off because, as he said the word for the spell of lighting, the room suddenly lit up, all the candles along the wall suddenly lighting on their own.
"Wow," Harry said, looking surprised.
The room wasn't large, really, though it did have two stories, the upper story being more a loft. The loft was filled with books and Harry immediately thought he would have to get Hermione in here. He'd be willing to bet all the galleons in Gringotts that any books they needed would be up there. Again that reasonable voice spoke up, telling him to go and get her now, but he was too curious to even acknowledge it.
The lower section of the room was set up much like an office, with a desk and chair and even what looked like a file cabinet. The wall behind the desk ended the office motif, as it was covered with gruesome paintings of death and destruction. The theme, as it were, seemed to be wizards killing Muggles, which again, did not take Harry by surprise. He remembered how Sirius had told him his parents were big Voldemort supporters, although Sirius had said they weren't actually Death Eaters.
This did confuse Harry though, because, as far as he knew, he and Voldemort were the only Parselmouths around. And since the Blacks certainly hadn't set up this secret passageway for him, it had to have been done for Voldemort. Although Sirius had left home at sixteen, it was likely his whole family could've joined as Death Eaters when Regulus had, and Sirius wouldn't have known it. "Not like they would've kept the 'blood traitor' informed," Harry thought, then shook his head. He could figure all the specifics of the room out later; he was going to look around now.
He went to the desk first and began rifling through it. In the bottom drawer was a strange box. There was no lock and it seemed as if it should open, but he could not find a place where it could be opened. However, the serpent etched into the top of the box gave him a clue, so he sat it on the desk and once again he issued the command to open in Parseltongue. The box shimmered slightly and suddenly popped open. Nestled inside was a ring attached to a chain. The ring was small, more than likely a female's ring, with the letter R done it calligraphy on the top of a green stone and a snake was engraved around the R. It was a fairly pretty ring, though it didn't seem to have any magic to it. Harry had to wonder what it was doing locked away as it was, in a place that had obviously been a hideout of Voldemort's. It seemed strangely sentimental for the Voldemort he knew.
"Although, he was a man named Riddle once," Harry thought to himself.
The ring touched him, somehow, although he couldn't really figure out why. It seemed to make him realize that Voldemort had once been a human man, even an adolescent, as Harry himself was. He'd had thoughts and feelings, hopes and dreams. He'd been raised by Muggles who likely didn't treat him very well. Not for the first time, Harry found himself chilled by the knowledge that he and Tom Riddle were alike in quite a few ways.
Almost without thought, Harry took the ring and slid the chain it was attached to over his head. The ring settled against his skin and he briefly wondered why he was keeping something that belonged to such an evil person. That didn't stop him from settling the ring underneath his shirt, hidden away from casual sight. He couldn't explain to himself why he was keeping it; he certainly didn't want to try to explain it to others.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he continued to search through the desk, then the filing cabinet. In the cabinet, he found some old scrolls, written in a language he could not understand. There were some notes scrawled on the margin, however, and it was these that caught his attention. The handwriting was hard to read, but one of the notes said something about the Veil.
"Yes!" Harry said, startling himself as he spoke out loud. Finally, here was some information that might help Sirius. "Ironic, really," Harry thought, "that the information to help Sirius would be found in a secret room used by an evil man in a house he hated."
Suddenly, he could hear the sounds of the others calling for him. They sounded worried and instantly he felt contrite for not going to get them. Of course they'd be worried if he just suddenly disappeared. Carrying the scrolls, he quickly made his way back to the hidden door to the library and hissed at the door to open again.
Ginny, who was standing closest to the secret door, jumped as Harry emerged, saying, "Merlin, Harry! You scared the life out of me!" A look of curiosity came over her face as she took in the open door to the secret passage, and then she shook her head and grinned at the dark-haired boy. "No secret places are sacred from you, are they?"
