Orlok – Confession, I was feeling lazy when re-writing the last few chapters, which might be why they seem so similar to the originals.
Jarno – Based on SPEW I see Hermione as a very high moral person. The muggle world may have had world wars and everything but they advanced much farther then the wizarding world (at least based on what we've seen in the books). That also has to do with regarding how people treat each other and animals; nicer, more lenient and more equality in the muggle world. Of course, that's the world we try to live in, despite the practice of such things falling rather short in a lot of places. Wizards play a sport in which you hit heavy iron balls at each other, which are capable of breaking bones easily. I just see the wizarding world as rougher, slightly more barbaric.
Bonus points to who ever can spot the lyrics from my favorite youtube sensation.
Chapter 13 Taking Action
Harry stood in front of the group of students before him. This was the first training session of the new semester and it looked like most of them had spent most of their Winter break sleeping in and lazing around. Harry wish he could have said the same but he couldn't afford such a luxury.
"Today we won't be going outside to train, in fact I don't plan on training outside at all from now on. A … unique house elf I know recently showed me a room that will be way better for our training." Harry paused, exchanging significant looks with Ron and Hermione, the only two who truly knew all about Dobby. "It will be hard for me to properly explain it, and I've always thought seeing is believing, so follow me and I'll show it to you."
The group followed as Harry walked up several flights of stairs. He lead them to a corridor on the seventh floor where a tapestry of a man being clubbed by trolls hung. He instructed them to wait as he walked by the tapestry three times, getting odd looks each times, until a door popped into existence.
"Welcome to the Room of Requirements," Harry stated, throwing open the door.
The crowd of teens gasped at what they saw. A large 400 meter track stood in the middle of the impossibly large room. In the middle of the track was several exercise equipments for different muscles of the body, along with several punching bags and sparring mats. Off to the side were about fifty wooden dummies painted black.
"All you have to do is imagine something and it will appear. I've been told there are limits but so far I haven't met any. I want us to meet here everyday as we expand on our training. Same time as always. I'm going to drop doing physical stuff, except running, and spell learning every day and make them every other day. That way we can fit in more things I've learned over the break that you should know."
Everyone looked extremely curious as to what the new things were. Some were relieved they wouldn't be spending so much time with the physical stuff, since it wore them out before the day even started. Others were relieved the learning of new spells was going to slow down since they had already learned so many new ones.
"What's one of things we are going to be learning?" Wayne Hopkins asked, curious.
"Memorizing the layout of a room, identifying all possible exits and assessing the threat level of all targets in the blink of an eye."
They all look flabbergasted at the thought of learning that. Was such a thing even possible? How the hell were they even to learn that?
"Er … why?" Seamus asked.
Harry observed Seamus carefully before turning his eyes on everyone else, most of whom were asking the same question, despite their lack of vocalization. "Well Seamus, imagine you enter a room and as soon as you step over the threshold, spells are being thrown at you. You defend yourself, sure and might throw yourself behind something for some cover but then what? You don't know how many there are or which ones will be the easiest to take out, to cut back on the spells shooting at you. If your cover is destroyed you don't know where the next available cover is. And if you need to escape, you only know of the area you came from, which they know you know of."
"What else?" Susan Bones questioned, eager to find out. She had spent her entire life around the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and was always fascinated by things Aurors and Hit-Wizards knew. If she ever wanted to be Head Auror, she knew these were things she was going to have to know.
"Fighting as a group and fighting multiple opponents at one time will be the main ones. How you handle and react to certain situations, getting you use to being in battles and fighting dark creatures." Harry ticked them off on his fingers as he listed them all.
"Fighting dark creatures?"
"What do you mean getting use to fighting battles?"
Harry held up his hands to stop the flow of questions. "I'll show you. After we get done going for our run first. So hit the track everyone."
