A/N.- Hey there!! It's been a bit over two weeks but here I am, at it again...and really happy 'cause I only have one more exam on Monday and I am officially graduated from high school. Yay for me!! Sorry, I'm pretty happy about that...now, here is Chapter 50. Wow...fifty chapters...congratulations to me and to all of you for sticking with me -throws fireworks- this is dedicated to all of you. By the way, for some reason my beta's MIA, so I uploaded the non-proofread version, which means that any and all mistakes here are my fault. Now enjoy!
Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue or you'll just go poor paying lawyers OK?
Chapter 50.- Aldros
"If Trelawney makes one more prophecy about me or Voldemort, I'm so gonna kill her" Harry relayed to Hermione through their mind link.
"Perhaps killing her would be too drastic, but I agree. Three are already enough" Hermione replied.
"Potter" Moody called, pulling him out of his talk with his fiancée "You said there were two things…now three. We've discussed the staff and the prophecy, but what's the other one?"
"True, I had forgotten" Lupin said
"It also has to do with my dream" Harry said "Voldemort's hired some help we might not like too much"
"What is it now? He already has the vampires, werewolves, dementors and giants" Flitwick said
"A vampire, and a very dangerous one" Harry said "I didn't hear a name, but I know he's insanely fast, even for a vampire and carries a long combat knife with him"
"If it is who I think it is we're in neck-deep trouble" Moody said groaning.
"Why? Who is it?" Harry asked worried
"Name's Aldros." Moody growled "Nasty piece of work. It's said he sucks Dark Magic out of people as well as blood, and he's nearly impossible to hit, only chance would be a solar light spell, which is not recommended due to the high probability of becoming blind if it is cast strong enough.
"Voldemort wanted to use it as a last resort and had to use it, since nothing else hit him"
"And that knife of his is goblin-made, so it deflects even some of the worst spells, and is pretty sharp" Moody added, pointing to one of the scars on his face, making everyone wince. "Perhaps the only thing that would stand up to it is that sword of yours Potter"
"And he'd get me even before I tried to swing it at him" Moody nodded.
"In that case the best we could do would be to weaken him and stab him with a stake somehow…wait…Hagrid do you still have your crossbow?" The half-giant nodded "Then perhaps we could transfigure some bolts to be made of wood and that could work as well"
"They'd never expect that, Voldemort thinks muggle weaponry is a waste of time" Lupin said, agreeing with the idea
"That's why this girl will give us an edge too" Harry said, showing them his revolver. "It has a plus as well" He added, showing them a silver bullet.
"Just don't point it at me and we'll be fine" Lupin said.
"I know, and I've been gaining some practice with it. If I can already hit moving targets the size of a Quaffle, I guess hitting a werewolf would be child's play as well as not hitting you"
"I certainly hope so" Lupin said grimly.
"So, Hagrid and Harry can take care of regular vampires and the werewolves, with any luck also Aldros and possibly the giants" Ron summarized
"That is if we're not hit or run out of ammo" Harry said "In any case, the Basilisk venom in the sword could also help" They all nodded.
"Well, if that's all we have to discuss, I suggest we return to Hogwarts" Hermione said and everyone agreed to end the meeting.
They all headed for the front door or the fireplace until Luna noticed Harry hesitating about something.
"Is something wrong Harry?"
"No, you go on ahead, we'll be there in a moment" Harry replied. Luna looked at him for a moment before nodding and flooing back to Hogwarts.
"What is it Harry?" Hermione asked
"Dobby" Harry called making the little elf appear. "Bring me a shot glass of firewhiskey will you?"
"Yes Harry Potter" Dobby said and disappeared, reappearing seconds later with said drink.
"Harry you can't drink that!" Hermione scolded him.
"Well, I AM seventeen, and we're out of Hogwarts so why not?"
"Have you ever drunk that before?" Ron asked
"A couple of times during fifth year Christmas break." Harry finally admitted.
"Why? Where?" Hermione asked, before asking the most important question "How the hell did you get it?"
"OK, OK, I'll tell you" Harry said, sipping a little, not wanting to down it all at once yet.
--Flashback--
Harry walked down the stairs to the kitchen of Sirius's house to find him keeping away some punch and pouring something on it.
"What are you doing Sirius?"
"Wha-oh uuhh…n-nothing…" Sirius said trying to look innocent, something he had never achieved in his life.
"You're aware that you're not very good at lying are you?"