He grinned back at her and shrugged slightly, and then called out for Ron and Hermione, who were still looking for him. A few moments later, and the group of four were making their way back down the secret passage and into the secret room.
Hermione lectured Harry for a few moments about entering the place alone, but was soon too interested in the scrolls he had found and the books in the loft to worry too much that he had entered alone. Ginny joined her in the loft, carefully checking out some of the books as well.
Ron stayed on the lower level with Harry, a look of disgust on his face at the pictures on the wall. "The Blacks were a disgusting lot, weren't they Harry? It's amazing Sirius turned out like he did, coming from them."
Harry nodded, "That's true enough, although I don't think this room was for the Blacks."
Ron looked at Harry in confusion, and even Hermione and Ginny stepped to the railing of the loft to listen to him.
"What do you mean, Harry?" Ron asked.
"Well, in order to open the door to this room, you have to be a Parselmouth. Do any of you know of any other Parselmouths besides me and Voldemort?" Harry asked.
All heads were shaking at this and Hermione spoke up, "I researched it back in second year, Harry, when we found out you were one. Voldemort was the first one in several centuries. It is a very rare trait. It is believed that Salazar Slytherin created the ability using dark magic, though that is mostly legend."
Harry nodded, "Exactly. So that means that, other than me, Voldemort is the only person who could've opened that door. So, this room had to be his to use."
The others looked shocked at this knowledge and Ron shook his head. "But Harry, Sirius said that his family were not Death Eaters, except for that one brother. Why would Voldemort have a room here?"
Harry shrugged, "Well, Sirius was a blood traitor to them, remember? They wouldn't have told him if they decided to join. And, if they had joined, they would've been too scared to back out after Regulus was killed." Another thought occurred to him then. "Although, maybe they didn't have to join at all. It would've made this the perfect hiding place since no one thought the Blacks were Death Eaters. No one would think to look for Voldemort here."
Ginny suddenly looked worried. "But that would mean that V-Voldemort and the Death Eaters do know about this place!"
Hermione shook her head, "It wouldn't matter even if they did. Dumbledore put it under the Fidelus Charm. Even if they knew exactly where it was supposed to be, they couldn't find it and wouldn't be able to get into it unless Dumbledore himself told them were it is. Which of course, would never happen."
Ginny looked thoughtful at that. "It must be driving him crazy then, if you think about it. He can't get back here to get this stuff. And yet, if he's smart," here an incredibly dark look crossed her face, then she continued, "and I know he is, he'll know this is where the Order headquartered. But there isn't a thing he can do about it. And not only is his worst enemy harbored here, but another Parselmouth as well," she finished, waving a hand toward Harry.
Ron looked satisfied at that. "Hope the thought keeps him up nights," the red-head said.
Harry nodded, sending a grin at Ron, "I imagine it doesn't make him happy."
Hermione, who had gone back to look at several more books, spoke up again. "I don't think this was just a hideout though. All these books up here...it's not just a library of the Dark Arts. Most of them, well they're in languages I don't know well, but what I can read," she looked up at them, her face somewhat pale, "they're all about demons."
Ginny raised an eyebrow, "Demons? Like as opposed to angels, demons?"
Hermione nodded, "Something like that." She pointed at the book she'd been going through. "Like this one talks about different demons that are known as the lords of hell. I can't understand all of it, some of the wording is simply archaic, but it seems to be describing ways to contact these demons."
Ron and Ginny looked extremely worried at this news and Harry's stomach rolled as if he were sick.
Ron spoke up, "I thought demons were just stories, myths made up by Muggles who happened across a magical creature?"
Hermione shrugged, "So did I, but then I also thought magic wasn't real until I realized I was a witch. These books seem to believe they are very real and they can be contacted."
Harry exclaimed, "Hermione! In my dream last night, the creatures that attacked Sirius and the two women with they have been demons?"
Hermione looked surprised, but considered the idea, for which Harry was extremely grateful. "I don't know, Harry, it's possible. Though that would mean..." she trailed off, if anything suddenly looking more worried than she had before. "If your dream was real and those were demons..." she stopped again, seeming to have trouble even getting the words out of her mouth.