Harry stood in front of Ron, Neville, Hermione, Fred and George in a secluded corner of the Gryffindor common room. Privacy wards had been erected around the area and they were discussing their plans for the day. Fred and George had been a great help as their usual scheming to prank people really gave them a leg up in finding out where people were during parts of the day.
"Like clockwork, when he has off in the time period between his Arithmancy and Herbology classes today, Nott is in the library doing homework by himself. Zabini is usually in the Slytherin common room by that time. If we want to get them at the same time, we'll have to get Zabini before he makes it to the Slytherin dorms, sometime right after his Ancient Runes class."
Harry nodded his head to the twins, letting them take over, since it was mostly there idea. "Right, Zabini usually walks with Malfoy and his little cronies. However, if delayed by a professor or for some other reason, Malfoy won't want to wait for him and so the group will move on without Zabini, leaving him to walk back alone."
"The walk between the Ancient Runes classroom and the Slytherin dorms is about nine minutes and includes walking down a corridor on the second floor rarely used except by Slytherins going to and from Ancient Runes. Its the perfect opportunity to capture him without anyone interfering or finding out what we're doing."
"Fred here has kindly offered to be the one to delay Zabini," Harry explained, taking over again. "I'm going to let him use my invisibility cloak to sneak into the Runes classroom and delay the Slytherin long enough for Malfoy to get bored and leave him behind. I'm going to be the stopping force that prevents Zabini from getting pass a certain point. Hermione will be my backup and Fred, who will be following Zabini under my cloak, will make sure Zabini doesn't retreat backwards if we can't restrain him quickly enough."
The twins took over again, speaking in their constant back and forth manner. "As for Nott, he usually sits in a secluded table between some shelves near the back left corner of the library. There are several other tables within viewing area and the Charms shelves, which are always popular, allow people viewing room to Nott's position. George will make sure no one is in the nearby area and will make sure Madam Pince is distracted. Ron will be the one who sneaks up on Nott, subdues him and than gets Nott out of the library. Neville will be the lookout, to make sure no one witnesses what we do and make sure Ron takes out Nott quickly and quietly.."
Hermione started to raise her hand at the end of Harry's explanation, before remembering she wasn't in class and quickly put it down at her side. "Why not just delay Nott as well so we can restrain him in a less public place?"
"Nott always goes directly to the library and once you exit the Arithmancy corridor you are in the main hallway of the castle. The walk between the Arithmancy classroom and the library is amongst the most populated places in Hogwarts during the day. Even if you delay Nott ten minutes, which doesn't seem likely, you still have a high chance of students, ghost and professors running into you. In the library we have a better chance of getting him secluded from everyone else."
Hermione nodded at George's explanation. Ron was the next one with a question, voicing his only concern with the plan.
"How am I to get Nott out of the library without being seen? The Disillusion Charm won't help much against the bright lights of the library."
Harry nodded his head, having already thought of that. Luckily Fred and George were working hard on their joke shop items.
"Give him these." Fred handed his younger brother two vials. "Its the potions we made for the canary cream and the nosebleed nougat. Combine them together and if anyone asked tell them it was spell casting gone wrong. The canary cream should disfigure his face enough where no one will know who he is."
"There is a spell used in hospitals that get unconscious patients to swallow potions, which I'll teach to you. Give him the potions and levitate him in front of you. Rush out yelling about not researching spells before casting them and how you're taking him to the hospital wing, no should find it suspicious. But make sure you get him out of the library and down the designated escape corridor within one minute because that's when the canary potion will wear off," George finished explaining to his younger brother.
"Alright," Harry looked them all in the eye, "let's do this."
"What the fuck Potter?" Zabini semi-shouted when he was coherent enough.
Nott was half sitting, half laying down on the ground. One hand grasped his nose, which had finally stopped bleeding, while the other struggled to find his wand. Zabini was almost on his feet, digging into his robe pocket, attempting to find his own wand.
"You guys looking for these?" Harry asked, waving the two pieces of magical wood in the Slytherins' faces.
