Author's Note: Again, do not get used to such regular updates. The Muses have conspired to keep me at the computer. Thank them for this chapter.
Something was wrong. That much was certain. No one had returned to him. None of the reports from Diagon Alley was favorable. He had only Wormtail left, who was currently licking his wounds in the corner after suffering through his Lord's impatience. Why did no one return? What had happened? "Wormtail." The cowering man shuffled over and made a sketchy bow to Voldemort. "Use your talent. Find out what is going on in Diagon Alley. Find the rest of my servants. Do not come back without them." Wormtail rushed from the room. Voldemort went to sit before the fire, allowing Nagini to slither into his lap. "What has happened, Nagini?" He whispered to his pet. The snake could not give him an answer.
Harry rolled over and grimaced when sunlight hit him full in the face. He must have slept in, because sunlight never hit his room until late morning. Sleeping in didn't make any sense at all, though, because Sensei never let him miss class. He opened his eyes and looked around. His first instincts had screamed "Hospital Wing", which he figured this was, but it wasn't Hogwarts. There were Muggle lights and the faint buzz of electricity in the background. A Muggle machine beeped somewhere above his head and he heard the sound of someone writing very close to him. Where was he? "Awake?"
Harry rolled back to his other side to find Dr. Lansky there with a clipboard in his hand. Harry looked up at him before giving an answer. "I think so." He told the doctor.
Dr. Lansky made a funny sound in his throat while producing a small pen flashlight. "Look at me, please." He requested. Harry stared at Dr. Lansky and allowed the man to shine the light in his eyes. "No concussion. Remember anything?" Harry had no idea what the man was talking about. He said as much to the man. "It's normal. Sometimes, right before an accident, our brains sort of blank out, leaving gaps in our memories. The accident is such a shock, we just forget what happened, simply in an effort to deal with the shock. You'll be fine, though I want to keep you in here another day." The doctor explained to Harry.
"Do I have to?" Harry asked. Sensei would be furious with Harry missing classes, and Paul had promised that they would go to Diagon Alley together. What a minute. "What's today's date?" He asked with a feeling of dread growing in his stomach.
"I was wondering when you would ask that." Dr. Lansky said. "Today is October seventeenth. You were brought to me late on October fifteenth with no real explanation as to how you were unconscious. All Paul could tell me was that you were fine one minute, and the next, collapsed on the street. Care to tell me what you know?" Dan Lansky looked at his patient with a curious glint in his eyes.
"I just remember feeling tired. That's all." Harry explained, hoping the man would buy it. Harry had no idea how to fool a Muggle medical professional. He couldn't fool Madame Pomfrey, but how did one go about fooling magic? This should be easier, at any rate. The doctor pulled a chair over to his bed and sat down.
"Tired? What kind of tired?" Dr. Lansky asked his patient.
Harry shrugged. He remembered parts now, mostly that he, his Aunt Petunia, Remus, Sensei, and Paul had all gone to Diagon Alley, he had heard Sirius' will, and that was about it. Something about ice cream, which made no sense at all to Harry's scattered memories. He had such a craving for mint chocolate chip. Weird. "Just tired. Kind of heavy. That's all."
"Just…tired." The doctor wasn't quite buying it. "Heavy? You mean that your body felt heavy?" Harry decided that that was the best way to explain his made up symptoms and nodded. "Are you sleeping at night?"
"Sometimes. I know I don't sleep as much as I should. I like to read." Dr. Lansky raised an eyebrow at Harry's explanation. "I lose track of time." He ducked his head as though he was ashamed.
"Physical exhaustion is very dangerous, 007. There are many things that could happen while you're sleep-deprived. You know that, right?" Dr. Lansky asked his patient.
"I know that. I just kind of…forgot." Harry answered him. "I'm really sorry." He apologized. He couldn't tell the man what had really happened. Where was Paul? He could have taken care of this.
"Alright. You'll stay here for the rest of today, and I'll release you in the morning if I am satisfied that you slept the whole night. I'm going to keep an eye on you, Bond." Harry gave a sheepish smile and nodded. "No more all-nighters." He warned Harry.
"I have never stayed up the whole night." He told the doctor. The doctor raised an eyebrow. "Only most of the night." Dr. Lansky only shook his head at Harry's comment and held out Harry's book bag.
"Paul dropped this off right before you woke up. He said that he 'd be down to eat dinner with you, which will happen in about half an hour. He suggests that you start on your make-up work."
"Thanks, Dr. Lansky." Harry said as he saw that both his magical and Muggle books had been included.
Dr. Lansky waved away the thanks. "Paul told me to tell you that your friend, Remus Lupin, will be stopping by after dinner before he goes away the next two days." Harry knew what that meant. The full moon was near. "I reserve the right to remove your friend if he wears you out." Dan told him.