"Me? Lying?" Sirius continued as if he knew nothing until Harry arched an eyebrow "OK, OK, no need to remind, James did that enough. Anyway, just stowing away some punch for myself. Want some?" He poured two glasses and offered one to Harry, who naïvely took it and sipped it, just to spit back the contents.
"Just what did you add to it?" He asked with a face that said he hadn't enjoyed what he had tasted.
"Just a few drops of firewhiskey. What you didn't like it?" Sirius said laughing
"It's too strong's more like it. Should've warned y'know" Harry replied and Sirius shrugged.
"It's not bad once you get used to the taste of the alcohol you know; give it a few small sips and you might catch the real taste of it"
Harry arched an eyebrow again, and closed his eyes as he took a careful sip of the spiked punch. He still winced as he swallowed the beverage, but after some seconds he appreciated the taste lingering in his mouth and liked it.
"You know, the taste after the alcohol's is pretty good"
"Told you, finish it if you want…and tell no one" Sirius said in a secretive manner.
"Why would I tell them? It's not safe to approach Mrs. Weasley and tell her 'Hey, I drank a cup of spiked punch and am only fifteen', c'mon Sirius, I might be thick, but not THAT thick"
Sirius laughed "You're right cub, you're right"
--
Days later he found Sirius having a glass of an amber substance, which knowing Sirius would be firewhiskey.
"Drinking again Padfoot? I'm sending you to the AA" Harry said joking.
Sirius gave a humorless laugh "As if they even let me out of this hell hole. No cub, I en't going nowhere, the only way I'm leaving this house is dead. Want some?" he offered.
"Straight firewhiskey? I think I'll pass"
"C'mon Harry, just one. If you want to, you'll never have to drink again, but have at least one with me"
"Sirius, you're completely wasted aren't you?"
The ex-marauder shrugged "Who cares? Not me certainly, and I'm pretty sure no one in the Order does, I might even dare think that the only one who cares about me these days is you"
"You're a murderer on the run remember?"
"And a burden for the Order. Here" He insisted, giving Harry a shot glass half full of the amber substance.
Harry sighed "If this makes you happy" He conceded.
"That's my boy, cheers" Sirius replied smiling and emptying his own glass.
Harry did the same, but the alcohol burned his throat and his eyes watered.
"How can you honestly drink this Padfoot?" Harry asked after he could speak again.
"After a while it's as innocuous as water and as warming as soup Harry" Sirius replied
--End flashback--
"That was so irresponsible of him!" Hermione said angrily
"Hey, cut the guy some slack, he felt alone and used" Harry said
"Just how would you know?" Hermione asked
Harry sighed "Because I've felt the same way…more than once. Anyway…" He added before any of the other two replied, downing his own firewhiskey in one gulp. "That's not what I wanted to tell you"
"Then what is it mate?" Ron asked
"I want you both to be very careful, to watch your backs" Harry said nervously and hurriedly before the numbing sensation of the drink passed.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione asked, resting her hand on his arm
"He's targeted you both"
"You-Know-Who?" Ron asked "He's targeted us since forever"
Harry shook his head and said in a whisper "Not him…Aldros…He wants both your bloods. Please promise me you'll stay away from the final battle"
"Harry, you know we can't" Ron said
"YOU HAVE TO RON!" Harry yelled "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? THAT…that…THING WAS TOO MUCH EVEN FOR VOLDEMORT, YOU THINK YOU HAVE A CHANCE? THE ANSWER'S NO AND YOU KNOW IT"
"Harry…we won't and it's final" Hermione said firmly, with a glare that dared anyone to contradict her, unfortunately for her, her fiancé was just as stubborn as her.
"You better change your minds from here to the day of the battle; if you don't, I'm willing to go as far as locking you to keep you away. Go back to Hogwarts, I'll catch up later" Harry said, fighting to contain his feelings, but the other two wouldn't move. "GO NOW!"
Both of them jump back scared and took a couple of steps towards the chimney and saw him already walking away to the upper floors; they flooed back to Hogwarts in shocked silence.
Harry climbed the stairs heavily towards the master bedroom and when he got there he let himself fall heavily on the king size bed, his emotional dam breaking once again. He broke down, all of his barriers disappearing: the one on his emotions, the one on his magic and without any of them knowing, the one that had so suddenly built itself in his magic link with Voldemort. Everything flowed out of him in a way that he was crying inconsolably, a storm had gathered outside Grimmauld Place out of the blue and poured down heavily, and Voldemort was feeling all sorts of negative emotions like sorrow, anger, helplessness, without having the slightest clue as to why, which earned a randomly passing by Death Eater being on the receiving end of a Cruciatus.