"Give me my wand," Nott slurred out, grasping for said object.
Harry shoved the two wands into his pocket and glared at the two in front of him. "Not until you tell me what you know about the attacks going on."
"We don't know shit Potter. Now give us back our wands before you get in real trouble," Blaise hissed out.
"I'll get in trouble?" The dark-haired teen chuckled. "Coming from two defenseless and spineless snakes I don't really feel threatened." The glares intensified. "Now lets see if I can't get you talking. Petrificus Totalus."
The two Slytherins found their legs slamming together and their arms becoming rigid at their sides, causing them both to fall back to the ground. Harry walked over them, muttering several compulsion spells as he flicked his wand at their heads. Feeling satisfied he cast the spells right, the Boy-Who-Lived took out two vials of a light green liquid from his robe. With a wave of his wand he slackened their lips and poured the truth serum into their mouths before using the spell George was talking about earlier to make sure they swallowed it.
He released them from the body-bind, his arm swinging through the air as they both tried to quickly scramble to their feet. Nott and Zabini were knocked to the ground, the air leaving their lungs. A twist of holly had both of them stuck to the ground, by their bottoms.
"Now that you are both comfortable, tell me what I want to know."
"We don't know anything Potter!" Nott growled out.
"Are you the ones attacking students?" Harry demanded.
"No!" Zabini snarled.
"Do you know who is?"
"We have no fucking idea!"
Harry was getting frustrated with their lack of answers. "Is Malfoy involved? Does he know anything?"
"Always obsessed with Malfoy, Potter," Nott chuckled. "There are worse people in Slytherin than Draco Malfoy."
"We told you," Zabini grounded out, "we have no idea who is behind the attacks. Besides, if I did know, I would have asked to join them a long time ago."
Harry grit his teeth, glaring at the two pieces of scum in front of him. He wanted to hit that smug grin off Zabini's face so bad. Still, he had promised Hermione he wouldn't resort to violence. "Fine."
"Now let us go," Nott barked.
"Sure, but we can't have you running to Snape to tell on me. So we're going to have to make sure you don't remember any of this."
Both of their eyes widened in fear as Harry lifted his wand. "What are you doing Potter?"
"Obliviating you, not that you'll remember."
Both tried to struggle out of the sticking charm that held them to the ground, but it was a futile effort. "Obliviate! Obliviate!"
As the two went limp Harry unstuck their bodies from the ground. He cleaned up the blood that had flowed from Nott's nose. He then levitated both of their bodies up from the ground and walked out of the abandoned classroom they had been in.
"Was that satisfactory?" Harry asked, the bodies trailing behind him.
"Yes, although you could have just stuck them to the ground before releasing the body bind," Hermione muttered.
Harry shrugged his shoulders as he walked the corridors to the Hospital Wing. Ron and Hermione trailed behind him. The twins had class but demanded to be told what was found out at the earliest possibility. Neville was watching the map farther down the corridor, to run interference in case anyone tried going down that way.
"So now what?" Ron asked, indicating the fact that neither Slytherin knew anything.
"We pick new targets, I guess. They said there are worse in Slytherin than Malfoy, so I say we target some of the older years."
"Anything?" Neville asked, walking into view.
"Nothing," Ron replied glumly.
They walked in silence to the Hospital Wing, stopping just outside to finish their plan. Ron hit Harry with a Stinging Hex in the shoulder, ripping the fabric and making the shoulder red and slightly swollen. Harry hit both the unconscious Slytherins with a stunner before smashing the back of both their heads into the stone wall. Hermione, who didn't know this part of the plan, opened her mouth in outrage but was quickly silenced by Neville.
Harry made sure he didn't hit their heads too hard before walking into the Hospital Wing with his victims right behind him.
"Mr. Potter, what is going on here?" Madam Pomfrey demanded.