"I don't think you need to worry about that." Harry assured him. "Remus is more careful about my health than I am." Harry pulled out his Spanish work and set to memorizing his vocabulary words. Magic would have to wait until he was out of the hospital wing. He didn't want to reveal his talents to more than Paul and Sensei. The two of them were already enough, and Joe knowing only complicated matters. Why was he getting away with revealing the magical world and heavy wandless magic? More importantly, did anyone know what he was doing?
"Zambini came to me earlier today and told me that the Dark Lord is now actively recruiting from the Hogwarts population since the attack in Diagon Alley." Draco said as he pulled on protective equipment for his upcoming duel. Snape snorted next to him.
"He's becoming desperate then." Snape told his protégé. "How many are receptive to the offers of 'power and glory'?" Snape said with a sneer worthy of Longbottom's exploded cauldron.
Draco grimaced. "Far more than there should be. Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson, and Nott seem the most eager, along with all of the prefects for the seventh year. Your Head Boy is ready to do his duty to the Dark Lord, while the Head Girl has barricaded herself in her room in an effort to escape everyone around her." Snape raised an eyebrow. There was some news there. Why would the girl do such things? Slytherin House had a long tradition of choosing their own Head Boy and Girl, an effort to bring some kind of leadership to the prefects, and Severus had found that it worked well for such an insular house. The two were impartial, loyal only to the House, and, Snape had thought, to him. Now, he wasn't so sure what to think about his Head Boy and Girl. He made a mental note to meet with them separately to ascertain exactly where each stood in regards to the Dark Lord, and if he had any reason to worry. Draco's voice broke him from his reverie.
"Zambini is indifferent. That boy should have been a Ravenclaw." Draco commented. "He cares only for knowledge and the power knowledge brings. He has made discreet inquiries about the Dark Lord and did not like what my father had to say."
"Good. One less child to worry about." Snape said as he finished with his gloves and helped Draco with his. Snape motioned for Draco to choose which weapon he wanted. Draco chose his usual blade and waited for Snape to do the same. Snape took his practice blade and faced Draco. He had been teaching Draco how to fence since the boy had come to Hogwarts. Now, Draco proved a rather good opponent and fencing was an outlet of frustration for the two of them. "How is everything with the Protectors?" He asked as he blocked Draco.
"Annoying as ever. Weasley seems to think he has some sort of rank on the rest of us, having actually been in battle. I don't think he would have survived had Potter not been there." Draco told the man as he took as his annoyance on the blades.
Snape stopped in shock, only to have to block wildly to save his neck. "Did I hear you correctly?" Snape demanded as he returned the attack. Draco grinned from behind his mask. "Did you just say something decent about Potter?" Snape asked the younger.
"If you spread it around, I'll denounce you as a liar." Draco warned him. "I've been spending a lot of time with Granger, Longbottom, and Lovegood." Snape gave him a sympathetic look behind his own mask. "They're not that bad, so long as Lovegood doesn't bring up something imaginary." He explained to Snape. "Granger has not let anything slip about her experiences with Potter, but Longbottom will tell a few things, while Lovegood manages to draw all sorts of erroneous conclusions from Potter's adventures, linking them to imagined conspiracies." He gave a wry grin. "I will say this: I am never bored." Draco let out a sigh as Snape snorted and disarmed Draco.
"Just distracted." Snape told him. He removed his own facemask and turned to face Draco. "No. I was wrong. Exhausted." Snape took hold of Draco's chin and turned the boy's face up to look at it. "Do you ever sleep?" He asked of the blonde Slytherin. Draco only shrugged. Snape made a noise deep in his throat and banished the weapons. "Even I sleep, Draco." The Room of Requirement changed to have a bed in one corner and a bookcase in the other. "Go and sleep." Draco jumped as his fencing gear changed pajamas.
"I can't do that." Draco told him.
"Are you arguing with me over your physical welfare?" Snape asked dangerously, as though pleading with the boy to question him further. They had agreed that Snape would have the authority to step in if Draco needed an adult while at Hogwarts for his last two years. He had wondered when Draco would test the boundaries.
"No." Draco said, shaking his head to deny that he was arguing. "It's just that the first issue of 'The Students' Voice' is coming out." Snape rolled his eyes at Draco's explanation. "I don't want to miss it." Draco said, shifting from foot to foot as the cold stones beneath his now bare feet chilled him.
"Have you forgotten something?" Snape asked, pulling out the necklace he currently wore from under his shirt. Draco nodded sheepishly. "Go and sleep. I'll wake you in plenty of time. It won't hurt you to miss training today." Draco finally complied with Snape's orders and was asleep just ten minutes later. The boy had to be exhausted. Snape pulled a book from the shelf and settled into an armchair the Room had thoughtfully provided and tucked the Time-Turner back under his shirt. Thank goodness for contraband Ministry artifacts and equipment. It enabled him to train Draco without any unexplained absences on either of their parts.