Once he managed to control himself and rebuild his barriers he flooed back to Hogwarts, staggering out of the fireplace of the Headmistress's office, to be hugged tightly by Hermione, but her hug wasn't as sudden as they usually were, since she had to be careful with her ever growing stomach housing the twins.
"Hermione!" That was then only thing he could say before his lips were attacked by Hermione's. After he was released he asked "Any reason for you to…" He didn't finish since he noticed she was crying, and by the look of her face she had been doing so for quite a while now. "What's wrong love?"
She didn't reply, instead she gave him another fierce but brief kiss before practically dragging him out of the office and into the first empty classroom which she attempted to lock fruitlessly, so she desisted instead she flung herself into Harry, who caught her and his footing on time.
"Oh Harry, we're sorry, both Ron and myself, we're so sorry" She said to his chest, which muffled the sound.
"Sorry for what?" He asked confused, holding her tight trying to comfort her.
"I heard all of it; I could hear every single thought going through your head before you got here. And we're sorry we made you feel like that, but we don't have a choice but to fight remember?"
It was then that Harry understood why Ron had used the word 'can't' instead of 'won't'. "The oath" Harry replied and Hermione nodded.
"But…there must be a way, there has to be a way in which we can nullify the Oath, or you'd now be walking to a nearly certain death" Harry said, a knot tying in his throat again.
"There is none that I am aware of, we have to fight in the final battle" Hermione said sadly.
"We'll find a way, we have to" Harry said kissing her gently.
"I'm really sorry Harry" Hermione apologized again.
"It's in the past Hermione; I already forgave you and apologized for my own reaction so it's water under the bridge now" He replied, smiling at her "Have I told you I love you?"
Hermione pretended to think "Not today" She replied smiling as well.
"Well, I love you…more than you can imagine" He said kissing her again.
"You know, since I can actually sense your own emotions, I guess I can give myself a shrewd idea, besides I love you too"
She smiled sweetly at him, with pure love shining in her eyes, which drove Harry to kiss her again, and again, and again, and every time their kisses grew in intensity, until Harry found himself pinned between Hermione and the wall, the former starting to undo the buttons of his shirt.
"Hermione wait" Harry managed to say before need took over reason, making her stop immediately "We…we can't"
"Why not?" Hermione asked angrily "Because I'm ugly? Because I'm not attractive?"
"What makes you think that?" Harry asked a bit shocked by her reaction before remembering "Mood swing"
"Perhaps it's the fact that the last time we had sex was in December…December Harry! Last year for crying out loud! Don't you want me anymore?"
"Yes, I do, and I am certain you're the most beautiful woman ever, but I'm certain as well that we can't have sex for a while now. Last time we had sex was in December indeed, but don't you remember that back then something happened to you?" Harry replied placing a hand on her stomach.
"But…but it's OK, Mrs. Weasley's book said so" Hermione said whining.
"Yes, as long as there are no risk factors in the pregnancy, and you have two: you're still young and carrying multiple fetuses, so that means no sex for you until after the twins are born…so I guess that means no sex for me as well"
Hermione swallowed hard before suggesting a theory she had come up with some time ago, but was almost certain it wasn't the case. "You could always cheat on me you know"
Harry chuckled "Come now, what kind of suggestion is that Hermione. I love you too much to even think about it, besides I would be too idiotic to risk doing it and you finding out later. I'm pretty certain you'd curse my arse so badly into next millennium I'd have one heck of a time finding my way back here"
Hermione smiled in a sweet evil way "Glad you're aware of that love" Mentally she let out the breath she was holding. She had known Harry wouldn't cheat on her, but she had to hear it from him and the look in his eyes clearly said he wasn't lying.
"Is there any other worry of yours I need to dispel?" Harry asked smiling.
"Not for now" Hermione replied and started walking out of the classroom. Harry mimicked her, wrapping an arm around her waist while she rested her head on his shoulder. They entered the Head tower to find Lily reading a book, which again earned a chuckle from Harry.
"What's so funny?" Lily asked
"You are so much like Hermione you know that?" Harry asked back
"That's not true" Lily said with a playful smile "I'm much more fun than her"
Hermione feigned annoyance "That's what you think?" Lily nodded smiling "Is it true Harry? Is she more fun than me?"
"Well, if you want the truth…" Harry said with a straight face "I can't argue against that" Hermione glared at him and swatted his arm
"You'll pay for that Mr. Potter. Anyway, we better get to the Great Hall before all dinner's gone don't you think?"