There were two kinds of Obliviating; the first locked memories deep in someone's mind so most couldn't find them, leaving the person with no recollection of what happened at all. The second also locked the person's memories deep within their mind except this one had the caster creating vague false-memories so instead of being left with nothing the person vaguely recalled doing something, even if they didn't actually do it. Obviously the second one was harder, but that didn't prevent Harry from learning it.
"I was walking down the corridor when I had a run in with Nott and Zabini here. We exchanged some insults before things, uh, got heated. They hit me with a stinging hex in the shoulder and I got them both with stunners. They took nasty falls, the both of them," Harry explained in his most innocent voice, mixing in some regret and shame in there as well.
He carefully floated both teens on the bed, as Madam Pomfrey started clucking around them. She waved her wand over Zabini, muttering about duels in the hallway. Harry let her diagnose the stunner and the damage to the back of the head, his story helping her link the fall from being stunned into how such damage came to be there, even if it was all false.
"I gotta get going to class Madam Pomfrey, I don't want to miss anything. Don't worry about the shoulder, I barely feel anything!" He didn't give her anytime to voice protest because he sprinted from the way-too-white room.
His three friends were outside waiting for him, Hermione with an intense glare on her face. She waited until they were away from the Hospital Wing before exploding.
"I can't believe you! You promised me there would be no violence!"
"I promised you there would be no violence during the asking of questions. I didn't break that promise," Harry pointed out.
"You can't just go around bashing people's heads in," Hermione growled.
The green-eyed male sighed in exasperation. "They were unconscious. They felt nothing and when they wake up they'll feel nothing because Madam Pomfrey will have healed it all. They suffer none. It isn't that big of a deal."
"Harry, if you are going to do that again, I don't think I can join you anymore."
"Relax Hermione," Ron soothed, stepping into the argument. "Madam Pomfrey won't fall for that excuse again. We're going to have to find a new way to explain their lack of memories."
"Maybe something that involves a lot of firewhiskey," Neville quipped, grinning.
Black clouds swirled through the sky, blocking out the moon and the stars that littered the dark abyss known as space. The ground was covered in dead grass, all the way till the ground abruptly ended, dropping off into icy waves that crashed on jagged rocks. In the distance, certain people could see a black castle that loomed in the horizon, constantly surrounded by a heavy fog.
Voldemort walked slowly to the cliff side, the three muggles, their bodies limp and their eyes glassy, shuffling along behind him. He stopped several feet from the edge, a chill making its way to his bones, not that it really affected him. The sky around him started to darken and the freezing January air got a lot colder. Looks like he wasn't the only one to arrive on time.
The Dementor, larger than the rest of its brethren, came floating up from the side of the cliff, where it sat hovering in front of the Dark Lord. It made no move toward him or even a gesture that it even knew he was there. With a casual nod of his head, one of the muggles staggered pass Voldemort and stopped in front of the Dementor. He could feel a slight pressure behind his left eye as the muggle tried fighting the magic over its mind due to its fear of the Dementor's presence but Voldemort ruthlessly crushed it. Instantly the thing sprang forward, grabbing the cursed muggle around its shoulders and crushed its mouth against the human's. With a shuddering gasp, the muggle's soul was slowly but surely sucked from its body.
"I ask for your help again. I'm offering the same conditions as last time. Serve me and you can feast on my enemies and on muggles whenever you want."
The Dementor made a beckoning motion with its hand. Voldemort sent over the second of three muggles. This time instead of sucking out its soul, the Dementor placed its hand on the muggle's forehead. "We accept your offer, just like we did twenty years ago." The raspy voice came from the muggle's mouth but it wasn't the muggle who spoke.
Dementors themselves didn't fully understand human languages but they were able to piece together a lot of what was being said. They couldn't speak in human tongues though, so communication with them was usually one sided. However, by forming the twisted bond it did with the muggle, the Dementor was able to push what it wanted into the human's mind and the human's mind formed the words for the Dementor.