His thoughts drifted from the book and back towards what Draco had said. The first issue of the 'The Students' Voice' was coming out. The newspaper had announced itself as an opposition to the current policy concerning 'The Daily Prophet'. Severus never really liked the wizarding newspaper, but this one, this 'Students' Voice' held a lot of intrigue. Too bad he couldn't read it. Every announcement and future issues were charmed to look like class notes written by a student struggling not to fall asleep. He had been outraged when he saw one that looked like Potions notes. As though anyone would dare to fall asleep in his class!
The only reason Snape knew what those random pieces of paper were was thanks to Draco. The boy had sought him out the minute the announcement for the paper appeared in the common rooms and explained what each issue would look like. He had gained a promise from the boy to have the news read to him. This worked in two ways. One: he and Draco could spend more time together. Two: Snape would know how the students thought. Snape mused for a while when he realized that none of the other teachers knew anything about it, including Dumbledore. He gave a rather contented smirk and turned to his book. He loved knowing something others did not.
"Hello, Evan." Remus' voice made Harry jump. He smiled at his mentor and closed his notebook. Remus was more interesting than math at the moment.
"Hi, Remus. Paul told me that you were stopping by tonight." Harry motioned for Remus to sit down. Harry could tell that the full moon was close, for Remus looked exhausted. His eyes were drawn and he moved stiffly as though something pained him somewhere.
"You look no worse for the wear after that stunt you pulled in Diagon Alley." Remus said as he looked Harry over with a critical eye.
"I feel fine." He told Remus. "I slept for the better part of two days, but I don't feel any different than I usually do." He shrugged, as though he wasn't quite sure what else he could say to convince Remus of his health.
"You look alright. I was just worried about it. Did Paul tell you what you did?" Remus asked. Harry shook his head. "You somehow managed to freeze and stun all of the Death Eaters in Diagon Alley, leaving the Order's spy conscious and whole of mind." Remus explained.
"I did what?" Harry demanded.
"Stunned and Confounded around twenty or so Death Eaters. Wandlessly, I might add." Remus said with a smile. "You somehow managed to figure out which one was the Order's spy and leave him alone. All of the rest, well, some of them are in prison, wands broken, while others are still being treated in St. Mungo's. Same ward as Lockhart." Harry blinked at Remus. "Quite an impressive display." He told Harry.
"I didn't want to hurt anyone. I just wanted them to stop." Harry said in a whisper. He jerked as a few memories of the event drifted back to him. "I just wanted them to stop." He told Remus more firmly.
"Yes, well, stop them you did. You managed to figure out which were the high-ranking ones and which were not and treated them accordingly. All of the low ranks are in prison; the high ranks are still in St. Mungo's. Voldemort's forces have decreased by almost one-hundred percent." Harry's mouth dropped as he imitated a fish. "Flies, Harry, flies." Remus reminded him.
Harry snapped his mouth shut. "Voldemort is going to be so mad at me." He sighed. Remus smirked at Harry. "What?" Harry asked.
"Voldemort does not know it was you. No one knows. Well, except for me, Paul, Sensei, and your aunt." Harry stared again. "The Aurors said that the person who managed that was a sorcerer with the level of magic displayed. They made you out to look like one, too. I haven't the slightest clue where they got the idea, but the sorcerer they described looks an awful lot like your Sensei." Harry snorted. What had his magic done while he was unawares? "Your secret is safe for now." Harry nodded. Remus fumbled in his jacket for a second. "I have something for you." He told Harry. "I picked it up yesterday when I went back to Diagon Alley to see what the atmosphere was. The Alley seems to think that it has some kind of protector now. I found this at a small little bookshop tucked into a corner." He handed the book to Harry. "Can you read that?"
Harry took the book and looked down at the title. Being a Book of Secrets and Shadeows of Magical Theorie, Spells, Potions and Draughts, along with various othere notes and notations made by Bleys, magical master of Merlin – For those who do not need a wand or staff "I can read it." Harry said. "Can you?"
"Yes, I can read the title." Remus assured him. "The storekeeper could not." Harry stared at Remus.
"What does that mean?" He asked Remus. Remus gave him a warm smile.
"We're both mental." Remus said with a look that gave Harry a sense of "oh well. What do we do about it?" " Anyway, the last part of the title intrigued me, because I immediately thought of you." He told Harry. "We've already reached the end of my knowledge about wandless magic. Now, however, this book will most likely guide you."
"It's so old." Harry said in doubt. "Merlin's teacher."
"Your Sensei teaches an art that dates back a thousand years or more." Remus said in a calm voice.
