Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Lady Gallatea Ravenclaw:
Question 1: Read the chapter... Do you honestly think Ron would guess anything?!?!?! That would not be like him.
Question 2: No, he doesn't. Til now only Severus knows.
Question 3: Er... I forgot about that one, to tell you the truth. But I'll write it in the following chapters, okay?
Thanks for your review!
Thanks to the other reviewers as well, it was really great to find so many reviews!
Chapter 53 – At Blade's and the Search
The girl looked at the house in amazement, but continued to cry. Blade sighed, lifted her up and then went into the house. In the living room he laid Hermione on a couch and sat down in a comfy chair as well. He took a deep breath, but before he could say anything a male elf stormed inside,
"Blade!" Blade rolled his eyes.
"Gus, not now...I—"The elf looked at Hermione and frowned,
"You know you are not allowed to bring witches or wizards—"Blade rubbed his temples."I was not about to bring her into the circle, Gus." Gus frowned,"Is something wrong, Blade?" He asked unsure."A student of Hogwarts was brought to Nightmare Manor." He simply explained. Gus swallowed and looked at his friend in understanding.
"Oh... I... I'm sorry, Blade..." He paused. "She knows that student?" Blade nodded.
"Gus, please... I'll talk with you later. Explain everything to Layden. If he sees danger in me bringing Miss Granger here he shall come and talk with me, okay?" Gus nodded and went out of the house again. Hermione had managed to stop crying now. She just looked at Blade, who sighed. "You are suspicious of Harry?" He suddenly asked. Hermione swallowed,
"Well... yes..." She said silently. Blade smiled.
"I knew you would be the first person to find out..." He conjured up three cups with hot coffee. "The Harry Potter you remember... will never come back." Hermione's eyes widened. She had not expected something like that. Blade frowned. "Nah, you don't understand... Okay, I expressed it wrong. I'll start again... What did you expect me to tell you now?" She blushed slightly. 'Well, at least she doesn't think of Ron anymore.' Blade thought to himself.
"I... well, I thought you would say you are Harry..." She said while her eyes wandered from Blade to the floor.
"You don't have to feel ashamed, Miss Granger. You're right, as usual. Well, at least in a way. I was Harry James Potter..."
"But you are not anymore..." Fynn continued, entering the room. She sat down on the armrest of Blade's chair. Hermione stared from one to the other.
"But... How?" She asked.
"In the whole story I told about the accident in Hogsmeade I just had to change one word... to let it become a very mattering lie. Here's a test for you... I told nearly everyone that I got transported into the future... Which word did I change...? Which word made a lie out of the true, mattering sentence...? Which word is it, Miss Granger?" Hermione's mouth slowly opened.
"No... That's not true..." She whispered disbelievingly.
"You understand right. The true sentence would have been: I got transported into the past. To be precise into the year 1973. You can imagine that it was a right shock for me to see not only Sirius, but also my parents in my own age right in front of me." And so Blade explained the facts to Hermione. When he was finished the room was deadly silent. "You have to understand... that you cannot tell anyone about this. I left the name Harry Potter behind me. It doesn't mean much anymore... except that he's the saviour of the wizarding world. Now... You should go to bed now, Hermione." Blade started to drink his coffee. It had gone cold. Suddenly someone entered the room and as well Blade as Fynn bowed. "Layden..." Blade greeted while the leader of the mages stepped nearer.
"Blade... Gus told me what happened..." Blade looked everywhere, except at his old master. Both of the mages stood straight again.
"Did he...?"
"I know this is hard for you..." Blade sighed. "But still I have to remind you of the fact that you are not to interfere too much..." He nodded,"I know, master. But am I allowed to get the boy out of there?" Layden thought about it for a moment. "Layden, do you know whom I am talking about at all?" The mage raised his eyebrows,
"No, is that important?""Yes, indeed. You might remember the name Ronald Weasley...?" They looked straight into each others eyes.
"Is it him?" Blade nodded.
"That means it is a personal matter. I know this has not much to say, but... I already had to promise not to interfere in the werewolf thing... And this time I'll have to work on it alone." Layden smiled sadly,"Blade, I know it is already hard enough for you to keep the potion to yourself while your friend is in peril of death... so you may save this... let's say old friend of yours." Blade smiled. "But it is on you to do it... Not on me."
"Thank you, Layden."