"A wise decision. All I ask of you is two things. The first is that several of my followers will be assaulting Azkaban in an hour to rescue my other followers who have unfortunately called the prison home for the pass fourteen years. If your kind could conveniently be in a separate part of the prison during the attack that would be most beneficial."
"Why don't we just take out the human guards for you?" the raspy voice asked, the eagerness to feast on more souls evident in its voice.
"That is the second thing I must ask. The Ministry refuses to acknowledge my return and so I operate in the shadows until such a time where I feel acting in such a way will no longer benefit me. I ask that you wait the few more months it will be before I reveal myself before you leave this prison and start feasting to your hearts delight."
A moment passed and Voldemort thought he might have offended the creature. "We will wait for your signal."
Voldemort nodded his head and with a wave of his arm, forced the third and final muggle forward. He didn't wait to see the Dementor suck the soul of the two muggles now in front of it. Instead he apparated away to where Rhydian waited, giving the man the signal for the mission to take place.
During the first war with Voldemort, when the Ministry's Department of Magical Law Enforcement had twice the numbers it did now, sixteen Hit Wizards and twenty-five Magical Law Enforcement Squad members use to be tasked with guarding Azkaban. When the war ended and the Dementors were once again forced to serve the Ministry, the number of human guards had been cut to eight Magical Law Enforcement Squad members. Four would guard the entrance gate while the other four generally sat in the break room. The Dementors did the patrolling and the house elves fed the prisoners, no need for the humans to do much more besides let people in and out.
The four in the guard house didn't see the eleven chameleon like figures slowly making their way through the mist that surrounded the entrance. They didn't see the wands that were pointed in their directions. And they only had a second to gaze in confusion at the green jets of light that flew barely three feet before striking each of their bodies, throwing them to the floor dead.
The door to the break room, where an intense game of poker was being played, was blown off its hinges. Spells rained into the room, slamming into the four enforcement officials in the room, none of who had even had time to stand up before they were killed.
"Spread out and find our brethren!"
Fudge looked at the folder in front of him with a frown. He leaned back in his chair and stroked his chin with his left hand as he thought about what it all meant. Shifting forward he pressed a button on his intercom;
"Julia please get Dolores Umbridge in here."
"Right away, sir," his secretary replied.
It was a few minutes before the Undersecretary to the Minister walked into the officer, her bright pink robes making the Minister have to hide a grimace. He didn't allow her to say anything, just held out the folder for her to read. The folder didn't hold much, just a piece of parchment with several paragraphs and another piece of parchment with a list of names.
"So Harry Potter is training a group of students?" Umbridge asked, though she already knew the answer, having read it in the report.
Children told their parents things they thought inconsequential, not aware that they were potentially supplying their parents with important information and gossip. That was how Fudge found out this tidbit of information.
"Yes. He's getting them in shape, teaching them powerful magics and different styles of fighting."
The woman regarded him curiously. "What do you think he's doing?"
Fudge slammed his hands on the desk and stood up. "He's teaching them to be fighters!"
"To fight who? To fight us?" Umbridge was breathless as she asked it. Her eyes widened in anticipation as she awaited the answer.
"I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. The real question is, is he doing this on his own or is Dumbledore putting him up to it?"
"Dumbledore sir?"
"Yes Dumbledore. I don't trust that man. Not one bit. You know there were rumors of him having his own fighting force during the war with You-Know-Who. Potter's parents were apparently some of the members. Maybe Dumbledore is bringing it back, and he is using Potter to corrupt the next generation!"
"Even then sir, they are just children. Around twenty-five of them judging by the list but no threat to Aurors and Hit Wizards."
Fudge nodded his head, but wouldn't be deterred from viewing this as a major threat to his power. "Look at the names of some of the children. Four Weasleys, Susan Bones, Lisa Turpin, Mandy Brocklehurst, Eddie Carmichael and Cho Chang. All wards of Ministry employees! And Arthur Weasley and Amelia Bones have been on my list of employees to watch since Dumbledore started this stupid crusade about You-Know-Who last June."