"Point taken." Harry said. "Thank you, Remus, for everything." Harry said. Remus smiled again.
"It's my job, Harry. It was no problem at all." Remus told him as he messed up Harry's hair.
Harry smiled and looked at the book in his hands. "I'll look at this later. If the doctor…"
"The doctor thinks its time for Mr. Lupin to head out and for the doctor's patient to get some rest." Harry sighed in relief as the doctor was too preoccupied to notice the magical book. Dr. Lansky stared down Remus as Harry slid the book into his book bag.
"Well, I guess that's my cue. You take care of yourself, Evan. I'll stop in after my trip." Remus told him as he pulled himself to his feet.
"Okay, Remus. Take care." Harry wished him well and wondered if he had any money to get his Wolfsbane Potion. He frowned for a minute and then remembered what Sirius had done in the way of salary for Remus. The werewolf had enough money to live on for the rest of his life. Harry waved as Remus started for the door. Remus wished the doctor a good day and disappeared out of the door.
"You. Bedtime." Harry closed up all of his books and put them on the table at the doctor's order. "I'll examine you first thing in the morning to see if you're ready to leave." Harry nodded and lay down. He ran through the mental exercises to clear his mind as the doctor shut off the overhead lights. He didn't want to see Voldemort that night. Voldemort would have to wait. He had a few things to figure out before he could deal with the irritating snake.
Hermione and the other PPs were gathered in the Room of Requirement. The first issue of the student newspaper had gone out and they had charmed any issue to accept subscription lists. Dobby and Winky had agreed to deliver the papers to help Harry Potter's friends. Hermione had not wanted to risk Dobby and Winky's jobs, but the two had insisted, and Hermione could not say no to the rather insistent creatures.
Hermione looked down at the Slytherin sheet before her to see who wanted a subscription. Only a few names appeared on it from the older students, most notably Draco Malfoy, but the rest of the names were from the younger classes. She decided that it was a good thing.
"Here's another insult." Luna said from across the table. "I think it's from Ron Weasley." She told the group. " 'How dare you try something like this? Wait until I find out who you are!'" Luna read aloud. "Charming, isn't he?" She asked the room in general. Ernie Macmillan snickered behind his hand.
"He used to be so nice. Now, I don't know." Hermione told the others. "Oh, looks like someone wants to join!" She said as the message appeared on the Slytherin sheet. " ' Please accept my petition to join your newspaper. I have some views that could be useful to your defense section.'" Hermione read. "Who could that be?" She questioned the paper. A signature appeared and she gasped. Drake.
"Who is it, Mi?" Neville asked as he finished writing someone's name down on his own list.
"Malfoy." Hermione answered. Ernie Macmillan spit out the butter beer he was drinking (courtesy of Dobby and Winky) and Luna made an odd choking sound in the back of her throat. Neville only managed to look thoughtful while the Creevy brothers protested the idea. "Draco Malfoy wants to join the newspaper." Hermione said to herself.
"I think we should let him." Neville said to the group at large. The entire table froze and looked at him. "No, really. He has a point. He has knowledge about the Death Eaters and Vol-, er, Voldemort that we don't. No matter how many times we face the Dark Lord, even if we win, we don't understand him. Malfoy most likely does have that knowledge and he knows how to apply it." Hermione blinked at Neville in shock.
"I never thought I'd live to see the day that you, Neville Longbottom, would argue in favor of Draco Malfoy." She told him with a smile. Neville smirked back at her.
"Yes, well. I trained with him most of the summer. I've seen a few things you haven't." Neville explained. "I vote in favor of letting him in." Hermione looked around the table."
"Alright, all in favor?" Everyone raised their hand. "None opposed?" She did not receive an answer. "Draco Malfoy is in. Luna, will you send him the invitation?" Hermione asked the girl. Luna nodded absentmindedly and marked another name down on her list.
"Ginny Weasley wants in." Ernie Macmillan said into the silence. "What do you think?"
"Let her in." Luna said. "She's a good kid." Luna toyed with one of butter beer cap earrings and smiled at the corner of the room.
"All in favor?" Hermione asked when no one else moved to do so. Everyone raised their hand again. "None opposed? Good." Hermione added Ginny's name to her list and looked back at the Slytherin page.
"Susan Bones wants to join." Neville told Hermione. Hermione only raised an eyebrow. Everyone voted Susan in.
"If we keep this up, everyone will know." Hermione said as she turned back to her list. "I'll send Susan an invitation. Who wants to send Ginny one?" she asked. Neville told her that he would take it. "Good. Now, let's finish this and start on the next edition's layout."
Author's Note: No promises as to when the next chapter will be out. I'd hate to make a promise I couldn't keep. Thanks for reading and reviewing! You guys inspire me!