"Don't disappoint me... I think you can do it. I mean... he's been your best friend once... you should know him..." Layden smiled mysteriously and then snipped away. Blade frowned.
"...you should know him..." He repeated silently. He sat down on the comfy chair again. "...you should know him..." he muttered again. Fynn and Hermione watched him, but then Fynn lead Hermione through a door into a bedroom. Blade just sat there and kept repeating his old master's last words. After five minutes Fynn joined him. "...you should know him..." Blade repeated again, not noticing anything around himself anymore.
"It's a hint, isn't it?" Fynn suddenly asked. Blade nodded numbly.
Hermione woke again. She just could not sleep. She'd been lying awake in bed for more than three hours now. So she opened the door to the living room silently. Fynn was lying on the couch, sleeping peacefully, while Blade was reading a book. The mage looked horribly tired, but he kept drinking coffee to hold himself awake. Hermione noticed that he was reading the same page of his book again and again, never turning to the next page. Either he was too tired to notice, or he was trying to learn the chapter by heart. Suddenly he rose and started pacing the room. His face was hard as stone. After about eight minutes he stopped dead in his tracks and closed his eyes. He was concentrating hard.
Blade tried to remember everything he knew about Ron. Every tiny detail and how it felt to see him. He closed his eyes and thought of the boy. Blade heard voices... they seemed to be far away, but he could hear them. People were shooting curses at him—no, not at him... they were shooting them at Ron!
'Mr Weasley? Can you hear me?' Blade tried to send. He was in immense pain. Not only the connection was hard to hold, but he was also under the same torture as Ron was.
'Now I'm becoming insane...' Ron thought to himself.
'No, you aren't Mr Weasley. Where are you, what's going on?! It's me—Blade.'
'BLADE?!' Ron thought desperately. 'Please get me out of here, please save me! It's horrible... I—' Suddenly Blade felt as if his bones were being smashed into a thousand pieces. He remembered this potion only too well and now he had to feel it again. He fell to the floor, but still didn't break the connection.
'Mr Weasley, please... try to answer my questions, I can't hold this connection for too long!'
'They're torturing me... Death Eaters... And Voldemort... I'm in a hall...' Ron thought. He seemed to be near unconsciousness. Their bones rebuilt again.
'Hold on, Mr Weasley... I'll do everything I can to help you.'
'Please hurry...' Ron begged desperately, and then Blade had to break the connection. He opened his eyes and found himself on the floor. He groaned and turned around. Then he sat up and rubbed his forehead where he had hit the floor first.
Hermione was still looking at him from her room. She had not been able to move at all, even when the mage's legs had given up. Now she was staring at him in shock, as he rose and let himself fall into his comfy chair again.
Blade conjured up a cup of tea and drank. He leaned back and was asleep in an instant.
Hermione smiled slightly—even mages had to sleep at some point.
'I want to know what just happened. He tried to do something... but what?' At first she wanted to look at the book that was lying on the table now, but then she shook her head. 'No, Hermione, you can't do that! Just go back to sleep!' So she turned around and went to bed.
Surprisingly it was Blade who woke first. He opened his eyes and yawned.
"How could I fall asleep? I'm an idiot, really..." He murmured. Then he remembered his talk with Ron and closed his eyes to do it again. He needed more than two minutes to create a connection between him and Ron, but when he had finally managed he sighed in relief—He knew that Ron was still alive now.
'Mr Weasley...? Can you hear me?' No answer. He was obviously unconscious. After two more straining minutes of trying to wake Ron he finally woke. 'Mr Weasley, can you hear me now?' Blade tried again.
'Blade?! Thanks goodness you're there... Please get me out of here...!'
'You have to find out where you are. Is there a window in your cell? Can you hear anything?' There was a short silence, but then Ron thought,
'I think there's water... and... birds, maybe gulls, I don't know. I'm sorry, but I can't look outside... it hurts...'
'I promise I'll do everything I can, Mr Weasley. Hold on.' And with that he broke the connection again and opened his eyes. Fynn was looking at him with raised eyebrows and Hermione was just coming out of her room.
"What did you do ...?" Fynn asked after a moment of silence. Blade rubbed his temples and noticed sweat running down the sides of his head.
"I talked with someone." He simply responded. Hermione sat down on one of the couches while Fynn conjured up some coffee.
"And who would that be? I mean, using your telepathy usually doesn't get you to sweat at all." Blade sighed.