"Amelia Bones has the loyalty of many Aurors and Hit Wizards," the Undersecretary simpered. "Who knows how many would choose her if forced to decide."
"Not to mention the power those children can have in the Wizengamot. Potter, Boot and Longbottom are all of the noble houses. The families of Weasley, Bones, Chang, Goldstein, Spinnet, Vane and Carmichael all hold seats as well."
Umbridge observed the list of names again, marking the names of everyone who had a relation that either worked for the Ministry or held a seat on the Wizengamot. "It's a politically powerful group of children sir. They can pose a serious threat to the Ministry."
"I know, especially if you combine them with Dumbledore. I need you to go to Hogwarts and find out whats going on."
"Of course sir."
Fudge turned toward the window, which although being placed several dozen meters underground, showed the sunset over London. "You'll leave tomorrow and be there for as long as it takes to get to the bottom of this. I'll assign you several men for protection, men who are loyal to me. As for Bones and Weasley, I'll have people keep a closer eye on the both of them."
"Minister!"
An Auror burst into the room, throwing the door open. The man was panting and his face was stricken. The Minister and his Undersecretary both turned toward the Auror with expectant looks on their faces.
"What is it Williamson?" Fudge demanded.
"Azkaban sir! Its been attacked! The guards were all killed and a dozen of the prisoners have escaped!"
"Got the supplies Seamus?" Harry asked as the Irish teen, along with Dean, strolled into the Room of Requirement.
"Did you seriously doubt me?" Seamus asked, feigning hurt. He pulled Harry's invisibility cloak off a magical dolly he was pulling behind him. Sitting on the dolly was several packs of beers, mostly muggle brews but also one or two of the few wizarding beers out there.
The other males in the room grinned. Tonight was a guys night out. Ron, Neville, Fred, George and Colin were the other Gryffindors there. Terry Boot, Michael Corner, Anthony Goldstein and Eddie Carmichael were the Ravenclaws. Kyle Summers, Wayne Hopkins and Justin Finch-Fletchley were the Hufflepuffs. All the males that trained in the morning together were gathered.
"Right, so does anyone need me to go over the rules again?" Harry questioned.
Everyone shook their heads, having had the rules explained to them several times by Harry. Seamus and Dean passed out some of the beers and the males all popped open their bottles, taking quick sips of the cold liquid.
Harry shuffled the cards in front of him before dealing them out; giving everyone a card before going around and giving them one more card. Texas Hold'em was something he had been taught by Remus, who had learned to play it while traveling after the years of that fateful Halloween night. The Marauder had refused to use his magic to help him win but his heightened senses due to him being a werewolf, helped him win more games then he lost.
"Remember, we're betting seconds of chugging, not money. The small blind is set at one second and the big blind is open at two seconds. Which means, if you aren't one of the blinds, you can either call the two seconds or fold."
Harry, who was the dealer for the first game, had Terry to his left and Fred to the left of Terry; making them the small blind and the big blind. Next to Fred was George and he was going to be the first one to either call, raise or fold.
Two hours later and Colin Creevey was passed out on a couch the room had provided for the teen. Fred and George had stumbled in the direction of the Slytherin dorms, having decided in their intoxicated state that a prank sounded like a smashing idea. Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner and Kyle Summers had all decided they were too drunk and too tired to keep going and so had all left at various times. That left nine very drunk males talking in loud and boisterous voices.
"Looks at this list, its perfect!" Seamus cried, waving the 40 Hottest Females at Hogwarts list throughout the air.
Although Harry wasn't positive, he was pretty sure Seamus carried it with him every where he went. There was no way he didn't with the way he kept bringing it out whenever females weren't around.
Terry Boot snatched the list from Seamus and looked it over. "I'd move your sister up some spots Weasley," Terry guffawed with a lecherous grin.
"Yeah well I … I'll punch you in … in the throat," Ron replied back, stumbling over his words.