"Yeah, I'm really hungry" Lily said in agreement.
"These two seem to be as well, they make me hungry pretty often" Hermione said "so we better go now, before they start complaining more"
"Alright, let's go" Harry agreed and the three of them walked together (actually Lily went on Harry's back) to the Great Hall and helped themselves to some dinner. Halfway through their dessert Ron approached them nervously.
"Hey guys"
"Hey Ron, what's up" Harry greeted as if he hadn't yelled at him hours ago.
"Can I sit here?"
"What kind of question's that Ron? Of course you can, you know it" Hermione replied as if it were obvious, nevertheless Ron still looked nervous.
"How are you mate?" He asked, afraid of Harry's reaction.
"Much better now, thanks. Don't worry by the way, I'm not biting your head off" Harry said chuckling at his friend's antics.
Ron released a breath "Good to know. Listen, I'm sorry for not promising I wouldn't…"
"It's OK Ron; I already remembered…well, Hermione reminded me actually, why you can't promise that. The Oath"
"Yeah, that's the main reason" Ron agreed
"Anyway, I'm the one who should apologize, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, but I was scared as hell…I still am"
"I can bet you are"
"And you didn't even see him" Harry said "He's impossible to hit"
The members of the Order, especially the Gryffindors, Draco and Luna could already speak openly about the war in the Great Hall for several reasons: one was that the war was the main conversation topic everywhere, the Great Hall, hallways, common rooms, even Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley as well as every wizarding home in Great Britain. Another reason was that everyone knew they were involved directly in it, especially after the Hogsmeade attack where Ginny died. The rest of their classmates didn't try to eavesdrop anymore, instead they minded their own businesses and occasionally dropped one or two pieces of news they got from their relatives.
"Well" Ron said "You could always show us the memory of what you saw. Dumbledore's pensieve is still in Grimmauld"
"As if I didn't know that" Harry said darkly. That pensieve was responsible for him learning about two out of the three prophecies Trelawney had made, the most recent one a few hours ago.
"That's actually a good idea Harry, that way we can know what we're up against" Hermione seconded.
"OK, but you two will see it, I'm not eager to see it again. Have Nev, Luna and Draco join you if you want" Harry said, conjuring a flask out of thin air and depositing the memory in it after extracting it from his mind.
Harry sat still, repeating the prophecy in his head, especially the last part "Face to face they shall meet for the one last time, after the Benjamin has fallen, under a bloodstained moon in a perpetual night."
"After the Benjamin has fallen…" Harry repeated for himself before being withdrawn from his musings by Lily who snuggled against him. "Hey love" He said while running a hand through her hair. A look at her sleepy little face, smiling at him, was all it took for dread to take over every single fiber in his body and fear to squeeze his heart with an invisible hand.
"Whatever you want, please don't let it be her…don't let it be Lily"
A/N.-Well, what did you think? So many people guessed right about the Benjamin of the prophecy so I decided to officially reveal her identity, I hope none of you kill me for this. Anyway, this won't be as bad as it sounds, there's a little surprise from this character left, but I'm not telling when it will happen. I've grown pretty fond of her and won't be that cruel to her and to you so please bear with this temporarily if you like Lily's character as well.
Now, on a merrier note, thanks to all of you. You helped confirm my theory that the hidden allusion was in one way too obvious for you to notice, but this was it:
When the trio read the note from Athena, Harry says "That my dear Watson, is a very good question", an allusion to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, and since Harry said that to Hermione, it made it a double allusion to Emma Watson as well :D. Golden star to Vipsanius for guessing that one.
Name meanings/reasons:
Aldros - No idea what the name means, but long ago, some friends and I played a MMORPG, and one of my friends was a vampire called Aldros hehe
Note from my beta:
Hey, guys its Robert Ibris's beta here.
I Just want to say I'm sorry for not betaing chapter 50, but my internet is still non-responsive so I have to use the college computers. Also I'm recovering from being hit by a bus, which hurts as you can well imagine! In case some are wondering, my injuries are: broken foot, broken arm, broken leg, broken shoulder and a broken hand. I also have many cuts and bruises in places I don't show to the public!!
I'll try to do as much as possible with one hand (not a word Raf!) but it's a bit hard (or with that joke!). However, I'll return to full operational status as soon as possible.
If you want to make me happy and get me well sooner, please look at the fanfic I'm writing on my page.
Many Thanks,
Robert
Aka
PixelandStephanieForever