"What, Hermione? Spit it out!" Ron said, not liking the fearful look currently in residence on her face.
"Well," she said, and took a deep breath, "if Harry's dream were real and those were demons, and we've got all these books talking about different demons and how to contact them, then...what's the chance that that is what Voldemort is up to? Contacting demons?"
The others seemed totally blown away by this thought, even Harry who had considered the fact that Voldemort might be traveling to other dimensions before. But this, this news was bad. Way bad.
"Bloody hell." Ron breathed, his face pale. This time, Hermione didn't even think to try to correct him. This was just too big.
"Wait, wait," Ginny said, her face as pale as the others, but her voice reasonable. "We shouldn't just jump to conclusions about this. I mean, Voldemort hasn't been in this room in at least 15 years. So, while this is obviously something he was looking into back then, it doesn't necessarily mean it's something he's looking into now. Maybe he investigated it and realized it wouldn't work. We probably shouldn't get all worked up about this without at least looking into it further."
The others nodded, Hermione and Ron looking far more relieved.
"You're right, of course, Ginny. We need to do more research before we make any decisions. I'll have to see if I can't find some translation texts in the main part of the library so I can study these books in more detail. For now though, we really should go and have some lunch. I think we could all use the break and I, for one, would greatly like to get out of this room." Hermione gave a slight shudder as she said this, climbing down from the loft and already heading for the door.
Harry couldn't help but think about how much their thoughts must have upset Hermione if she were willing to leave a library and research undone to go eat. He agreed that they needed a break though.
He was the last one out of the room, and before stepping back into the passageway he glanced back at the room, his thoughts dark and worried. Regardless of how little investigating they'd done, he was pretty sure that Hermione's hypothesis was right on. Somehow, Voldemort had found a way to contact the demons, these lords of hell. And, if that were true, how in the hell was he supposed to be able to stop him? What power did a sixteen year old boy have against the power of hell itself?
Ron's voice interrupted the frightening thoughts, "Oy! Harry! Would you come and let us out of this place already?"
Harry shook his head and with one last glance around the room, hurried to join the others.
Look ma, no cliffhanger! :)
First of all, thanks as always to my beta Arie!
Faith's Lies: No, no kicking of the computer. I'll have to start putting in a disclaimer that the author will not be responsible for damaged computers due to the cliffhangers found in the story. :) Thanks for the review, hope the chapter was worth the wait.
SiriusEarendil: Well, I hope this chapter breathes life into you again! ;) Thanks for sticking with me!
Sterling-Ag: Thank you so much for taking time and reviewing! I hope I can continue to please!
Goddessa39: Thank you so much for your review! I greatly appreciate it! I also like B/A, but Angel will have only a small part in this story and he will not be paired with Buffy. At this point, I'm not sure there will even be any pairings (though I'm not discounting them). My story's really more action/adventure than romance. Though, one can never say exactly what will happen, my muse doesn't often let me know in advance! Hope you'll stick with me, even though B/A is not likely.
Padfoot and Moony: No problem being anonymous, I was the same way until I started writing. And thank you again for your reviews! Continuing reviewers give me all sorts of happy feelings! :)
WhiteWolf3: Thanks for reviewing! Yes, they might could've handled 50 demons. I'm sort of pulling a Joss with this. Y'know how, in one episode Buffy takes on 10 vamps by herself with no problems and then in the next she's doing her best to take down one? :) But, not only were they in an enclosed space, but they were also trying to protect Sirius, who has no wand and, as much as I love him, is not a Slayer. Makes it a little harder. Its a little plot contrivance, but hopefully not too big to make you stay away. I like the reviews! ;)
Thank you all, I love the reviews. I love to write and will continue, no matter how many reviews I do or don't get. But, getting reviews does add to the fun, I will admit! :)