"Hey," Justin half-shouted, causing Neville, who was sitting next to him, to slap his hands to his ears and wince comically. "We should hook up with the girls on that list."
Eddie Carmichael raised his eyebrow. "So you're saying you have a shot with these girls?"
Justin waved his arms wildly about his body. "Have you seen me? I'm bloody gorgeous."
Everyone broke into laughter at that; Terry laughing so hard he fell off his chair, which brought a new round of laughter. Seamus, after wiping the tears from his eyes, suddenly turned as serious as the drunk teen could.
"Are you suggesting a competition?" Seamus asked.
Justin nodded his head. "Yeah. Whoever hooks with the most girls on that list by the end of the year, wins."
"When you say hooking up, do you mean making out or … you know?" Ron asked, gulping a little bit at the last part.
Neville looked like he might faint at even the barest mention of moving beyond making out.
"Making out," Justin promised. "We're fifteen, sixteen years old for Merlin's sake!"
"I'm down," Eddie Carmichael stated. "As long as Harry can't be a part of the competition."
Harry, who had been following the conversation with his head, swinging it back and forth to look at everyone who was talking and getting dizzy in the process, looked outrage. "Why can't I participate?"
Dean decided to answer. "Cause you can just walk up to a girl and be like 'hey, make out with me' and they will."
Terry nodded his head. "You're Harry freakin' Potter, you don't understand you're legend man, to us all."
"Every son and daughter..." Eddie trailed off, unsure what word to use.
"Safe?" Neville supplied.
Eddie nodded his head in thanks. "From You-Know-Who, all because of you."
"So you see Harry," Seamus picked up, "you can't participate. You have an unfair advantage. But that doesn't mean you can't go through the list on your own."
"What's with the Squad members?" Harry asked, indicating the half a dozen Magical Law Enforcement Squad members that occupied the Great Hall. "I thought they patrolled the halls, not joined us for lunch."
"Fudge has called an emergency meeting of the Hogwarts Board of Governors regarding all the attacks that have taken place. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick and Sprout all have to attend," Neville explained.
"So Fudge assigned some additional security in the school since its most competent professors will be occupied for several hours," Ron said, understanding the tactics behind such a maneuver. "Perfect time for the Junior Death Eaters to attack."
Harry nodded his head and looked around the Great Hall. Would the Junior Death Eaters try something with Dumbledore out of the school? He would definitely have to be on high alert.
The ten black cloaked figures hunched over the book, making sure everything was done properly. The Dark Lord had given them the book, suggesting that they try one of the many rituals inside of it, when the opportunity presented itself. What more of an opportunity then a castle without Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick?
"I still said we should have done this one," one of the cloaked figures grumbled, jabbing his finger at a ritual requiring two virgins. It was one of the darkest, most powerful ones in the book.
"Too many ingredients needed," another said dismissively.
"I was always fond of this one," a third figure stated, turning the pages in the book to another ritual.
"Not enough people to perform it," a fourth pointed out.
"We have decided on which one we're using," the apparent leader of the group said with finality. "Now lets get this thing going. Our lord said that he's unsure if Dumbledore removed the ward from the castle and if the old man did, this will have a limited time span."
"Who has the creature of pure innocence?" the shortest of the cloaked figures demanded.
Without saying anything, a tiny white kitten was put in the short figures hands. It let out a tiny meow at the figure and tilted its head, as if unsure of what was going on. Although his face was covered, the short cloaked figure gave the kitten a wicked smile as he raised his other hand, and the knife that was clenched between his fingers and palm.
"Nice kitty."
A/N: If you don't know what it is, the words "You're Harry freakin' Potter! You don't understand, you're a legend man to us all." and "Every son and daughter, SAFE, from You-Know-Who all because of you!" are lyrics to the song Harry Freakin' Potter which can be found in A Very Potter Sequel, the sequel to A Very Potter Musical, both of which I love. If you like Harry Potter, definitely check them out.