"You
know that telepathy doesn't work well if you don't know the person very
well or when there are wards around the person... I used another way of
communicating..." He wiped the sweat off his face. "You remember Heart
Magic?" Fynn stopped dead in her tracks,
"No, you didn't do that." She said in disbelief. "You promised not to do that again! You know what happened last time you did that!" Blade nodded,
"Don't you worry at all?" Hermione asked uncertainly. Fynn smiled. Hermione was not sure what the expression on the mage's face meant.
"I wish I didn't have to worry, but... he takes everything a bit too easily... though he can afford it I still worry he does just one tiny thing wrong. Maybe he really didn't use Heart Magic. But this other type of magic is probably even more dangerous." She shook her head. "But you can be sure that he'll come back. With your friend. He won't come back without him... But your friend could possibly come back without Blade." Hermione just gazed into space. She wanted to help—she wanted to help saving Ron...
Blade was flying from one coast to the other, searching for a place where he could feel much magic. He had been searching for more than four hours now and was getting hungry. But he could not stop searching.
It was about five p.m. when the idea hit him. He had just remembered Layden's words again and they had reminded him on Heart Magic. He knew he was not to use this sort of magic without preparation again, so he used the similar magic he had used for finding Ron again.
Flashback
It happened in Blade's training. Layden had told him to learn about Heart Magic and so he had done. When he stood in front of his master and performed the spell—this time with his wand—everything seemed to be alright. For about three seconds Blade performed the spell, but then, out of nowhere, there was an explosion. It happened right in front of him and he was thrown backwards. Unfortunately he was thrown right against a tree. Layden ran over and looked worriedly at him. Blade smiled though being in horrible pain,
"I think it went wrong..." He muttered dumbly. Layden shook his head in disbelief."Heart Magic is nothing for you, Blade..." While healing him he said: "Never try it again, Blade. Swear it." Blade nodded.
"I swear."
End Flashback
Trying to locate Ron was hard. Blade didn't know him that well anymore. And Ron wasn't very strong either. The worst was that he was being tortured, so he was even less locatable. Blade's eyes were closed and he was hovering over an empty beach. And then he felt it—Ron's energy. The boy was weak and it was getting worse by the second. Blade memorized the place and teleported into his living room. He would need someone who would get Ron out of there while he would distract Voldemort. When he teleported into the living room Hermione jumped up,
"Have you found him?" She asked breathless.
"Where's Fynn?" Blade just asked.
"Uh... She said she needed to go to the circle..." Blade rolled his eyes,
"Wonderful, this is not helping a bit!"
"What is it?" Hermione tried.
"I know where Ron is, but even if I go there and distract Voldemort... Ron s not able to get out of there on his own!" The girl looked up,"Maybe I could help...?" Blade raised his eyebrows. "I could carry him out of there...! I mean, it's better than wasting any more time...!" The mage obviously did not want to get Hermione into the whole thing, but he had no choice.
"There is no other way... But as soon as Voldemort says that Ron can go you take him and run out of there. Do not stay." Hermione nodded, not really knowing what she was agreeing to. Blade went nearer, laid a hand on her shoulder and concentrated. A drop of sweat ran down the right side of his face while he tried to find Ron again. Then his eyes shot open and in the split of a second they were standing in front of a hill. Blade snorted. "Fooled by Tom again..." He mumbled before reaching out a hand. A second later they were standing right in front of a manor. Blade took Hermione by the hand and flew to the entrance. "Wait at the next door..." He told Hermione. She nodded and they went inside. The entrance hall looked much like the one at Hogwarts. The mage closed his eyes and made himself look a bit younger and more like the man Voldemort hated so much—Harry Daniels. Blade opened the door to the hall. The next picture was like a photo of his tortures to Blade. Death Eaters formed a circle around a sixteen year-old boy while Voldemort sat in his golden throne. Now everyone was looking at him. Voldemort rose while the Death Eaters pointed their wands at him. "Tom, I am here to get the boy..." He simply said, glaring at Voldemort. The dark wizard smiled evilly.
"Well, well... Welcome to Nightmare Manor again, Mr Daniels..."
Author's note: I noticed that my last chapters were quite short, so I put two chapters together this time (That was an exception! I can't write so much in one chapter... ( ). I really hope you liked it!
Well, please review,
Spera'89
